Drumming News :
By: Paul Rogne / DNN Publisher
Few drummers in hard rock and heavy metal have built a career as enduring—or as diverse—as Mikkey Dee’s. Musician, entrepreneur, author, television personality, investor, and even race car driver, Dee continues to expand his legacy decades after first emerging on the international stage with King Diamond in 1986.
After stints with Don Dokken’s solo band and WWIII, Dee joined Motörhead in 1992, helping revitalize the legendary trio alongside Lemmy Kilmister and Phil Campbell. During his 23 years with the band, he contributed to 12 studio albums and became one of Motörhead’s key songwriters, helping cement their place in rock and metal history.
Following Lemmy’s passing in 2015, and more recently Phil Campbell’s passing which now leaves Mikkey the sole Motorhead survivor, Dee joined Scorpions in 2017, where he remains the band’s drummer today. Now, he’s adding another chapter to an already remarkable career with Lex Legion, a new band featuring several former King Diamond members. Their self-titled debut showcases the power, creativity, and unmistakable style that have made Dee one of metal’s most respected drummers.
In this interview, Mikkey discusses how Lex Legion came together, the band’s plans for a second album, and when fans can expect to see them on the road.
Interview : With Mikkey Dee
P: We’re talking and supporting your Lex Legion CD today. Can you tell me how the band got together?
M: It’s a brand-new band. Pete (Pete Blakk – Guitar, King Diamond) came to me about two years ago with some riffs, and I really, Really, REALLY liked it, it reminded me of how we did stuff in the 80s, and I said, let’s call Andy (Andy La Rocque – Guitar, King Diamond) and Hal (Hal Patino – Bass, King Diamond), and we did call them, if they want to be a part of this, maybe we can put a little band together and find a good singer. And we did with Nils (Nils K. Rue – Vocal, Pagan’s Mind), it went fairly easy, actually.
P: Did you all discuss the songs before writing?
M: There was no talk about it, we just went straight in and start recording, basically. And I played two songs for Scott Givens (Senior Vice President, Rock & Metal in New York, MNRK Music Group), over the phone, and they just freaked out, said, look, we gotta have this, whenever you guys are ready, call us up again, keep us in the loop. So, we kept sending them a few songs here and there over a period of a year and a half, and here we are, ready to press the button, basically, and get out there and show our faces.
P: In the bands press release you mentioned that it was like writing in the 80s again. Can you explain that a little bit more?
M: Well, if you write music today, it’s basically verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, double chorus. When you listen to our songs and what we used to do, it’s like, the vocal comes in later than it should, maybe on a five, or there’s a guitar harmony before, and the producer would say, why do you have this piece here? (The producer) It makes no sense. Or why do you do this in the ending? It kind of destroys the song, or why do you have two solos? And that’s the whole f*#king idea, that’s how we wrote it. That makes this song very, very special. The only thing that we kind of agreed on for this album was that we wanted to make it more of a flow in the song, less complicated, less is more, more melodic, maybe not so busy with everything.
King (King Diamond) was great when we worked in that direction in the 80s, that was no problem there. I still love the stuff we did, but for this band we wanted a little bit more mainstream, classic rock, but it has its moments in there, I have to say. There are some golden nuggets here and there, if you want to say technique, or weirder stuff, or stuff like that.
It’s not as busy as we used to be with King. We wanted a pinch of modern thinking as well for the songs.
P: When you created your drum parts, was your performance more reactionary to the music, or did you really think through them for the song?
M: Well, today I like to play more music on my drums than drums on my drums. I like to analyze. We create a song together and I might say to Pete a rhythm or something, but the riff is so heavy and it’s so dominating that I don’t want to destroy it by creating some weird backbeat or too much stuff on top of it. I just want to groove over it to make it groovy and it swings and it’s heavy in that way.
That’s how I was thinking more in these terms, to stay on the beat and less busy, just little bits and bobs here and there, color the music.
P: Well, this recording is incredible. This is a total drummer’s dream record. The song that stands out to me is “When The Stars Align”, a real drummers song. You start off with a triplet feel, you go into your standard 4/4 beat, and then you break into double bass at roughly 180 beats per minute.
M: I don’t know what the hell happened to me. I’m not that kind of drummer, really.
