DORO PESCH: 'In This Time And Age, It's So Important To Give Out Positive Energy'

German metal queen Doro Pesch says her forthcoming "Forever Warriors, Forever United" double album is dedicated to the memory of late MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Pesch and Kilmister teamed up several times over the years for duets, including "Love Me Forever" and "Alone Again". Pesch also went on to add that Kilmister was her "best friend" in the music industry and has had to find ways to cope with his late 2015 passing.

In a recent interview with France's Loud TV (see video below),Pesch was asked how "Forever Warriors, Forever United" became a double album. "I don't know, we didn't plan on it, but yeah, it came out and I had so many songs and suddenly, there were 35, 40 songs and I thought, 'Wow,'" she said. "It would be such a shame if we would throw out 25 songs and I talked to the record company. At first, they said, 'In this day and age, not many people do it.' A couple of months ago, they said, 'Okay. Go for it. Do it.' I was so happy because I think every song on these records, they are definitely worthy of being on a record. Even the bonus songs, I think they are very unique and special and different. I'm so happy we can put out the double album. And you never know. In the next couple of years, you don't know if you will get the chance to put out songs on vinyl and this one, we do two double vinyls with the nice artwork, which was done by my favorite artist, Geoffrey Gillespie. He lives actually in France and he did all of our albums from the [WARLOCK] 'Triumph And Agony' album on and I love his artwork. It was just twice the work. That's the reason why it took a little while, two and a half years. Actually, three years ago, it started a little bit, but two and a half years ago, we really concentrated on the songs and the production.

"I'm so happy we can put it out," she continued. "Every song has a different meaning. Every song gives out a different vibe. Like, some songs are very empowering, some songs are very high energy, lots of positive energy. Sometimes, they are very soulful, very sad. So, it depends on the mood you are in. You probably want to listen to a certain song when you feel like, 'Yeah, I need some more uplifting stuff.' Then I would probably recommend the song 'Lift Me Up'. If you're feeling mellow and feeling a little bit lonely, then maybe stuff like 'Living Life To The Fullest', which is dedicated to Lemmy Kilmister.

"The CD is dedicated to Lemmy because he was my main inspiration for this record and he was my best friend and I miss him so much," she said. "Actually, the song 'Living Life To The Fullest', it was the first song which was written for the record. I wrote it when I was in the airplane on my way to Lemmy's funeral and I was so heartbroken and I thought, 'I want to write a song for Lemmy.' I hope he will love it. I don't know if he's still with us in spirit, but I wanted to write a song to dedicate to Lemmy because he was my best friend in the music world, definitely. Him and Ronnie James Dio, both of them, I think they were so unique and that friendship that would stay with me forever, but on the other hand, it's so sad that you can't pick up the phone anymore and talk. Yeah, it's a different world right now. I know millions of fans feel the same. But I want to keep their spirit alive, too and all the young fans who maybe never had the chance to see them live, to see MOTÖRHEAD or DIO live, I definitely want to make sure that everybody knows that stuff was the greatest. It's still the greatest."

Pesch was then asked about the double album's lyrical themes, many of which appear to touch upon heaven and hell. "Actually, heaven, I tell you, I was flirting with the other side when I started my first bands, but I think it's quite dangerous," she said. "It sounds like fun, but now I feel in this time and age, it's so important to give out positive energy and the world is dark enough, I think, so many people in power have maybe not the best intentions. So many people out there are without heart and soul, so I definitely want to concentrate on the good and positive stuff. I feel like the rock fans, the metalheads, they are people who really are passionate about things, who feel something, who are very, very loving and very sensitive and I deeply appreciate that. Yeah, I definitely turned towards the positive side and call it 'heaven,' I like the positive energy. It's very important, I think."

She was also asked whether she dabbled in the "dark side," including drugs and alcohol. "I was fooling around and flirting with a lot of dark things and I remember when I was moving to New York, I played the Ouija board," said Doro. "It was forbidden in Germany, so of course, it was very attractive to do it in America. I did it with my producer, Joey Balin. I did the 'Triumph And Agony' and 'Force Majeure' albums [with him] and we actually wrote some new songs for the new album, 'Turn It Up' and 'A Thousand Years'. He showed me a couple of things and we played the Ouija board. It got totally out of hand, it got out of hand so bad, our apartment almost burned down because I think we were definitely flirting with some evil spirits out there and I definitely realized there is another dimension and it's not good. It's not good if you want to survive and when I was young, I was very much checking out everything, I was very curious. And it was actually a cool thing to do, especially in metal in the beginning. Everything was very mystical and everything was demons and heaven and hell and stuff, but, I think I learned my lesson and yeah, I think it's better the other way, I must say. But it's much more difficult to write cool metal lyrics when you want to empower the people with positive energy. It's easier to destroy everything. It's pretty easy, but to do something that is meaningful and is touching and is positive, it takes much more thought. But I like it that way because I was close to death when I was 15. I was very, very sick, very ill for a whole year. I didn't know if I would survive, so I thought if I would ever survive, then I want to do something with my life. I want to make people happy. I thought I wanted to do something in music, but before I didn't do it, but then I got out of the hospital and two weeks later, I had my first band. The band was called SNAKEBITE, then it was BEAST, then ATTACK, then WARLOCK. We were at the right time and the right place. It was when metal got bigger and bigger. It was actually great to be a part of it. When you have the experience when you are that close to dying, then everything is getting into a different perspective. And you really want to live. Before, you're just living, you don't care. But, then it got really serious. I thought, 'Yeah, I want to make people happy. I want to give back if I'm the lucky one who survived. I definitely want to make people happy with music.'"

"Forever Warriors, Forever United" will be released on August 17 via Nuclear Blast. The first single from the epic collection of tracks, "All For Metal", features an assortment of metal heroes, who can also be seen in the official music video: Mille Petrozza (KREATOR),Johan Hegg (AMON AMARTH),Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT),Warrel Dane (NEVERMORE, SANCTUARY),Jeff Waters (ANNIHILATOR),SABATON, Ross The Boss (MANOWAR),Rock 'N' Rolf (RUNNING WILD),DETRAKTOR, Tommy Bolan (ex-WARLOCK),Andy Brings and The Ultimate Doro Clan.

The album cover artwork was once again created by Doro's favorite artist, Geoffrey Gillespie. It portrays Doro in the middle of a swarm of wild metalheads exuding attitude, power and positive vibes.

The long-awaited follow-up to 2012's "Raise Your Fist" will be the German singer's first release since 2016's "Love's Gone To Hell" single.