King Diamond

First release with King Diamond was “No Presents For Christmas” in 1985. King Diamond created their own sound and style and in the wake of their success came a number of bands in that same genre. Mikkey played on 4 albums; Fatal Portrait 1986, Abigail 1987, Them 1988 and Conspiracy in 1989 (Mikkey played on Conspiricy although he had already left the band at that time). In the end Mikkey left King Diamond as he felt the band was developing in the wrong direction. They had worked as a band since day one but he felt that it more and more turned in to a solo project and Mikkey had no intention of just being a back-up musician.

Dokken

End of 1989 Mikkey joined forces with Don Dokken and they released the album “Up from the ashes” 1990. The lineup for this release was, besides Don and Mikkey, Billy White (Watchtower) on guitar, longtime friend and fellow Swede John Norum (Europe) on guitar and Peter Baltes (Accept) on bass. They did joint tours with Judas Priest, Poison and ended off with a 12-month headline tour through USA and Asia.

Lemmy had repeatedly been asking Mikkey to join Motörhead since 1986. Mikkey turned him down during the years for two major reasons. The first being that he was happy with where he was and never wanted to be a drummer jumping around between bands for fame and fortune and the second reason being that he simply did not feel ready.

You just don’t walk in to a band like Motörhead like it´s just another day at work. Mikkey strongly felt he had not yet earned the strips to be a full member of Motörhead. Finally, in 1991 Lemmy cornered Mikkey at the famous Rainbow Bar & Grill in Hollywood and told him to join the band already... Mikkey replied: – “Let’s do it!” and the rest is history. The first show with Motörhead was in Saratoga NY with Ozzy on the No More Tears tour. Mikkey never wanted to replace Phil “Filthy Animal” Taylor but rather step in and fully become Motörhead to the very fiber.

Said and done; from the first album Mikkey recorded with Motörhead, he was involved in the creative process and became a driving force off and on stage in Motörhead. Lemmy has always stated that Mikkey Dee is the best drummer in the world and many alongside him. Experiencing Mikkey live is truly a front row seat to a Force of Nature in action! After Lemmy´s passing in December of 2015 Mikkey has been sharing the message to celebrate the life of Lemmy rather than mourn his death. As Mikkey said –“Lemmy would have told me to stop crying over my beer and rather drink it”. Another touching statement by Mikkey regarding Lemmy is –“Every snare hit I perform from this day on will be in honor of Lemmy”.

In the spring of 2016 Mikkey was asked to cover for James Kottak in Scorpions during their US tour while James was on leave to take care of his health. The tour went great and Mikkey continued the tour throughout the rest of the world including South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Mikkey was very well received by the Scorpions fans and meet thousands of Motörhead fans on the road that where happy to see the best drummer in the world back up on the horse again. September 12, 2016 Mikkey officially announced he was joining Scorpions permanently issuing the following statement: 

“I guess most of you have heard the news.

I am now a permanent member of Scorpions.

I feel truly honored and fortunate to be able to carry on playing drums on this level. I grew up listening to Scorpions and have always loved the band. We have been friends for a long time so traveling and performing this year with Klaus, Rudolf, Matthias and Pawel has been loads of fun and the crew is very professional. The Scorpions fans has been most welcoming and its been great to meet all the crazy wonderful Motörhead bangers along the way.
I had some close to 25 amazing years with my friends and brothers Lemmy and Phill in Motörhead and that will always be the back bone in my future drumming. Lemmy always had great respect for Scorpions for being a real rock band and I am sure he is proud up there that I moved on and for playing with this class act.

Here’s to many more years of Rock n roll. Cheers!
Mikkey

“MIKKEY DEE JOINS THE BAND PERMANENTLY!
James Kottak leaves on a positive note.
Since 1992, the Swedish Mikkey Dee used to be a former band member of Motörhead until the dissolution of the rock band after the death of Lemmy Kilmister.
“We would like to thank James for so many years of lasting participation in the band and personal friendship. We understand and respect his need for time as he makes his way through the final stages of his healing process."

