MIKKEY DEE Returns To His Legendary KING DIAMOND Roots With LEX LEGION: 'We Were Dangerous In Those Days'

By David E. Gehlke

LEX LEGION is yet another KING DIAMOND / MERCYFUL FATE offshoot — and it may be the best one yet. Featuring long-time KING DIAMOND co-conspirator and lead guitarist Andy LaRocque, along with classic-era members Pete Blakk (guitar),Hal Patino (bass) and Mikkey Dee (drums),LEX LEGION wisely snapped up seasoned veteran vocalist Nils K. Rue of PAGAN's MIND for a vigorous dose of classy, well-built, dark, catchy-chorus and muscular melodic metal. The quintet's just-released self-titled LP succeeds because it's less about mimicking the songwriting style of King Diamond — in MERCYFUL FATE and his eponymous solo band — and is more boiled down to the chemistry between the assembled talent that was forged during successive years of hard touring and frequent studio work. And, as a relative matter, LEX LEGION is a pretty solid holdover while the wait for a new KING DIAMOND studio album continues.

Having the ultra-busy Dee on drums for LEX LEGION also doesn't hurt. The current SCORPIONS and former MOTÖRHEAD skin-basher is renowned in rock and metal circles for being one of the best at his craft. His first break, of course, came via the first four KING DIAMOND studio albums, where his inventive, sometimes flashy, yet always rock-solid drumming was often a highlight within the band's labyrinthine song arrangements. He left King's band for Don Dokken's solo outfit in 1988 and returned the following year as a session musician for "Conspiracy". He then joined MOTÖRHEAD in 1992, where he remained until Lemmy Kilmister's passing in 2015. With LEX LEGION gaining momentum and his KING DIAMOND drum licks forever embedded in the firmament of metal, BLABBERMOUTH.NET got the Swede on the line for a chat.

Blabbermouth: Who were you the closest with during the KING DIAMOND years?

Mikkey: "Pete and I played in GEISHA before we were in KING. Hal, I had known the whole time as well. We lived in Copenhagen for three years. We were all super-close. We were buds. It's a long time ago. [Laughs] Me, Andy and Pete, we live about an hour away from each other, and Hal lives in Norway, but he's Danish. I used Hal for the NORDIC BEAST thing I did a few years back, with John Norum [EUROPE]. Me, Andy and Pete, we see each other all the time."

Blabbermouth: You've been out with the SCORPS the last few years. Did you need to do anything to get back into "heavy metal" shape for LEX LEGION?

Mikkey: "No, it's all natural. [Laughs] I don't need to do anything special, no. It's just a different way of thinking, really, when you arrange drums. With this record, we all talked about how we wanted to simplify it; we wanted better flow in the music. It's a little bit mainstream and melodic, maybe not so choppy as KING DIAMOND used to be. It's a completely new band, and we're not trying to sound like KING or anything, but, of course, this stuff we wrote and recorded together, so it came very naturally to how these songs turned out. And it just happened that Nils is that type of singer. He's got a range that is insane, like Geoff Tate [ex-QUEENSRŸCHE]. He's a great singer and a very nice guy. He fits perfectly. There are a bunch of similarities to maybe KING DIAMOND, because Andy and Pete do their guitar harmonies, and the way we arranged the songs back in the day is not very typical. Like I used to say, if we had a well-known producer, he or she would tear their hair out: 'Why do you have this section here?' Or, 'Why do you do this over here?' 'That makes no sense.' For us, that's exactly the reason. You start off a song with guitar harmonies, and there's an extra four bars before the vocals come in, and a producer will say, 'Hey, listen, come right in here and you do this and that.' That's the kind of traditional way of writing music. They are not wrong; they are right, but this is how we wrote this."

Blabbermouth: You are still pulling off the fast double bass, like on "(I Am) The Resurrected".