I’m really not that fast. You know, some people say, oh man, you play double bass so fast, because of “Overkill” or “Sacrifice” (Both Motorhead songs) or stuff we do with more, but I am not a very fast drummer. I really am not, but I kind of overdid it on myself there, I guess.
P: What inspired you to add the fast double bass there?
M: I just felt it fits so nice there, to double it up. And it has a little nice effect, I think, without destroying the beat or destroying the riff, which is the most important thing for me today.
P: Your drumming on this record is a little bit different than what you’ve done with the Scorpions and Motorhead. Did you have to prepare, or did you have to practice chops? Because I know you hate practice.
M: No, no, no, I don’t have to practice. It’s all in my backbone, all this stuff. Everything comes very, very natural. It’s almost like being 40 years back, and I just have to hold back a little bit more.
I don’t want to be as busy, as I said. No, it comes because over my whole career, I’ve played so many different types of music.
P: Why did you end up leaving King Diamond?
M: One of the reasons I left was that I felt very narrow as a drummer. We at that time had moved to Los Angeles, and suddenly I’m jamming with other types of musicians, like more straight-ahead guys, you know, like Ratt, Dokken, Van Halen, Tesla or whatever was popular in those days, early late 80s, early 90s. And I found my meter wasn’t good. I had a problem with my meter, dynamics and everything. And I just felt very narrow.
So I wanted to play something different. And Dokken (Don Dokken) came along. And I’ve been saying this since then. It’s probably the best college I ever went through because Don is such an amazing musician in his head, you know. He plays great guitar, great drums, bass, everything. He has it all in his head. And I learned a lot through the years with Don Dokken, believe it or not, the song “Breaking The Chains” sounds simple, but it has to swing, it has to rock, it has to groove. And that’s what I was lacking. I have to be self-critical about it.
And then after a few years with Don, it kind of all fell apart. Everybody went their separate ways. And I felt I belong in the heavier division. And so I actually said yes to Motörhead.
P: They asked you a number of times before you joined, right?
M: I think it was the third time they asked me, from 1986 to when actually I respectfully turned them down, I didn’t think I earned my stripes at that time. I would have been eaten up for breakfast, basically, I used to say, you know, I could not have contributed to that crazy, wonderful, crazy band that I later stayed with till Lemmy’s passing, almost 25 years, you know.
So, I would never, ever quit a band like Motörhead, you know. We were such a family. And I learned so much coming into that band as well, because I could have done a drum solo over all the songs we did and say, hey, look how good I am. Look what I can do. Look at these drums. Listen to this s@!t, and destroy the music of Motörhead, the straight black and fist in your face. So, I played straight through heavy. And still, I wanted to color a song a little bit so people would maybe rewind; and say “oh”, what the hell did he do there? You know, just one little nice thing, you know.
A quick turnaround, a certain drum fill, but not overdoing it. And listen to the riff, listen to the song, listen to Lemmy’s melody here, you know. Me and Phil basically wrote all the 12 records, you know, musically.
And so that (Motorhead) was important to me. And just because I played in so many different types of music, I play fusion, funk, a little bit of big band jazz, soul, blues, you know. And when it all comes together, in the end, there’s one big f*#king soup basically in my head.
P: After nearly 25-years with Motorhead was joining the Scorpions difficult? How does the music differ?
M: I have to say joining Scorpions was a big challenge. Because with Motörhead, when Phil (Phil Campbell, Guitarist – Motorhead) was soloing, I had to maybe be a little bit busier on bass drums, or some tom fills over to fill up the space.
We (Motorhead) were only three piece. And with Scorpions, I really have to listen to what Matias (Matthias Jabs – Guitar, Scorpions) is doing, Klaus (Klaus Meine – Vocals, Scorpions) and Rudolph (Rudolf Schenker – Guitar, Scorpions) are doing. I don’t want to overplay a certain incredible melody Klaus is doing. Or, you know, Matias goes out in a solo, and it’s not time for me to start being super busy on a kick drum or changing a pattern. You have to start thinking differently. And to listen, lock in more with Paweł (Paweł Mąciwoda – Bass, Scorpions), for instance, in single beats here and there, to make it really punchy and way more dynamics into the music.
So that was a big challenge. I could have overplayed it and destroyed Scorpions music too, but I wanted to add something to their music. So people say, wow, it actually sounds better.