"After our incredibly successful shows in the US, Europe and Asia, we are sure to have found a fantastic drummer with Mikkey Dee. He brings a fresh energy to the band and we look forward to the exciting time together that lies ahead.“

– SCORPIONS”

After the official announcement, the tour continued to South America and Asia playing to sold out arenas. Did someone say “Rock is dead”?
Now we are all crossing our fingers that a new album with Scorpions will see the light of day with Mr Dee!

Various projects through the years
After leaving King Diamond Mikkey had a brief fling with World War III, taking over after Vinnie Appice. He recorded one song with the band “Sky is the limit”. He was supposed to play on the album but along came the offer to join Dokken. During this time, he also wrote and recorded demos with Jimmy Bain for a different project. This material never saw the light of day as Jimmy went with Dio and Mikkey with Dokken.

Helloween “Rabbits don’t come easy”, 2003
Mikkey was hired on short notice to fill in for Mark Cross who only completed two tracks (“Don’t Stop Being Crazy” and “Listen to The Flies”) before being forced to leave the project due to illness. Mikkey completed the rest of the album on a session basis.

Pain “Zombie Slam”, 2007
Mikkey lent his drumming to Swedish Artist/Producer Pain and there is no mistake listening to the track who is thundering away on the drums. Track was released on the album “Psalm of Extinction”.

Thin Lizzy 40 Year tribute tour 2016
Early 2016 Mikkey was contacted by Scot Gorham to join Thin Lizzy for a World Tour. All was set and ready to go when the offer to join Scorpions came in. Mikkey sadly had to turn down the tour with Thin Lizzy who always was one of Mikkeys favorite bands. He replaced himself with Judas Priest drummer Scot Travis and fellow Swede from the band Europe, Ian Haugland.

No Presents For Christmas (1985)

Fatal Portrait (1986)

Abigail (1987)

In Concert (1987)

Them (1988)

Conspiracy (1989)

Don Dokken

Up From The Ashes (1990)

Helloween

Rabbit Don't Come Easy (2003)

March Ör Die (1992)

Bastards (1993)

Sacrifice (1995)

Overnight Sensation (1996)

Snake Bite Love (1998)

We Are Motörhead (2000)

Hammered (2002)

Inferno (2004)

Kiss Of Death (2006)

Motörizer (2008)

The Worlds Is Yours (2010)

Aftershock (2013)

Bad Magic (2015)

Everything louder than everyone else 1999

Live at Brixton Academy 2003

Better Motörhead Than Dead. Live at Hammersmith 2007

The World is Ours Vol 1 - Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else 2011

The World Is Ours Vol 2 - Anyplace Crazy as Anywhere Else 2012

Clean Your Clock 2016

25 & Alive Boneshaker 2001

Stage Fright 2005

The World Is Ours Vol 1 (2011)

The Wolrld Is Ours Vol 2 (2012)

Mikkey Dee's Kit

DRUMS Sonor SQ2 Vintage Maple (Custom Finish)
1 22" x 18" Bass Drum
2 14" x 7.25" Mikkey Dee Signature Snare Drum
3 10" x 10" Tom
4 13" x 11" Tom
5 14" x 12" Tom
6 16" x 16" Floor Tom
7 18" x 16" Floor Tom

Cymbals Paiste Signature
A 20" Power Crash
B 19" Power Crash
C 18" Heavy China
D 14" Sound Edge Hi-Hat
E 18" Power Crash
F 10" Splash
G 22" Precision Heavy Ride
h 14" Thin China
I 20" Heavy China
J 20" Power Crash
K 16" Thin China
L 19" Power Crash

Mikkey Dee also uses Sonor hardware, DW 5000 single chain bass drum pedals, Evans drumheads, Wincent sticks and cases from Humes & Berg

Tenerife, Spain has been a special place for Mikkey for many years to recover between tours and recordings and to hangout with family and friends. So it was no coincidence that Mikkey opened up his own rock bar just in Tenerife. 

Rock Löunge is exactly the kind of a place that Mikkey himself like to hangout in. A cool and poshy place, just in front of the beach, with a retro-classic memorialized interior, even it's own merchandise corner and of course live music and rock'n'roll all night long with a a superb sound supported by BOSE.