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Sexy metal warrior, Doro is back and stronger than ever with "Fight" her
latest on SPV Records and she's gonna kick your ass.. The German metal
babe is coming at us full force with her latest solo effort and she's
not pulling any punches.
Doro is a veteran to the heavy metal scene whose claim to fame was back
in 1982 where she fronted the band Warlock. With more than 20 years as a
metal front woman and 19 plus albums under her belt, Doro paid her dues
and wrote the book on women rockers. The Duesseldorf native has single
handedly paved the way for women metalers and although she is often
overlooked in the states true metal heads know better and acknowledge
her as an ICON who represents female power and strength proving that
women can get down and dirty just like us dudes. Through the years Doro
gained even more momentum and more energy and still gives 110% of
herself in her music. She recently brought the house down at Germany's
"Bang Your Head Festival" and showed that she is still on top of her
game.
Her latest record, "Fight" features 12 solid tracks which consists of
both heavy numbers and ballads as well. Songs like title-track "Fight,"
"Salvaje" and "Chained" are heavy hitting head banging tunes with hard
riffs, fist wailing beats and chant-along hooks that draw the listener
into the entire vibe of the tune. Her ballads such as "Fight By Your
Side," "Legends Never Die" and "Hoffnung" are tenderly delivered
with a soothing passionate voice that really demonstrates Doro's
beautiful vocal ability.
So, whether you dig the heavy stuff or the light stuff, one things for
sure, Doro is still just as hot, sexy, beautiful and talented as ever
before and "Fight" offers something to everyone. When I spoke to Doro
recently I couldn't help but flirt with her a bit, I mean I have always
had a 'thing' for her. Let's just say I've had my fair share of unpure
thoughts manufactured with her in mind.. Aside from my shameless
flirting we did manage to talk about her career, her latest record and
an angel in the image of Lemmy.
First,
I have to tell you Doro, you look great.. Sexy as ever, you look like
a million bucks, I gotta say..
DORO: Oh wow, that's very sweet.. (laughs) I guess the music keeps
me young and alive
Definitely, rock and roll is the fountain of youth..
DORO: Totally, totally.. I think in some pictures I look younger now
than I did 20 years ago.
You do, Doro, you're still hot and sexy..
DORO: (laughs) Oh man.. Yeah, 20 years ago I had a little puffy face
and everything.. Thanks for saying that..
I mean it..
DORO: (laughs) You're a sweet man..
Now, Doro, you've been in the metal spotlight for years, first with
Warlock and you've been solo for a while now, has the metal industry
gotten any easier for women through the years?
DORO: you know, I really don't know if there's a difference between
men and women, I think that for every musician it's super hard to
survive. Everybody knows that the music business is a tough business
and I think that it's just as hard for all of my colleagues as it
is for me, it really doesn't matter what sex you are. It's the music
that matters and that you just work your hardest.
You've been in this business for over 20 years now, what is the secret
to your longevity?
DORO: I just love music so much and I love the fans so much and I
though it was always worth it to do whatever it takes. When I didn't
do so well, like in the 90's I still did music for a very small audience,
I never stopped and hoped that it would turn around eventually and
people who love heavy metal again like they used to. I just always
kept at it cus' I love it so much and the fans were always the biggest
inspiration and my biggest power source and I knew that I just couldn't
give up and I had to keep doing it cus' I knew that eventually some
people would like it and it would be important to them.
Your passion for metal certainly comes through in your music.
DORO: Well, I have nothing else.. I have no family or husband or kids
and music is 20 hours a day. It's hard work too..
So, Metal is pretty much your entire life?
DORO: Yeah, when I was 3 or 4 years old I fell in love with music.
On one of my birthdays somebody got me a record and it was Little
Richard, it was the song "Lucille" and I listened to it over and over
and that's when I made up my mind that I wanted to become a singer.
At 3 years old? (Laughs)
DORO: Yeah, I think I could hardly walk but, I knew I wanted to sing.
So, you knew real early in life what you wanted.
DORO: Yeah, and I always loved the heavier music as well. I mean,
Little Richard isn't so heavy, but he was so intense and to me Heavy
Metal always meant total freedom, total emotions and lots and lots
of energy and power and sensitivity as well. I still feel that metal
bands write the best ballads.
You're brand of straight metal rocks, what do you think about nu-metal
or rap metal? Would you ever steer in that direction?
DORO: I always try and do every record a little bit different from
the last one. I think a good record should serve as a mirror of the
times and with this record I wanted to get back to roots and make
a straight-forward and raw Metal record. But, a couple of years ago
I experimented with other sounds and got a little bit of an industrial
influence. But after a couple of years doing that I went back to my
natural way, I like natural performances. I must say that I fiddled
around with so many computer stuff and it was good at the time and
many other bands went through that phase like Danzig and WASP and
I liked it for the time, but now I'm into straight-forward music.
With your new album "Fight" you really seem to put a lot of yourself
into it..