Mikkey: "That song just has small little pieces of that. It's fun. I don't consider myself a fast drummer, but I try to be able to play pretty much everything. Yeah, it's great fun to have your hands do all this shit that doesn't really fit. You're thinking outside of the box a little bit. When you go with the SCORPIONS from the later records, it must fit the song. A drum fill might sound like you're dropping a sack of potatoes down the stairs. [Laughs] It doesn't really fit. You got to have that special feeling when you add stuff or where you can do some other stuff. But this time, I thought, 'less is more.' I could have done a drum solo over all of these songs and backbeats and kind of going back to where we were with KING DIAMOND, and also doing really weird time signatures, but that wasn't what we wanted. We wanted a flow in the songs and heavy guitar riffs. The groove was much more important than trying to get a gold medal in drums like you did when you were in your 20s, like when you were comparing yourself to other drummers. Those days are long gone."

Blabbermouth: What was it like getting back together and working on the songs with the guys?

Mikkey: "Andy, Pete and I put together most of it, which was great because it's fun to be creative, especially with two guys like Andy and Pete. They come up with really good riffs. That's how it all started, with a couple of riffs by Pete. I got turned on right away and said, 'Let's call Andy and Hal and see if we can get something together.' If the four of us will do something, we'll find a singer, and maybe we have something here.' But, I am way, way too busy just to start another band."

Blabbermouth: Given your current priorities with the SCORPS, are shows an option with LEX LEGION?

Mikkey: "The plan is this year, we are doing what we do now, which is press. Andy and I are doing four, five, six interviews almost every day. We want to put the band on the map. We want to talk about it and let people know we exist. At the time, right now, we're actually writing for the next record. Hopefully, by the end of this year, we'll have most of the next record done. That's the plan. We might do one show in November, like a showcase/gig, and then next year, we're going to do live shows; that's the plan."

Blabbermouth: So, it sounds like this is going to be a fun thing for you guys to do that won't force anyone to quit their day jobs.

Mikkey: "Right. I love playing with the SCORPIONS. I love the guys; I love the band. We've been busy for the last ten years, and now we have a full year ahead of us. We'll be in Europe throughout the summer, then go to Mexico and back to Vegas for another three weeks from September to October. It's full-on, really."

Blabbermouth: You just saying you've been with the SCORPIONS for ten years is hard to believe.

Mikkey: "I know. It feels like five years. It's been over ten years since Lemmy died, too. The SCORPIONS like to take a little longer breaks, which is why LEX LEGION works for me. If we have a longer break next year, like we're talking several months, they enjoy that, but I can't do that. I don't work like that. I need to be playing to keep my level up both mentally and physically. I tend to get lazy when nothing is happening. That scares me a bit. That's why I know we're going to play shows next year. I know the boys are going to say, 'Listen, we want to have a few months off.' I'll go, 'Okay, that's fine.' And that's when we're going to kick ass with LEX LEGION."

Blabbermouth: There have been a few MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND offshoots. What makes this one special?

Mikkey: "Well, it's the four of us. All through the years, I got asked, 'When are you going to do something with Andy?' 'When are you going to hook up with Pete?' 'When are you and Hal going to be a couple again?' It's a constant request for the older stuff, and I understand that because in the '80s we created some kind of cult with 'Fatal Portrait', 'Abigail', 'Them' and 'Conspiracy'. We exploded, and so many bands took after us. I totally understand that and there's nothing wrong with that. I did a press conference with MOTÖRHEAD and the questions kept coming. The same thing with SCORPIONS and Dokken, the KING DIAMOND era always comes up. Here we are. Fucking take it or leave it!"

Blabbermouth: Did that come as a surprise to you?

Mikkey: "I understand it. While we were in it, we didn't realize it. We were young guys; we recorded the way we did, and we toured a lot. We did long tours in the U.S., and we created something. I believe we came at the right time with the right type of music. We were dangerous in those days. [Laughs] But I do understand that. It makes me proud that I was a part of it. I remember enjoying it so much, and it helped me throughout my drumming career because I practiced a lot and I was trying to build a backbone as a drummer. The only problem was that I felt pretty narrow as a drummer. That was one of the reasons why I quit KING DIAMOND."

Blabbermouth: You joined Don's solo band with John Norum, who you mentioned earlier. That was a big step.

