MIKKEY DEE Says He 'Felt As A Very Narrow Drummer' By The End Of His Time With KING DIAMOND

September 7, 2021

During a recent appearance on "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, former MOTÖRHEAD and current SCORPIONS drummer Mikkey Dee discussed the evolution of his drumming style. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "If you take KING DIAMOND, DOKKEN, MOTÖRHEAD, now SCORPIONS, they have come in in the right time in my life. For instance, by the end of KING DIAMOND, I felt as a very narrow drummer because all I could do is all this stuff. I felt a lot of stress, and back beats and technical drum fills and ripping apart certain songs, I felt at the time. Because when we moved out to California, I started jamming with, if you will call them regular musicians — more rocking out, jamming cover songs of [LED] ZEPPELIN and DEEP PURPLE again. And I felt stressed. And I felt that my meter wasn't where it was supposed to be. And I wanted to become wider. And the DOKKEN thing was the perfect thing for me to step from KING DIAMOND with. I learned a lot, how to just sit and rock out. And then, after a few years with Don [Dokken], I felt that this is great, but I do belong in the heavier division; I am a heavier drummer. And then, suddenly again, MOTÖRHEAD was the right time to join."

He continued: "After 25 years with MOTÖRHEAD, there's no secret that we felt in the end maybe we wanted to do something else — either do a solo record or be inspired with something else. Because with MOTÖRHEAD, we had a very tight frame to work within, which was MOTÖRHEAD. And sometimes me and Phil [Campbell, guitar] could write some music and Lemmy [bass, vocals] would come in and go, 'What the hell do you want me to sing to that? That song is more aimed to RUSH. We're not RUSH; we're MOTÖRHEAD.' And he was totally right by that. Maybe we took off a little too much out of the framework of being MOTÖRHEAD."

Dee, who has been a member of SCORPIONS since 2016, played drums for KING DIAMOND from 1985 until 1989. The Swedish-born drummer also played with MOTÖRHEAD from 1991 until the band's dissolution in December 2015.

Dee played on the classic KING DIAMOND albums "Fatal Portrait", "Abigail" and "Them" until he left in 1988 to join Don Dokken. He returned a year later as a session player on KING DIAMOND's "Conspiracy".

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