BW&BK; would like to apologize on behalf of Canada to metalheads the world over for running with the Metal Queen farce that was Lee Aaron back in the ‘80s.

Ontario-born Lady Aaron’s title stemmed from the breakthrough album and song of the same name, released in 1984, but became less and less appropriate as her career moved forward. Half a world away, at the exact same time of Miss Watcha Do To My Body’s rise toward commercial Bodyrock fame, vocalist Doro Pesch was hammering out an authentic take-no-prisoners metal queen reputation of her own. As the voice of Warlock she quickly rose to popularity following the release of Burning The Witches in 1984. Within a few short years the band became an international success story alongside their German brethren in Accept, Scorpions and Helloween, and shared stages with the likes of Metallica, Megadeth and Sanctuary. When Warlock fell apart in 1988 Pesch forged ahead, holding close to the band’s legacy even as she explored a less full-on metal direction.

Twenty-seven years into her career and Pesch is nowhere close to slowing down. Artists grow and change over time – in Lee Aaron’s case this includes well-documented trashing of the genre that gave her a name – and while this is true of Pesch, she is still metal at her core. One needs only to attend a live show to have this truth slammed home. On December 13th, 2008 she celebrated her 25th anniversary as a metal legend with a show of epic proportions, unleashed now for the fans that couldn’t attend as a DVD, 25 Years In Rock. A long wait, but well worth it.

“It took almost two years, yes. We performed on December 13th, 2008 and one or two months later the Fear No Evil record came out, so we were out touring non-stop and doing festivals,” Pesch says of the perceived delay in getting the package out. “In January this year we started working on the DVD, we mixed it in Pennsylvania, we edited and organized all the pictures in Berlin, so it took about eight months to get everything done. I actually delivered the finished product to the label before we went on tour in America. It took a long time, but it’s a long DVD; six or seven hours, I think. The concert is between two-and-a-half and three hours long, there’s a 90 minute documentary, a lot of behind-the-scenes material, and we highlighted the festivals from last year and this year.”

Quite the undertaking, especially since Pesch punctuated her 20th anniversary with a six hour DVD package, 20 Years: A Warrior Soul. Never mind the mumblings of a cash grab; putting together a production the size of 25 Years In Rock is a huge and time consuming amount of work.

“It can never be too much,” Pesch says. “When I know I can do something for the fans that I know they’ll like, it’s never too much time or too much work being invested in it. When I do something I want to do it right. I don’t want to be like the flavor of the month where people like what I do for a while and then forget about it. I want to give the fans something they can play over and over, like watching the DVD and finding something new little thing on it each time. Whatever it takes to make the fans happy.”

Some fans are happy to get their rocks off with YouTube links. In this day and age one might consider efforts of Pesch and waste of time and money.

“Of course, that’s the same as with records nowadays,” she agrees. “Sometimes it’s a problem. Compared to record sales in the ‘80s, in this day and age bands might be doing 5% of that. When I make a record now I need about a year to make it nice. I still go to a studio with a great engineer; I don’t want to sit at home using a computer for everything. It has to be right. This DVD was the same thing because it was put together in big studio. The quality should never have to suffer.”
“I think metal fans are different from normal music or pop fans,” she adds. “Most of them want to have the real thing and not a digital download or a YouTube video because they appreciate the music a lot more. Metal is a lifestyle.”

With her hand constantly on the pulse of her fanbase, it comes as no surprise that Pesch was involved in every aspect of 25 Years In Rock even as she was touring the world in support of her latest album, Fear No Evil.

