At a press conference announcing the Scorpions’ 60th-anniversary concert in their hometown of Hannover, Germany, scheduled for next July, Mikkey Dee discussed the impact of Lemmy’s death on his career. He noted that while the loss was unfortunate, it led to positive changes when he joined the Scorpions.
“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,” the drummer shared about his time with the band. He highlighted their collaborative success during the COVID years, saying, “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.”
Dee elaborated, “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.”
Reflecting on his relationship with the band, he stated, “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.” He expressed his excitement about the future, “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 from Metal Rules, Mikkey recounted how he became the drummer for Scorpions in 2016 after nearly 25 years with Motörhead. He explained, “They [initially] called me in to be the stand-in for maybe James. Because they started to get tired of his problems.”
He continued, “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.”
Mikkey also remarked, “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.”
The Scorpions will celebrate their 60 years on stage with a major concert in Hannover. The ’60th Anniversary – Coming Home’ event is set for July 5, 2025, at the Heinz Von Heiden Arena and will feature special guests like Judas Priest.
