MIKKEY DEE: “there could never be another band like MOTÖRHEAD today”
07-04-2025
During an appearance on a recent episode of “The Europe Drum Show Official Podcast” with host Ollie Winiberg, former MOTÖRHEAD and current SCORPIONS drummer Mikkey Dee was asked if he thinks there could be another band like MOTÖRHEAD today. He responded: “No, not today. I mean, we were way too unleashed, you know what I mean? I knew (MOTÖRHEAD leader) Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) 34 years, and as you probably know, I got asked to join the band already ’86 when I played with KING DIAMOND. And I respectfully had to turn him down because I said, ‘I’m not ready for you guys. I haven’t earned my stripes yet.’ But with that said, knowing what I knew about the band and how they — I mean, it’s unbelievable to sit here today and have been a part of this about 25 years where we decided everything. We wrote our music. If you liked it, it was a great bonus, but if you thought it was the worst crap, we could care less, you know? And today a band, I don’t think, could exist having that kind of attitude. And people say that they do have that attitude, but they sure as hell don’t, because when push comes to shove, they’re wimping out most of the time. And money’s too important today for bands, which is understandable because it’s extremely hard to be touring and recording and to make a living in the music industry today. So I understand that money is more important today than it was in our days. It’s always important, but we never felt that we needed to have a hundred million in the bank. Lemmy was happy having his whiskey and live day to day and not run out of money. But he wasn’t a big spender at all, how he lived and all that. And that’s kind of how we all were. We just wanted to have a good life and a fun life.”
Mikkey continued: “So I don’t think that the industry could take another MOTÖRHEAD today. It would be clashing right away, that’s what I believe. And this political correctness that we live in today, it’s a fucking joke. And MOTÖRHEAD would never exist in this. So I believe we would’ve been arrested day two if we started that kind of band again. (Laughs) Like Lemmy would’ve said, we would be in jail, because they couldn’t take our sense of humor. You’re really barely supposed to have any sense of humor today, which was the big fuel in MOTÖRHEAD — to give shit and take some shit, and just enjoy it and laugh about it. And sometimes it wasn’t the most fun thing, but you took it. It’s a joke. It’s a fun thing. You could give some shit and then you have to be prepared to take some shit. Today it’s — no, I don’t think it would work. But I’m very grateful that I had a chance to live and act and get to know and just be so free in writing, recording, touring as we were with MOTÖRHEAD.”
Mikkey concluded: “If you ask young musicians today, I’m sure they say, ‘Of course we have that attitude and that’s how we wanna play,’ but in the end they just can’t because they can’t exist if they were us.”
Less than a year ago, Mikkey reflected on MOTÖRHEAD‘s final tour, which concluded on December 11, 2015, just two weeks before Lemmy‘s passing. He told the “Riki Rachtman’s Cathouse” podcast: “Yeah, that was a tough one. See, I was trying to make us postpone that. We were struggling a little bit, and I said, ‘Maybe we should just take a break,’ but the one that did not want to break was Lemmy. He said, ‘Absolutely not. We’ve gotta do this tour.’ And he wanted to be on stage all the time. And that’s how he was. But we had some trouble with Lemmy starting to get a little sick — more sick than [before] — and he was more tired and stuff. And that was a tough tour.”
He continued: “Here’s the thing: if I had to give 150 percent out there, and (MOTÖRHEAD guitarist) Phil (Campbell did as well), now afterwards, I can’t even imagine. Lemmy must’ve given 500 percent to be able to get through these shows. I mean, we played the 11th of December (of 2015) as the last show in Berlin, and then (Lemmy) passed away the 28th, just a few weeks later. And the guy was rocking his ass off. So, for me, it’s impossible to even think back that you can actually do that. So can you imagine how much effort it took for him to stay on that stage? I came up with all kinds of ideas… ‘Cause he had a back problem, too, and he said ‘the bass is so heavy, the back is on fire.’ But that must have been parts of his disease, now (thinking about it) afterwards. But he had a back problem. So he said he had to stand on one leg at a time. And it was like fire on his back. And I said, ‘Maybe you should take a barstool and maybe…’ And he goes, ‘No way, Mikkey. Are you crazy? I will never sit down at the show.’ And again, not compromising, not changing anything. So all the credit to Lem right there. He really died with his boots on.”
Mikkey added: “I think back about that tour a little bit sometimes, and it was just unbelievable that we could go through with it.”
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”.
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