Doro landade i Stockholm i måndags efter att ha spelat på Skogsröjet. Ett gig som verkade falla många i smaken att döma av recensionerna.
Doro är en otroligt trevlig och omtänksam kvinna. Hon är klädd i full läderregalia när jag möter henne på skivbolagets kontor. Jag är sist för dagen och mellan två andra intervjuer tittar hon över till mig och undrar om jag vill ha något att dricka och vi kallpratar lite om vart hon ska härnäst.
När det väl blir min tur är tiden pressad då hon ska ut direkt till Arlanda för flyg hem till Tyskland. Intervjun blev kort och kom främst att handla om tre män, Ronnie James Dio, Gerard Depardieu och Lemmy.
You´ve got a new album coming out and there´s a tribute to Ronnie James Dio on it. I started thinking that there is quite a similarity between you and Dio in one aspect and that is personality wise. No one said a bad word about Dio and he never said a bad word about anyone, except for Vivian Campbell.
Doro: (laughs)
Same goes for you. No one ever says anything bad about you and I´ve never heard of you saying anything bad about other bands or past members or anything. Where do you think that comes from? Is that from your upbringing, something that came from your parents? You seem like a very caring person and I know you care a lot about your fans.
Doro: Yeah, that´s my highest priority in my life, that and my mum. My dad is not alive anymore and he was a really sweet guy. I miss him every day and he died in 2000 and for me it was the biggest loss. He was really, really sensitive and sweet and my mum always says “Oh you have a lot of your dad in you.”. People ask me “Can you do that?” and I never say no. It doesn´t even occur to me. My mum says “Why did you do that? You´re so much like your dad.”. I always like to concentrate on the good stuff and the positive stuff and I only see good in people or in situations. I don´t like to see the bad stuff. I guess when you´re looking for something, you can always find something. I like the positive attitude and I must say that when I went to New York in 1986 it was so much the land of the free and you could do whatever and you could live your dreams and all the people were in the same mind frame and it was definitely different from Germany back then. I don´t know. I always try to keep it positive and I´m really thankful for all the good stuff and the fans and all the good shit.
Yeah. The times we are living in are a lot about gossip, bad reality shows where people are hurtful to each other and they say stupid stuff. It is a bit of a different society these days. I always find it admirable when people are like you and I feel I´m a bit like you and I try to see the positive stuff and I try to treat people in a kind way. One of the things I´ve thought of the last couple of years is that the main thing in life is about being a good person and to do good.
Doro: I couldn´t agree with you more. Actually, I´ve got one little story to tell you and it´s proof of that. On two occasions I did a past life regression and a year ago it was with a lady from Switzerland and you could tell that she knew that stuff. You look into her eyes and… yeah, she´s a very wise woman. I didn´t know if it would work but she said “Lay down on the couch and relax.” And I said “No, it doesn´t work with me.” And then she said “Tell me what you have on! Look at your feet!” and I looked at my feet and I started laughing. It was so funny and she said “What´s so funny?” and I said “ I have the weirdest shoes on. They are like little slippers. Where are my high heels or biker boots?”. Then she said “Well, look up!”. You have your eyes closed during this, you´re in a trance but you can still talk. I looked up and I had these weird clothes on and they were very uncomfortable and suddenly I was in this past life. I was a woman and I was in Hungary. It was pretty bad and I was hungry all the time and times were really tough. I saw myself on a horse, riding like crazy trying to warn the farmers of something and there was a war going on. Na ja. This was a TV thing and for me it was interesting but to them it was not that interesting. Then I went into another life time and I was a guy and I was huge. I almost looked like Gerard Depardieu, like a butcher. It was 1648 in Dubrovnik and I´d never been there. We never played there. I was not so good and I was out with whores and drinking beer. It was unbelievable! I was married to a beautiful woman but she was boring and had two kids. Then they called me back for another TV thing and I said “Yeah, it would be very interesting to do it again.”, so I went back and I actually saw myself dying in jail. I was sentenced to life and I was bad. I saw myself dying and then I saw something like my soul or something and it came out through my head and it formed into a light, like a little sun or a comet and then my whole conscious and all my feelings were in that thing and I looked down on my body and I was very sad and then another lifetime started. Then the lady said “Ok, now you´ve gotta come back!” and she woke me up and said “Tell me the first thought that comes to mind!” and my first thought was that “You have to do good in life.That´s the most important thing.”. It´s very simple, but it´s very important. Maybe that´s why now I´m a little girl, because I overdid it. I had too much fun and I didn´t care, so now I care. (laughs)
That´s a cool story. Ronnie James Dio then? What did he mean to you?
