Why Mikkey Dee Kept Turning Down Lemmy + Motorhead For Years

Before joining Motorhead in 1992, drummer Mikkey Dee declined Lemmy Kilmister's invitations to join the band, relenting after the "third or fourth time" he was asked.

"Motörhead asked me in 1986 [or 1987] to join them," Dee told Loudwire in a recent interview about his newest band, Lex Legion, which reunites him with three former King Diamond bandmates.

In '86, King Diamond had just released his first album, Fatal Portrait, after Mercyful Fate's 1985 breakup. Meanwhile, Motorhead had released Orgasmatron, their first album as a four-piece and one that also marked the debuts of guitarists Phil Campbell and Wurzel as well as drummer Pete Gill.

One year later, the King Diamond band was on the road supporting Motorhead in Europe alongside German thrashers Destruction.

"I turned them down for two reasons, respectfully. And we kept contact. It wasn't like I said, 'Fuck no, I'm not coming.' I was extremely honored, actually. But reason number one was that I was super happy with our band, King Diamond. We were a bunch of friends," Dee said.

His second reason? "I didn't feel I earned my stripes yet to join a band like Motorhead. So I was smart enough to turn them down a couple times until I actually joined the band," the drummer recalls. "I was mature and I had a bit more experience and routine in my whole body."

When Dee made the decision to leave King Diamond after four albums (the last of which, Conspiracy, he was contracted to record after leaving the group), it came as a result of one thing — "I didn't think it was that much fun anymore." 

After departing King Diamond, Dee linked up with Dokken's namesake frontman Don Dokken on the singer's 1990 solo record Up From the Ashes. "Everything was great fun again. We had a fantastic couple of years. The best college I'd gone through, really," the drummer said before chalking up the lineup's dissolution to the changing musical climate (the rise of grunge). "Everybody was struggling pretty hard," Dee added, noting that the group's members (Europe's John Norum, Accept's Peter Baltes and Watchtower's Billy White) all pursued different paths.

READ MORE: Interview - Mikkey Dee + Lex Legion Revisiting King Diamond Legacy Without Retreading

Dee had no intentions on leaving Don Dokken's side, "but then Lemmy called and I spoke to Don."

He recollected the exchange between the two, explaining, "I said, 'Lemmy called again. I think it's the third or fourth time now.' And [Don] said, 'You should fucking take that.' I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready for those guys now.' Dokken had reluctantly acknowledged that nothing else was going to materialize from his solo endeavor at the time.

As a member of Motorhead, Dee contributed to 12 studio albums, from 1993's Bastards to the group's final album, 2015's Bad Magic.

"I would never leave Motörhead ever, ever for any band in the world," Dee passionately exclaimed, "But unfortunately Lemmy passed away. Then Motorhead was over. Period. There will never, ever, ever be another Motorhead again. And now my brother and colleague Phil Campbell [died earlier this year] which is extremely, extremely unfortunate. I'm the last man standing."

After Kilmister's late 2015 death, Phil Campbell formed a band with his songs (Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons) and they release three studio albums. The group was booked to headline this year's Hella Rock Festival in the U.K., but Campbell's unexpected passing at the age of 64 this March has now left the sons to occupy the spot on their own (as Phil Campbell's Bastard Sons) to pay tribute to the late legend.

When asked if he would ever take part in some sort of official tribute to Kilmister, Campbell and Motorhead, Dee acknowledged, "We've been talking to do a big thing at a point — put a badass band together and then have guest singers and guitar players on there. We just need to find the time for it."

Already busy with Scorpions and, now, Lex Legion, a Motorhead tribute seems to exist purely in an idea state for now. Still, the band is never far from Dee's mind and heart — "I think about Motorhead, not every day, but almost every day."

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