In his post-Motörhead career, Mikkey Dee has been a far from idle man. Not content with having played drums with one great band, since 2016, the man born Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou in Gothenburg, Sweden, has kept the beat for German metal legends the Scorpions. As a man in demand, in order to free up the time in his diary for this commitment, he first had to step back from an arrangement with his friend Scott Gorham to join Thin Lizzy.
The band with which he bears closest association also takes up his time. In the interests of tending to the legacy of Motörhead, Mikkey helps curate studio and live albums – of which a forthcoming expanded version of the 2005 LP Kiss Of Death is the latest instalment – as well as keeping the group’s iconic image in the public eye in that most 21st Century of currencies, merchandise.
As well as this, this summer, the now 62-year-old has even managed to come full circle. Released last month, the eponymous debut album from the newly minted side-group Lex Legion sees the drummer reuniting with Andy La Rocque, Pete Blakk, and Hal Patino, with whom he played four decades ago with the Danish metal legend King Diamond. A persuasive slab of classic European metal, the LP is already garnering a constituency of keen admirers.
To find out about this, and more, Kerrang! spoke to Mikkey Dee during a day off from his summer tour of European arenas and stadiums with the Scorpions.
Without further ado, then, on the count of “one, two, three four…”, the great man talks us through his life…