SCORPIONS/Ex-MOTÖRHEAD MIKKEY DEE Admits He Felt Lost Playing With KING DIAMOND: 'I Was A Lousy Drummer'

Summary

• Mikkey Dee says he felt like a terrible drummer during his early years with King Diamond, despite playing complex parts.
• Joining Don Dokken and later Motörhead helped him rediscover his groove and confidence.
• Now with Scorpions, Dee enjoys a more melodic and diverse style, calling his musical path a natural evolution.

Mikkey Dee, born Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou in Gothenburg, Sweden, got his big break playing drums for King Diamond.

But in a recent interview with Rock Kommander (transcribed by LOUDLEGENDS.COM), he admitted he didn’t feel great about his drumming style at the time.

“When you’re young, you want to break records, do the most fills, licks, and complicated stuff,” Dee said. “That approach worked well with King Diamond. The music we wrote was supposed to be tricky, odd beats, weird drum parts. It fit perfectly. But after years of nonstop touring, I started feeling like a lousy drummer.”

He explained that despite all the technical skills, he lacked something more basic.

“I didn’t know how to just hold down a solid groove,” he continued. “I started to panic. I thought, ‘All I can do is this complex stuff.’ I couldn’t just relax and enjoy a simple beat. My heart was always racing. Everything had to be over the top.”

That changed when he joined Don Dokken’s solo band. According to Dee, it was just what he needed.

“It was the perfect solution. Simple rock and roll, melodic hard rock, kind of like what I play now with Scorpions. It was great,” he said. “But at that point in my life, I still wanted heavier music. Lemmy had been asking me to join Motörhead since 1986. Eventually, I said yes.”

The partnership with Motörhead turned out to be a perfect match.

“It was everything I was looking for, heavy rock, hardcore, blues, and rock and roll,” Dee said. “I stayed with the band for 25 years. Sadly, Lemmy passed away, and even before that, I was starting to feel like it was time to try something new.”

That’s when Scorpions came into the picture.

“Scorpions allowed me to move into something broader and more diverse. Some songs are really heavy, but there’s also a lot of melody,” he said. “The way they work in the studio and perform live is also different. It all happened at the right time.”

Looking back, Dee said the timing of each band in his career made a big difference.

“If you swapped the order of these bands in my life, it wouldn’t have worked as well,” he explained. “Every time I felt ready for a change, the right opportunity came up. It all happened very naturally.”

Over the years, Dee has also recorded with bands like Helloween, Doro, Hammerfall, Pain, and Wolfpakk.

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