“Absolutely, and usually I’m there when an album gets mixed or when the DVD is being edited. I definitely believe in being a team player, and when people do something for you when you’re not there I think it’s important to keep in touch, discuss things, and keep the spirit of the project alive. I like to keep close contact with people that I work with, and sometimes when we were on tour it was impossible to be involved with the DVD, so when we had a day off or we were between festivals I went to Berlin to see how things were going. The guys would show me what they’d done and ask for my opinion, and I’d tell them what I thought”
“It was important to me that all the special guests were featured in the nicest way possible,” Pesch continues, referring to a performance roster that included Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish), Chris Boltendahl (Grave Digger) and Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (Overkill) to name a few. “I was so happy that everyone came to perform, and in some cases they flew as much as 13 hours to maybe play just one song. I think Warrel Dane from Nevermore had the longest journey, coming all the way from Seattle. That’s a great thing, so I definitely wanted to make sure that we used the best camera angles, the best sound. That was very important to me.”

Pesch’s career is loaded with high points, and 25 years in they keep coming. Her repeat visits to China over the past two years are a prime example.

“We’ve played China a couple of times now, and it’s a totally different experience compared to what we were used to. It’s a very different culture and it’s wonderful. The metal vibe and the scene in China is pretty young compared to Europe or North America, but it’s getting stronger and bigger every year. It was awesome to be there. We actually had to send the records and lyrics to them because of their censorship laws, but when we were in the country we played every song that we wanted to play. It was very cool.”

“It took a long time to line things up so we could go there the first time (in November 2008). And, it was a real problem for our American band members Johnny Dee (drums) and Nick Douglas (bass) because, last year when everyone was going crazy about the swine flu we were on tour in Europe, and they were told by the Chinese embassy that they had to apply for entry into China from America. It was unbelievable. We sent someone over to America with the passports to get the right visas… it was so difficult. But in the end we made it in and out (laughs).”

More recently, Pesch finally had the opportunity to play Japan for the first time in her life.

“It was my first trip ever to Japan (in October 2010). We were close to doing it once before but everything fell apart at the last minute. Some fans had waited 27 years to see me play there, and they actually travelled to all the gigs we did there. They were in Nagoya, Osaka, they showed up at the airport… they were amazing. I was on the bullet train, and it travels something like 350 kilometers an hour. These fans said goodbye to me when I entered the train, they waved goodbye as the train was pulling out of the station so I know there was no way they could have gotten on board, but they were in the next city waiting for us when we got there (laughs). It’s the fastest train in the world and I don’t know how they managed to get there before us! It was magic (laughs).”

It’s hard to believe that Warlock never toured Japan, particularly during the Triumph And Agony era in 1987 when acts like Accept and Helloween had already paved the way. Pesch sheds some light on the mystery.

“I think Warlock had a really big fanbase in Japan in the ‘80s, but at that time the record company there felt it was a problem bringing a band with a female singer over. The fans did have a problem with it, but some of the people in charge were traditional in their thinking. They didn’t believe women should be up on stage singing and screaming like I did (laughs). I couldn’t believe it, but that’s why we never played Japan while all the other German and American metal bands went over. We finally got there, though, and there were many, many women in the audience, so things have certainly changed. It was awesome, and we’ll definitely being going back.”

Pesch will be finishing out 2010 on the road, with a German headline tour following a short run supporting Motörhead. A precious nod of respect from the Lemmy camp according to her.

“I think it was a mutual friend that used to work at SPV that put it together. She’s been doing promotion for Motörhead and suggested having me on the tour as support. The band thought it was a great idea, so it was just a question of sorting out the details between the two sides, but there were no problems at all. We had our own tour booked already, but we said ‘Fuck it’ and cancelled everything because we really wanted to go out with Motörhead. I’m so looking forward to it. Lemmy, man, I love him so much.”

It won’t be a case of simply plugging in and playing, however. As Toronto rocker Danko Jones put it in a BW&BK; interview following his own Motörhead support tour: “Doing three weeks with them I noticed that the audience gives support acts three songs. During those three songs they’re looking at you like you can go fuck yourself, and if you don’t win them over they’ll tell you to fuck off.”

Pesch isn’t concerned.

“I’m sure it will be fine, but I know what Danko means. Sometimes the fans just want to see the headliner and everything else is just a waste of time to them, but sometimes I think it’s good to work even harder. I don’t mind working my ass off; it doesn’t hurt.”