Scorpions drummer Mikkey Dee sat down with Metal Injection for a new interview and explained his mission to change the band’s sound.
“It was a huge challenge to join Scorpions to try to put some energy into these guys to make them tighter, to make them heavier, to just make a difference because I’m not a drummer that will sit back there and take orders and tap away,” the rocker explained. “I said, ‘No, I will change the band hopefully to the better.’ When I feel that I can make a difference in a band that’s gonna turn 60 years old next year, then I’m gonna have myself a little bit on the back and say, ‘Okay, ‘I’m going the right direction.'”
The drummer also revealed what his bandmate Rudolf Schenker thought of him when he first got in the band: “It’s funny, Rudolf told me after one tour he said, ‘Mikkey, I thought we got the new engine with you coming into the band but I think we got the whole new car.’ So I think that was a funny way of seeing.”
Dee first joined Scorpions as a touring drummer for their North American dates during James Kottak’s absence. He officially became a permanent member in 2016. Even though he has been drumming since 1985 with different bands, Dee thinks the Scorpions gigs are harder than Motörhead gigs.
“No, it’s actually a harder gig that we do because our show is… Everything has to be so precise and some of it is on a click track and there’s no space in between,” the drummer explained in another interview with Riki Rachtman in May. “I could just call out Lemmy [Kilmister] or Phil [Taylor]. ‘Let’s have a drink. I need to tune the snare.’ Or when I was out of breath, I could just… ‘Hey, let’s have a drink’ And he went, ‘Okay’ And he walked behind and took 30 seconds to a minute just to catch your breath but here we got to go.”
Dee highlighted in another interview that he had no intentions of disrespecting the former drummer’s contributions. He also revealed the reason why he wants to give Scorpions a ‘harder, tighter, and heavier edge’ — to ‘Motörize’ them.