Doro: When I first met him I couldn´t even speak English. It was in the 80´s and it was my second tour. I think it was ´87. The first one was with Judas Priest and it was my first time in Sweden and then with Ronnie James Dio in ´87 and we had a great relationship but it was limited. We didn´t really talk much. It was in the 80´s and these big productions and there wasn´t actually much time to talk. Then I did a song for a Dio tribute album, “Egypt (The chains are on)” and then times in the 90´s were difficult when grunge was so big. Finally metal was coming back a little bit and I went to the “Magika” release party in New York. I went there and I said “Hey Ronnie, congratulations to your new album!” and he said “Oh, I´m so glad you´re here. I wanted to tell you that I love the song you did for the tribute album!”. Later on I was listening to the radio and Ronnie was on doing an interview and the DJ said “Ok, what song do you wanna hear?” and he said “Let´s hear ‘Egypt (The chains are on)’.” and it was our version. I was ready to cry and I was so touched. Then I did an interview with KNAC and my record was just being finished, “Calling the wild” and then the lady asked me “So, any touring plans for the States?” and I said “Yeah, of course we wanna go on tour. Maybe opening up for somebody or do our own headlining tour in the clubs.”. She said “How about the tour with Ronnie James Dio?” and I said “Yeah, that would be awesome!”. She then said “He´s calling in an hour. Should I suggest it?” and she did. We ended up on tour together a couple of weeks later and it was the best tour in my life. It meant so much when metal came back in the States. I gave my life insurance to go on tour for the tour bus and the crew. It costs you and the record companies didn´t do any tour support anymore. We went on tour together and it was the best tour. It meant so much. We went to Florida and I was watching the show every night and sometimes we went out to dinner, the whole crew and bands and it was so good. I remember Ronnie loved Indian food so we always went to Indian restaurants. At one of the last shows in Florida I was sitting next to the stage and suddenly Ronnie left the stage and the manager said “You know what´s coming, right?”. I said “No.” and then he said “You´re up!” and Ronnie came with a second microphone and on the last shows we did a couple of songs together. He was so inspiring and every night I watched the show. Even when he was exhausted and sick he gave it his all and he always took the time to greet every fan and write the autographs. I just thought “I can learn from the best.”. We had a good vibe going. He didn´t tell me, but he told some journalist that he was working on “Magika” 2 and 3 and that he wanted to do something together with me. I would´ve loved to do that. Who knows, maybe there is another life? (laughs)
Yeah! Final thing. Lemmy is on the album. What´s it like working with Lemmy?
Doro: Ronnie James Dio and Lemmy are icons who are loved by the whole metal world and I love Lemmy as well. He was the first musician I met like in 1983 in England. With Dio I could speak a little bit, but in ´83 nothing. He passed me a whisky and a cigarette. Back then you could smoke in all the pubs. We hung out and became big time friends. We saw each other many times at festivals. We played the Monsters of Rock festival in England, Castle Donnington, and the headliners were the Scorpions and Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy was screwing around on stage. I walked back and I met Lemmy. He said “Where are you going?” and I said “I´m not allowed up here. I don´t have the right pass.”. Then the next guy who came walking by, Lemmy took his pass and said “Let´s go!”. I love Lemmy and doing something together is such an honor. We did his vocals in LA and he was very sick and he had a cold and he just came off tour with Megadeth. He said “Ah, I´m so sick. I don´t think I can do it.”. Then he tried and it sounded so great. Every whisper, every word. I think he was very soulful. I love “Ace of spades” and so on, but the soulful side of him is great.
Cool! Congratulations on another album and I hope we´ll get to see you here soon again.
Doro: Yeah, I´m coming back to Malmö for this rock convention (Rockmässan) and I think Udo will be there too and we might do something together. We´ll be hanging out and maybe do a session with some other musicians.
Any other plans for Sweden?
Doro: Yes. After the 70000 tons of metal at the end of January we do an American tour and then in March and April we´ll do Sweden and Scandinavia and hopefully Sweden Rock Festival. It´s not confirmed, but I hope so.
Great and thank you so much!
Doro: Thank you!
/Niclas
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