Mikkey: "It was. I keep saying the Don Dokken thing was the best college I could have gone to. Don is such an amazing musician. He's a great drummer, guitarist, bassist and a good songwriter. He's a great friend of mine; we still talk all the time. I learned how to groove and how to stay in the beat and get the stress out of my body — to be a regular drummer, basically and not do weird shit all the time and not do weird shit every bar and turn beats around. I felt narrow then. My meter got back on track. It was great. I learned a lot from that. That made me get ready for a fucking band like MOTÖRHEAD. They've been asking me to join since '86. People thought I was a dumbass to turn them down three times, respectfully, of course. [Laughs] We stayed in touch. Lemmy, Phil [Campbell] and Würzel [Michael Richard Burton] knew what I was talking about. I didn't think I had earned my stripes to join a band like MOTÖRHEAD. I needed more routine, I needed to grow up. They would have eaten me for breakfast. Then it's over. I'm glad I had the sense to turn them down, or at least prolonging it and getting them interested enough to keep chasing my ass."

Blabbermouth: Why did you feel narrow in KING? When I think of songs like "Omens" or "Possession", it sounds like you're in the pocket. Do you think you could have played better?

Mikkey: "No, I think those are fine. In general, every song with KING DIAMOND, it's about four, five, six different types of songs in a song."

Blabbermouth: King was using a lot of riffs in those days.

Mikkey: "A lot of changes going on too. It created a lot of stress. I remember arranging the songs with those albums. You had to come up with a lot of composed drum parts, kind of like RUSH. Neal Peart, he invented so many nice drum patterns for their stuff. I had to do the same; even if the riff was very simple, I had to come up with all this weird shit. It's not really weird to tell you the truth; it's more how I arranged it. With Dokken and MOTÖRHEAD, the same thing there. I could have done a drum solo over the songs and destroyed the band. I could have gone, 'Look how good I am!' MOTÖRHEAD was like a fist in the face. I just wanted to make it interesting. On 'Sacrifice', I turned a beat around, and people went, 'Oh, what happened there?' People go, 'Oh, shit. You turned the beat around.' Just little things here and there I did, but MOTÖRHEAD was a fist in the face."

Blabbermouth: While we're on the subject, do you recall your thought process behind being heavy on the ride cymbal during the first to KING's "A Mansion In Darkness"?

Mikkey: "I did all of these; I call them 'ting-a-ling shit' with my ride cymbals and bell. For me, it's a color. I was coloring the beat a little bit. You could play quarter notes over a 22-inch bell ride or something, and I always did [mimics beat], the little 'ting-a-ling' shit. Not everywhere, but to color it, maybe make it stand out. I didn't do it much in MOTÖRHEAD. I had a China cymbal that was fairly beat up; it didn't sound like anything. When drummers sat behind me in MOTÖRHEAD shows, they went, 'Oh my god! You do a lot of accents within the songs! You can't hear them.' I said, 'I'm not doing them for you. I'm doing them for me!' I did it to color it in for me and to add dynamics to some of the straighter beats. That's how it was. That's the backbone of my sound."

Blabbermouth: The intro to "Welcome Home" on "Them", which may be your most iconic beat. Do you remember how it came about?

Mikkey: "I sure do. [Laughs] It's a funny story. My girlfriend kicked my ass out of the apartment for the night. I was drunk as a skunk, actually. I went to the rehearsal room, and there was a tape player. I remember playing some drums at the rehearsal room, and I was going to sleep on my drum riser. We had a tape player, one of those reel-to-reel players. I woke up the next morning, and I saw the tape player, and I go, 'Holy shit. I was trying to fucking play last night like at four in the morning.' I rewound it and listened back. I go, 'What the hell did I do there?' [Laughs] I did a part of that technique [mimics drum beat]. I go, 'That sounded awesome.' I listened to it again, and then I thought, 'I should reverse it.' Then I went [mimics drum beat]. It became an intro thing. When we wrote 'Welcome Home', I said, 'I could start with that drum fill. It might fit pretty good.' Obviously, it did!"

Blabbermouth: Did King or the other guys have something else in mind to start that song, or was the riff going to come in right away?

Mikkey: "No. I said, 'We should start the song with that.' I thought it came out pretty good for something that was actually made alone and drunk in our rehearsal room, at least half of it."

Blabbermouth: Think of this: Had your girlfriend not kicked you out, the metal world may have never heard this beat.

Mikkey: "I would have been still fighting with my girlfriend or trying to get some sleep. [Laughs] This would have never happened."