MIKKEY DEE On His Time With SCORPIONS: 'It's Been A Great Journey So Far For Me'

During a press conference announcing SCORPIONS' 60th-anniversary hometown concert in Hannover, Germany next July, former MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee was asked how he came to join the German hard rock legends. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I played with MOTÖRHEAD, as you probably know, for close to 25 years. And unfortunately, Lemmy [MOTÖRHEAD leader] passed away at the end of '15. And then Matthias [Jabs, SCORPIONS guitarist] called in early '16 and said, 'Are you in Göteborg [Gothenburg, Sweden], Mikkey?' I go, 'Yeah.' 'Can you come to Luxembourg tomorrow?' [Laughs] Basically, that's how it was. And I was basically gonna be standing in a little bit and helping out because James Kottak [then-SCORPIONS drummer] was battling a little bit of a health issue. But he did a great tour in Germany. And I was basically just standing by at that time. And we did rehearse a little bit secretly learning a few [songs]. And then I finished off the year and here I am, and we're going on the ninth year… Nine next year. But here we are and kicking ass like never before, I would say, and it's been a great journey so far for me."

Mikkey continued: "If you asked me, I'd say, 'Yeah, I've been playing with these crazy guys for about four years.' But we're talking nine, so time's flying. And we managed to create a great record [2022's 'Rock Believer'] over the COVID years. So it's gone so quick these nine years. I would say four, maybe five, but not nine. But here we are. So that's how it came about. So, something bad turned into something pretty good, I would say. And, yeah, as Lemmy's passing and then joining this band, I wanted to bring some power and tightness and a little bit of MOTÖRHEAD into the mighty SCORPS. And we've been friends, over the years, we'd seen each other at festivals and shows, so we kind of knew each other, but we never played together. And so there we are. Hopefully many more years to come. And we're starting off with the 60th [anniversary] next year, so that's a great honor to be a part of that."

In an April 2023 interview with Robert Cavuoto of Metal Rules, Mikkey was asked how he landed the job as the drummer for SCORPIONS in 2016 after spending almost 25 years as a member of MOTÖRHEAD. He responded: "They [initially] called me in to be the stand-in for maybe James. Because they started to get tired of his problems. So they said, 'Look, if you could be a stand-in on parts of the European tour.' I said, 'Yeah. No problem.' But meanwhile, while I was secretly following the band around in Germany, we were rehearsing a couple of times — secretly. And I'm sure that they wanted to check me out there, of course. And you never know how things are gonna go with the social part or the musical part, but they loved it immediately. And my idea was to show them what they cannot be without, basically.

"James is a great drummer," Mikkey continued. "He did fantastic with SCORPIONS. He ran into some health problems that he had to deal with. I was never, and I will never, talk him down in any way, shape or form, but I would like to do, what I wanted to do at that point was to show what I can do and what you cannot be without. I said to the guys that I'm gonna Motörize them. 'I want it harder, tighter and heavier, and I'm gonna show you what kind of drummer I am. I'm gonna put much more energy into what we do, and hopefully that will contaminate the whole band and we can take it to another level. And I can inspire enough to you guys, and you will inspire me as well, of course.' Because playing pretty much the same stuff for 25 years is one thing. So this was a big challenge for me, of course, as well… And when that works out the way it did, it's a good thing. They have no attitude. I have no attitude. We knew each other before. We get along great. And now we're just gonna play great together. But of course, you never, ever, ever know. I might be an idiot getting out there with the SCORPIONS, being a complete prick about stuff. And they go, 'Holy shit. We don't remember you like this.' I might think that, 'Holy smoke. These guys are fucking morons. I can't deal with this.' But that was not the case. And of course, we got along great, and we still do. And we're having a blast on the road and in the studio. So, it turned out to be a win-win situation."

The now-60-year-old Swedish musician also elaborated on his comment that "secretly followed" the SCORPIONS around in Germany while Kottak was still playing with the band.

"I saw every single show because I had to sit and learn the set," Dee explained. "And I was sitting secretly up on the arena. Usually, they have it blocked off. If you draw a line on the short side of an arena, the stage and then backwards, it's never open for the public. I had to sit very, very far away up there with in-ears, so I could hear what was going on. And [James] knew that there was a drummer [acting as a possible stand-in], [but he did] not [know] who it was. And he played great. I mean, he shaped up and played fine. And then I went back [home] to Sweden. And then I got a call just right after the European tour, and they said, 'Look, can you finish out the year?' And I said, 'Absolutely. 'Cause I'm doing nothing.' And I realized at that time that [James is] not coming back, because we already did some rehearsals and I showed them kind of what they cannot be without; I was hoping. But he did great, and then, obviously, he kind of lost it there a little bit. You can't live everybody else's life, of course. I was not there to snag his seat in the SCORPIONS, but they had to do something, and that's what they chose to do. And here I was."

More than two years ago, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker spoke to Spain's classic rock radio station RockFM about how he would compare the drumming styles of Kottak and Dee. Schenker said: "Every musician has his own style. James was great, and is still a great drummer — no question about this — but we had a little problem… well, he had a problem, and we tried to help him through the problem. In this case, we noticed that he need[ed] more time than we could give him because we were on tour. So in this case, Matthias had the idea to call Mikkey Dee, because he was available because of Lemmy's death. So, yeah, it was a great thing to see light in the distance because we were a little bit depressed because we [were] helping James so much, but he couldn't deliver the spirit we gave him. And so we split."

Rudolf continued: "We rehearsed with Mikkey Dee and we noticed immediately there's a new kind of kick-ass [energy]. Everybody has his own style, and Mikkey Dee is really a very — especially for me as a rhythm guitar player — he is a very influencing person. That means when I play my riffs, he knows how to make them more wild and more powerful. And that's very good — it's a synergy effect which even is added by Paweł [Mąciwoda, bass] because they are really a great rhythm team, Pawel and Mikkey Dee, and me as a rhythm guitar player, we can build a great basis for Matthias and Klaus [Meine, vocals]."

SCORPIONS will celebrate their 60th stage anniversary with a big concert in their hometown. The "60th Anniversary - Coming Home" event will take place on July 5, 2025 at the Heinz Von Heiden Arena in Hannover and will feature a number of special guests, including JUDAS PRIEST.

SCORPIONS' only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of the band's studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and Mąciwoda and Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.

"Rock Believer" was released in February 2022. The album was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

Kottak passed away on January 9 in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was born and lived until 1987, although further details about the exact circumstances of his death weren't available.

In addition to SCORPIONS and KINGDOM COME, Kottak had toured with such bands as WARRANT and even DIO for a short run. James was also involved in various other projects, including the 1990s band KRUNK in which he sang lead vocals and played guitar.