MIKKEY DEE Doesn't Want To Take His MOTÖRHEAD 'Tribute Thing' On World Tour: 'I Just Wanna Keep It A Show Here And There'

In a new interview with Sweden's TellUs Rock, former MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee spoke about his recently completed run of shows under the "Mikkey Dee With Friends" banner where he performed some of the band's classic songs. The 60-year-old Swedish-born musician, who has been a member of the SCORPIONS since 2016, was joined at the gigs by THE DRIPPERS members Viktor Skatt on bass and vocals, and Stig William Rickard on guitar. Mikkey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's not a tour, but a few shows. It's only a tribute thing. And I do miss playing MOTÖRHEAD songs. I like to play my own songs. [Laughs] I wrote 12 albums with Phil [Campbell, MOTÖRHEAD guitarist] and Lem [MOTÖRHEAD frontman Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister], so it's great to be able to go out and play some of these songs. And the audience has been hysterical — I mean, they cry, and it's a lot of feelings."

He continued: "It's very important to say, we're not going out as MOTÖRHEAD. I've been misquoted so much, it's ridiculous. I'm sick of it. What's so hard to understand that it's kind of a tribute deal? We break in the middle of the set. I do a little storytelling, I take questions from the audience. I mean, it's really cool little venues. So, it's been great to do it, and these guys are total rock and roll that I play with."

Regarding how Skatt and Rickard approach their parts in "Mikkey Dee With Friends", Dee said: "I told them, don't try to be MOTÖRHEAD. Just do your own thing, and we play the songs. And it's been great."

When TellUs Rock noted that this is a show that he could tour all around the world, Mikkey responded: "Yeah, but I don't wanna do that. I just wanna keep it a show here and there. Both me and Phil, we're not playing MOTÖRHEAD at all, really. He's doing his thing with his sons [in their band PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS], and I'm so busy with SCORPIONS that I really don't have time. But this time [SCORPIONS] had a break since August, and I can't just sit on my flat ass and not play drums for six, seven months. Because we start the 16th of March in Mexico. So that's a long, long time to not play, so that's when I figured, 'All right.'"

In a recent interview with Finland's Chaoszine, Dee reflected on MOTÖRHEAD's final tour, which concluded on December 11, 2015, just two weeks before the passing of Lemmy. Mikkey said: "[Lemmy] was very excited. He loved doing this stuff. And I do remember that we were having a pretty tough time. Lemmy was sick. He was tired. And we could not get him off the road. Both me and Phil said, 'Look, let's break.' … Let's go back to [Lemmy's hometown of Los Angeles], rest, eat and we pick up the European tour again. But he said, 'No, no, no, no, no. We've gotta play.' 'Okay.' So me and Phil were talking, and we said, 'Instead of argue with Lemmy, trying to get him off the road, let's just help him instead.' And I remember, the shows, we had to adjust a lot of stuff, but I think we and he did fantastic. I mean, the last show was 11th of December in Berlin, and then a couple of weeks later, the man is gone. So, trust me, me and Phil put in 150 percent and Lemmy must have put in 300 percent to get through the set."

Dee was also once again asked if he and Campbell would ever go out and perform MOTÖRHEAD music together, with someone else stepping in to play Lemmy's parts. He responded: "Well, you never know. I mean, me and Phil wrote great music. But he's fully involved with his boys. And I'm fully involved with SCORPIONS. We're touring a lot. Not right now, obviously, but we're on the road all the time with the SCORPS. So I don't say no; there's always possibilities. But, of course, as I explained in, I think a podcast, I said, and some people misunderstood this, or actually, they didn't — actually the press wrote the wrong things. I said, 'We will never, ever get back together and replace Lemmy. That's impossible.' I said, 'But doing little constellations, doing some tribute stuff, that's great.' That's very, very different. And I think they said something, 'Mikkey will never play MOTÖRHEAD again.' That was the main headline on Blabbermouth. I said that's not what I said at all. [Editor's note: Contrary to Mikkey's assertion, the actual headline for the February 2023 BLABBERMOUTH.NET story that he is referring to was 'MIKKEY DEE: 'We Will Never Tour' Under MOTÖRHEAD Name Again'.] Of course I will play MOTÖRHEAD. But I will never be a part of trying to put MOTÖRHEAD as a band out there again with some other fucking idiot supposed to take Lemmy's place. So that's all I said. But to do this ['Mikkey Dee With Friends' thing], [it's] fantastic. And, of course, we'd like to plan something bigger than this in the future, hopefully."

Lemmy died on December 28, 2015 at the age of 70 shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer.

MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy's poor health, although the band did manage to complete the aforementioned European tour a couple of weeks before his death.

In June 2020, it was announced that Lemmy would get the biopic treatment. The upcoming film, "Lemmy", will be directed by Greg Olliver, who previously helmed the 2010 documentary of the same name, "Lemmy".

A custom-made urn containing Lemmy's ashes is on permanent display in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood, California.