I wanted to add the energy. I told the boys, I’m going to motorize you guys. I want to add my drumming to their music and hopefully we’ll take a little step forward with that.
P: I want to back you up a little bit, you were talking about when you left King Diamond and joined Don Dokken’s band, that you felt your meter wasn’t so hot. For players that want to work on their meter, what was the process you went through to improve your meter?
“Drummers get the blame for everything back there. If something goes wrong, we (drummers) are to blame. If the singer forgets the f@*king lyrics or the guitarist did a bum note in the solo, it’s the drummer’s problem and you are the one that they’re looking at.”
Mikkey Dee
M: Endless practicing in the studio, in rehearsal, and really listening to differently what I was playing.
We were so long in the studio, we spent almost a year on “Up From The Ashes” (Don Dokken). When you’re in the studio recording and you listen back to yourself, you learn a lot because you’re totally naked and you might feel that you’re playing fantastic, then you listen back and you go, s@!t, I’m slow here, I’m dragging, and that drum fill is rushing away. You learn those little things and then you think about it when you record the next session.
In general, you learn, learn, learn. Endless practicing, playing straight beats without any stress in your heart, just to sit there and enjoy it. Suddenly you feel that, wow, I’m really, really grooving it now. Then you record it and you were right, it sounds awesome. You learn how to maybe play a little lazier on the snare in a verse, and then chorus shows up and you’re a little bit on top of the beat.
I used to explain it like with a flam, you don’t drop in tempo or beats per minute, but that snare is just a little bit, a little micro thousands of a second or so behind the click. And then when the chorus comes, or a bridge, you kind of take it up just on top of that.
So you learn how to move within the song and not play after the click like a robot, you know what I mean? I think every drummer knows what I’m talking about. It’s not that easy, it takes endless recordings, endless practicing, and endless live shows.
P: Do you think live shows are more important to becoming more solid in the studio than independent practicing?
M: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Because we always get the blame, drummers get the blame for everything back there. If a singer, a guitar player, they only listen to themselves basically. They can take off in a song and just because I’m holding the beat, I get the blame because I’m not rushing away with it like they are.
And that’s also a very important issue when I joined Motörhead and Scorpions, that you can not just get into a band and expect them to trust you. I compare this to goalie in ice hockey; I play a lot of hockey. You need to earn that trust and that takes some time.
It takes a lot of shows where they trust you on stage. “Mikkey Dee knows what he’s doing”, “We can always lean back on him”, “He’s not going to f*#k up and he’s not going to take off in any direction”, “He knows he’s solid.” Same goes in ice hockey, you have a great goalie, the rest of the team play excellent because they don’t have to think about this guy in the back there.
If something goes wrong, we (drummers) are to blame. If the singer forgets the f@*king lyrics and it’s the drummer’s problem.
I can’t believe it. It’s been like that my whole career. They turn around and actually look at you with a pissed off face and go, you f*#ker! And they are the ones that f*#king forgot the lyrics or did a bum note in the solo and you are the one that they’re looking at.
But I learned how to deal with that. I just live with it.
P: Getting back to talking about what I feel are standout songs on your new record Lex Legion, “Life Eternal” is another stand out song.
M: Those (“When The Stars Align” & “Life Eternal”) are probably my two favorite songs on the record. I love every one of them.
P: What song is your favorite to play?
M: They were all great fun, because I did them in different sections. I didn’t have time to do the whole record at one time. I did two songs and came back and did one song.
I think the most I did was three songs in one go. They all represent something. I always say when I record records, if I go back to the older memories of records we did, I can almost smell the smells. I remember the smell in the studio, and the taste, what we did, how the camaraderie was, the jokes, it represents an era of your life.
And so does this recording. I will always remember the sessions I did for this record. And it was basically very spontaneous writing, I have to say, because I am super scared of overanalyzing music in general.
We didn’t do it with Motörhead. We tried at one point and it turned out s@!t.
We could come back six months later or three months later and say, hey, we want to change this or this or that. But it doesn’t matter how many times you’re going to do it. You will always feel like you want to change something, either months or years after the release. You go, why didn’t I do that? Why didn’t we do this?
It’s hard to say a specific favorite song. They all live their own life in a way. It’s too early.
Maybe in another year or two, I will choose a song where I go, this one was particularly fun to play or to record. But right now they’re all kind of the same for me.
