Suzi Quatro broke down the doors and paved the way for everyone from The Runaways to Girlschool, inspiring generations of girls to don their leather and rock shoulder to shoulder with the boys. Metal Express Radio's Mick Burgess spoke with Suzi ahead of her forthcoming UK tour to chat about her new compilation featuring  20 tracks that she personally handpicked, including all of the hits and deep album cuts. She also talks about her years on the road with KISS, Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy as well as her new project QSP with The Sweet`s Andy Scott and Don Powell of Slade. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: You toured over the years with such artists as Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper.  How did performing with those artists help to shape your stage craft?

Suzi: "We were all starting at the same time so we were all learning whatever we were learning at that time.  It`s not like I looked up to them and thought I wanted to be like them.  We were all at the same level, playing the same gigs and learning our craft."

Q: Did you ever get to play with KISS?

Suzi: "KISS supported me on my first tour of America when I had just had my hits. They were on the bill with Blue Oyster Cult and they supported me in Detroit. They were my support group and I recently told Gene that and he cracked up and said that he remembered it well."

Q: You're currently involved in a project with Don Powell of Slade and Andy Scott of Sweet called QSP. How did this first come about?

Suzi: "Andy Scott produced my Back To The Drive album in 2006 and my husband said that there was something musically happening and wouldn't that be a great combination. He then suggested Don Powell and I thought it was a great idea. A couple of years ago we all had the time so we just went and did it. It came together very quickly. Once we were in the studio we wrote songs and recorded those along with 8 covers. It`s just a fabulous album and is coming out late September/early October. It's been out in Australia for a while and went Top 20 there so we`re excited for it to finally come out over in the UK. I think next time, as we`re writing together so well, we`ll have more originals on the album. With this one we were finding our feet."

Go to this location for the complete interview.