DORO: It has a lot of variety, lots of power and it's really raw.
There's no polish or effects on it and it's really what you hear is
what you get. We recorded it all together in the studio and it's a
very alive, down to earth record that gets back to the roots. There's
a lot of variety with heavy songs and ballads. I really like "Fight
By Your Side" which is an anti-war song and in this time and age it
was important to me to add that and make people talk about it and
think about it.
Yeah, the message of "Fight By Your Side" definitely connects with
the current world events taking place, but didn't you write that long
ago during the Yugoslavian Crisis?
DORO: Yeah, I started writing that back then when the Yugoslavian
war was going on, but the A&R guy of the record company said no to
the song. He didn't want it on the record because it was too heavy,
too political and I couldn't win, he wouldn't budge. Then years later
when September 11th happened I thought, 'Oh man, I got to record this
song.' So, I tweaked the lyrics a little bit and that was the very
first song that made the new record.
It's a real powerful ballad and you did an excellent job singing it.
DORO: Hmm.. Thanks, that's very nice..
On the title track "Fight" you get real heavy. "Fight" was written
for the female boxing champion of the world, Regina Hallmich. You
two became pretty close friends?
DORO: Yeah, yeah.. I got to know her about five years ago when I started
doing Ty-boxing and my trainer told me that if I wanted to really
learn something I should just go to all the fights and watch kick
boxing and ty-boxing live or on TV whenever you can. SO, I went to
all the fights and this one time there was this lady and she was my
size, I mean, really slim and tiny, but she had so much power. Then
she got into the ring with one of my songs (All We Are) and I thought,
"wow, man that can't be.." So, after that we talked and then we became
great friends and she would come to all of my concerts and I would
go to all of her fights.
That's cool.. So when did you decide to write "Fight?"
DORO: Well, (Hallmich) called me up one New Years Eve to wish me a
happy new year and then she said, "hey, lets do something together."
She needed another anthem because "All We Are" is so old and I already
had demos for "Always Need To Win" and "Fight" and I told her I'd
send her those. Then two weeks later she called back and wanted to
use "Fight" because it was harder then "Always Need To Win" and then
we finished it.
That song is definitely a good tune to come out fighting too.. (laughs)
DORO: (laughs) Yeah, everyone else comes out to disco songs and "Fight"
is loud and intimidating.
Speaking of loud and intimidating, you dedicated a song to Lemmy of
Motorhead called "Salvaje."
DORO: I dedicated that song to Lemmy because on the last record we
worked together and sang a duet called "Call Of The Wild" and Lemmy
was such a great guy. It meant so much to me because my father died
and I was totally devastated and a day later Lemmy called me on my
cell phone, he was responding to a letter that I had wrote him weeks
and weeks before, I forgot all about that letter. But, he called one
day later after my father died and I was total dispair and he said
that we should do something together and I thought, 'Man, I don't
know if I can do anything anymore." He said, "lets do something to
take all this heavy stuff off your mind." So, we went out and worked
together on a couple of songs and he was so nice to me and really
helped me get through the hardest times of my life. So, on this record
I wanted to dedicate a song to Lemmy because it meant so much to me
what he did.
That's really cool that Lemmy was there to comfort you through that
painful time in your life.
DORO: Yeah, he was like an angel. When the phone rang I didn't even
want to pick it up and then I looked and I saw his number, it was
weird. Lemmy just found the right words, the right way and we had
a super great conversation. He helped me gain my energy and power
back and he really helped me see that life can go on, it was amazing.
If it wasn't for Lemmy I don't know what I would have done. When my
father died it was so shocking I just thought I would give up everything
and Lemmy helped me thorough that.
Whoever would have guessed that an angel in the image of Lemmy would
have helped you thorough such a rough period.
DORO: Man, he was so intelligent and sensitive and stuff.
Why did you write the chorus for "Salvaje" in Spanish..
DORO: Yeah, the song was first called "Untouchable" it was an English
version and I always wanted to write a song in Spanish and for some
reason I thought that this song could sound good in Spanish. So, I
met somebody who helped me out with the Spanish version and we liked
that version even better than the English one.
I also loved the German track, "Hoffnung" and I don't even understand
German. In the beginning of that song you are whispering something,
It sounds very seductive and I gotta say it kinda aroused me a bit.
DORO: (Laughs) That's good, that's good.. "Hoffnung" means hope and
I thought that it good for the times and for today and stuff.. It
would take me like two hours to translate it, but it's kinda deep,
kinda dark.. What I did was I made up a little poem, actually. Those
words are put together in a way that you normally don't talk like
that in German. It's almost like Old English or something. My bass
player, Nick Douglas pushed me to put that song on the record and
he didn't understand the lyrics either.. (laughs) He was such a big
fan of that song and so we recorded it.
I love that song, I think it's your sexy voice.. You seduced me..
DORO: Oh.. Thanks.. (laughs)
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