PM: Congratulations on ‘Fear No Evil’. What are your favourite memories about the recording process?

DP: Thank you, I love it so much it’s hard to describe, I just hope that the fans love it as much as I do. There are songs on this album that I can see us playing in our live shows forever; ‘Night of the Warlock’ for example and ‘Walking with the Angels’ (N.B. Duet with Tarja Turunen , ex-Nightwish). There are classic anthems on there and heavier, more modern songs like ‘Caught in a Battle’ and there’s even a Pink Floyd feeling on ’25 Years’. The digipak version has two extra tracks on it than the regular version, and also the video to ‘Herzblut’. You know, after 25 years, I wanted to make something that tells my fans how much I love them and how much it all means to me, as the lyrics suggest the fans have been good to me through the pain and tears, particularly the difficult 1990’s.

PM: Do you have a personal favourite track on the album?

DP: That’s difficult, I like them all. As I have mentioned ‘Night of the Warlock’, the duet with Tarja, but I love them all, they all feel like babies you know. I have played some of them live already and they work so well.

PM: How did your working relationship come about with the many guest singers on the album?

DP: I wanted to write a song about the 25th anniversary. I wrote ‘Night of the Warlock’ and ‘Celebrate’, but on this track I wanted to have a big choir like I had on ‘All We Are’ and ‘True As Steel’. I emailed the fan club as asked the fans to records some vocals; we did this at the Saturn Club in Bochum, Germany. The engineer said that he would like to record the vocals with 10 people, then 2 people, only the men, only the women, so we did this. But when I heard the women sing, I thought wow, this is very special and magical and from then I got the idea to call up all my friends in music. So I sent the ‘Celebrate’ demo to Girlschool and asked if they like it and if they would like to sing on it. Then I sent it to Veronica Freeman (singer of Benedictum who toured with Doro on the ‘Warrior Soul’ tour) and it just went from there. We had the “full metal female” version with contributions from Sabina Classen (Holy Moses) who is a long time friend of mine, Floor Janssen (After Forever), Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) who we toured with in South America, Liv Kristine (Leaves’ Eyes), Ji-In Cho (Krypteria). And then, I also got the vocals back from Biff Byford (Saxon) and I loved it so much that I said we have to do three versions of ‘Celebrate’; one with the fans, one with Biff and the “Full Female” Metal version. But on the album itself, everyone is mixed together. (PM: the different versions can be heard separately in the Celebrate EP). I tend to present songs and give them to people who I feel understand the feeling and connect with the idea of the song.

PM: How do you approach song writing for an album? As a band, as a personal idea, then work on it together etc?

DP: I write the lyrics and the melody and then the band comes in and records the tune and works things out. My band is mainly from America and Italy, so when I recorded ‘Herzblut’ in German language, I was not sure if they would like it, but they did and we recorded it as a team effort. On ‘Long Lost for Love’, our guitarist Joe Taylor gave me the idea and I thought that was great, so that is the only song where the lyrics came from someone else. Every song has a different approach; I try to have 3 or 4 weeks to myself to decide what I want to do with the songs. This album is more metal than ‘Warrior Soul’. I found a studio that I like to use where that album was recorded, I would have loved to use it again, but it just did not feel right for this record. You have to do good for the songs and for the record; otherwise I just cannot sleep at night.

PM: There are a couple of hard-hitting/heavy tracks on the album, what made you decide to increase the momentum on this album?

DP: I have to have the album right in my own mind, when I am happy with it then I can feel comfortable that others would like it. Each song has its own feeling and when I felt that I had the best album I had, and then I felt good. I just wanted to make the best album that I could.

PM: Your 25th Anniversary concert in Dusseldorf appears to have been lots of fun – what are you favourite memories of that show?

DP: It was one of the happiest days of my life and we had one of the biggest concerts we had put on ourselves (PM: and a 3.5 hours set!). The fans were all there waving theirs flags from all over the world, Brazil, USA, UK, Australia, and it was so nice to see them. It was great that Klaus and Rudolf were there (from The Scorpions) and we did cover versions of ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ and ‘Big City Nights’. Bobby Blitz from Overkill was there and Warrel Dane from Nevermore. I met Warrel on the tour in 1988 with Megadeth and Sanctuary and eventually he became the singer for Nevermore and I wanted him to be a part of the show. We did a Warlock reunion with the 1986 line-up (PM: minus the original bassist – Doro’s bassist Nick Douglas filled in for this set). Tom Angelripper (‘Sodom’) and of course we the full metal ladies, Tarja, it was so great.

PM: Was it recorded for Audio/DVD for future release?

DP: Yes – hopefully this will come out by the end of the year, I would like it to. But I have to find the time after the tour and everything to concentrate on that. But I hope to do that, my last DVD I spent about 12 months putting that together, so we shall see what happens. We have a China special also, we went to China a few weeks before the 25th Anniversary show and that was simply awesome and it was so nice to see that country and the people, so I want to include something about that also as it was our first visit there.

PM: Are there any UK touring plans or one-off shows in 2009?

DP: We are working on things and maybe some kind of tour is possible, including the UK, but there is nothing definite for now, but hopefully you will see us soon.

PM: You played ‘Hard Rock Hell II Festival’ in December, how did you find that experience?

DP: That was good, but we had a 25 hour drive back home so I did not get to see many of the bands that played, I saw a little of Thin Lizzy but that is all which is a shame.

PM: What is your favourite song or album you have ever recorded in your solo career or with Warlock? DP: Oh, that is so difficult, can I have more time or more choices?! From the Warlock era it would be ‘Für Immer’, ‘All We Are’ – this was a milestone for us worldwide, big MTV coverage and our most famous song from the early days. I like ‘Burning the Witches’ so much because it was so innocent, we had no idea, we were just doing a little demo and this was the beginning of something great. Also from the Doro era I like so many songs because they so different and ‘The Night of the Warlock’ because it’s current so I choose that one, from the ‘Warrior Soul’ album, I cannot really name one song, I like them all! That’s it, but it changes with my mood, you have Warlock and Doro tracks now!

PM: Who are your musical inspirations?

DP: Back then there wasn’t any metal for me, I started with Little Richard’s ‘Lucile’ and then I was hooked, then I grew up in the glam rock times so I had the UK band Sweet and then came Deep Purple and then I discovered metal.

PM: What made you want to sing in the first place?

DP: Once I discovered metal, my first band was called Snakebite and that started in 1980, even though I had my 25th Anniversary from the first release in 1983, but we did not know we were doing metal. Fans were watching us rehearse, and they were saying we were a metal band and that was so cool and then I knew I wanted to do music for a living. So I started full time and I quite my job.

PM: Do you think the attitude to woman in metal is different now in 2009 than what it was in the mid-1980’s?

DP: To me it was not a big deal to be a girl or woman. I just liked metal, and still do like metal. If I were a guy I would have done exactly the same. I think now there are a lot of good artists who are woman, I mean take Angela from Arch Enemy, her vocals are unreal you know, very powerful, and Tarja too. Many times in the 80’s girls were just put in a music video for show, now woman are at the front and are more respected, and not so cheap as it used to be in all genres of metal. It’s a good time for women. I, for one, was always treated with respect and dignity, especially from my fans. We have always had a good connection and I like that.

PM: What are your best memories so far in your career?

DP: The Monsters of Rock show with Warlock in 1986 at Castle Donnington, there was so many people there and that opened quite a few doors for us. Record companies started to take notice and we ended up with worldwide deals on the back of that show and of course my anniversary show also was a highlight.

PM: Do you have a personal message for your fans?

DP: Yes, I want to thank them so much for their support that they have given me over the 25 years and I wish them all the best and I promise that I will always give my best for them. I hope we will see each other on tour and thanks a million for everything, it has been so good for so many years and I owe it all to the strong fan base, keep metal alive and see you soon.

PM: Thank you ever so much for your time and good luck with the album and tour.

For more on the band check out www.doro.de
http://www.afm-records.de

Interviewed by Paul Maddison

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