DORO PESCH: GENE SIMMONS 'Was One Of The Best Producers I've Ever Had In My Life'

Jesse Capps of RockConfidential.com recently conducted an interview with German metal singer Doro Pesch. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

RockConfidential.com: You toured in the U.S. last summer — how long had it been before that since you played in the States?

Doro: The first time touring in the States was with Ronnie James Dio and Yngwie Malmsteen in 2000. We did a couple of smaller tours in clubs with BRITNY FOX. We did a couple of festivals but the tour last year was the first headlining tour in a while. Forget the '90s! You couldn't get anything going. The records weren't even released in the U.S. and you couldn't get a tour. Now it's pretty good.

RockConfidential.com: It was still happening in Europe in the 90s though, right? Metal was alive and well.

Doro: Yes, absolutely. Even though it wasn't as great as it is now or in the 80s, it was still difficult. The record companies in the U.S. dropped all their traditional metal acts. I remember saying in 1999 that metal was coming back and 2000 was our first tour with DIO. When you don't get the support in the States it's really, really tough. Even though we recorded the albums in the States in either New York or New Jersey, it was very disappointing if they didn't get released in the U.S.

RockConfidential.com: Not to downplay the U.S. fans, but how do we compare to fans around the world?

Doro: Jesse, I must say that the last American tour was awesome! I thought I was in South America! The crowds were so wild and enthusiastic. There's definite proof that if you have metal in your heart it doesn't matter where you live. If we wouldn't have done the last American tour I wouldn't think that way. It was as wild as playing in Brazil or Spain or Germany.

RockConfidential.com: Who were some of your early musical inspirations?

Doro: I loved David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy, Ann Wilson. When I grew up, the first time I fell in love with music was when I listened to Little Richard. I loved it so much. Back then there wasn't any heavy metal. When I got older, glam rock was big and I loved T. REX, SWEET, SLADE. Later on came all the cool metal stuff. JUDAS PRIEST. Rob Halford is a big idol. ACCEPT. Everything was so exciting at the time and there were so many concerts. We had a couple of gigs in Belgium and Holland with METALLICA. It was the first time people heard of METALLICA. You could feel there was something in the air that metal would become really big.

RockConfidential.com: People always remember your work with Gene Simmons. What do you remember about that time?

Doro: Jesse, that was definitely one of my biggest dreams come true. I was and I still am a big KISS fan. It was awesome. I went to the studio every day and I was so nervous and my knees were shaking. I couldn't believe that I was in the studio with Gene Simmons. He was a fantastic producer and he was very caring. He's very intelligent. He's one of the best producers I've ever had in my life. I learned a lot from him. He told me, "I don't want you to just make a nice record. I want you to learn something." I remember writing my first blues song and he asked me if I knew about the blues and where it came from. I told him, "Not so much." He bought me a huge record collection of blues albums from all the great blues singers. We went to concerts together. We went to a little small club to see Dr. John. It was really fantastic. I will never forget that.

Read the entire interview at RockConfidential.com.