P: This year you have a very busy tour schedule with the Scorpions up through the end of October where you finish it off with a nine day stay at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. After that, it doesn’t look like there’s anything scheduled. Is there a chance that we’ll see a Lex Legion tour?
M: The next year you will see a tour. This year we’re planning on doing one show, one show only on the 28th of November in Gothenburg. More as a fun thing to do and kind of, I hate to say showcase, but it’s not a showcase. It’s like a 2,500 capacity venue and it’ll be a good one for us to just kick it off. This year we decided to do press and to put ourselves on the map.
And we’re already in the works on the second record, writing riffs, and hopefully we can record most of it by the end of this year. So that’s the plan. But next year, for sure.
The whole world seems to be waiting to come and see this, which is fantastic. Me and Andy have been doing five, six, seven interviews every single day from all over the world. And then we’ve been picking the interviews.
We could be doing interviews all day long for two months now. And we are very, very grateful for that, of course. That’s fantastic.
P: Did you write any part of this record like you did with Motorhead?
M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me, Pete and Andy, obviously Pete and Andy are coming up with guitar riffs and stuff.
And we’ve been piecing it together. I can sing riffs for them. And then a lot of the arrangements, which is very, very important, I think.
I did the same in the King Diamond Band, early 80s. The arrangements can make or break a song, definitely. So yeah, we all kind of came together and did it.
And everybody has an input, Nils and Hal as well.
P: A little bit off to the side, I want to talk about Mikkey Dee, the businessman.
So I know you own Wincent Drumsticks. You also own a club in Paris. You started Verdi Motori that started this year in February. How did that come together?
M: Well, I’m not a part owner of Wincent Sticks anymore. I still play Wincent. I love the drumsticks, of course.
Verdi Motori, for instance; is me and one of my better friends. We sell and buy very exclusive cars on orders.
So people want to find a certain car in the world, we’ll find it for them. Or they want to sell the extremely exclusive car, which you don’t just put in an ad, for instance. We sell them.
I’m very interested in cars, motorcycles, engines, flying and planes, everything that moves, basically. And then I was writing the children’s book with another girl here. And we have furniture coming out. Really cool leather, exclusive furniture. I’m involved with iPatch. It’s not a tobacco, it’s a white tobacco thing. And I just love being busy.
P: What’s your favorite kind of car?
M: I got so many that I love. I love nice cars. I love great American cars. If you go American cars, my favorites are from ‘65, oh sorry, ‘55 to maybe ‘71, ‘72. Muscle cars, old 50’s, 56’s, 58’s, and 59’s. And then some of the 60’s cars as well, depending on brands. I love Ferrari’s.
I had several Lamborghini’s over the years and some of Ferrari’s. I had eight or nine Corvette’s, and I just love nice cars.
P: Were you a fan of Top Gear UK, the show?
M: Yes, of course. I watched it all the time.
P: They spotlighted a number of unique cars and some cars that you cannot even drive or take home, even if you buy it. You have to lease time to use it. Is that something you guys would actually be part of? You’d actually sell cars like that, that people couldn’t really drive?
M: Yes, if they want to. We do, yeah. We do, and we do a lot of race car, track racing. I can’t say a lot, but I raced on Monza in Italy, Imola, nice Formula One tracks, and a lot of the circuits around Sweden.
Just cars in general, everything with it, when I have a chance to do it. I have a racing license, so I love racing some Porsche 911 Turbo S. The Ferrari F8 is an amazing car right now to drive. The Huracan Evo, I raced a lot on a track, actually.
We had a Motorhead one on the Lamborghini Super Trofeo circuit. It was called Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and we had an amazing Motorhead Lambo on there.
P: That’s fantastic. I didn’t know you raced. One thing I didn’t know. I know you love hockey.
M: Yeah, I play two or three times a week in the winter season here. Of course, as I said, I can’t do it right in front of tourists and stuff. I have to be responsible, and I can’t hurt myself. The band comes first, and then all the enjoyment comes second. But I love doing sports, and I like to stay busy, basically.
P: Congratulations on a phenomenal record, thank you for your time today, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again on the road.
M: Yes absolutely, keep up the good work, bye for now.
Lex Legion band press release: HERE
Mikkey Dee and Paul Rogne on Rög’s Talkin’ DrumZ 2011:
