Mikkey Dee

Mikkey Dee
Background information
Birth name	Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou
Born	(1963-10-31) October 31, 1963 Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres	Heavy metal, speed metal, hard rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Drums, guitar
Years active	1985–present
Associated acts	Don Dokken, Motörhead, King Diamond, WWIII
Website	imotorhead.com

Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou (Greek: Μιχαήλ Κυριάκος Δελάογλου), better known as Mikkey Dee (born 31 October 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish drummer/songwriter in the Rock band Motörhead. A Swede of Greek descent, he has been known for his speed and precision since the mid-80s stint with King Diamond.

Career

Early life

He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden.^[1]

Delaoglou began his musical career with local bands Nadir and Geisha. His favourite drummer is Ian Paice. Other influences include Brian Downey, Neil Peart and Steve Smith. Dee also gives credit to Buddy Rich.^[2]

King Diamond (1985–1989)

Having moved to Copenhagen to play with Geisha,^[2] in 1985, Dee joined King Diamond, who were looking for additional members to complete their line-up. After their release of the "Conspiracy" album (1989), Dee decided to leave the band, as he felt he was becoming more of a back-up musician, rather than an equal contributing songwriter. King Diamond himself was becoming quite popular and the musicians backing him were taking a secondary role in the writing and decision making, often Diamond was the only person answering for the whole group in magazine interviews, etc.^[2] Dee played on the King Diamond recordings "Fatal Portrait" (1986), "Abigail" (1987), and "THEM" which followed 1988, and continued to play as a session drummer for the recording sessions of the Conspiracy album (1989), after which he was replaced by Snowy Shaw.

Don Dokken (1990)

He joined Don Dokken for his solo album, Up from the Ashes (1990), with the music videos for the songs "Stay" and "Mirror Mirror" receiving airplay on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. The band headlined their own tour, as well as opened for Judas Priest. During this time, Dee also filled in a short time playing for World War Three (WWIII).

Motörhead (1992–present)

Mikkey Dee during a drum solo

Lemmy had been repeatedly asking him to join Motörhead since 1985, and in 1992, when asked once again, Dee accepted the offer, replacing Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor.^[3] Commenting on his replacement of a longstanding member of the band, Dee said in a 2006 interview:

Phil Taylor was great when he was good... so I could never have filled that space. It's like when you get married and have kids, no one can take my father's place. Of course, some other guy could have taken his place, but he wouldn't have been my father; so I could never be Phil Taylor, so I had to introduce Mikkey Dee into Motörhead.^[4]

Dee's first gig with the band was on 30 August 1992 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center,^[5] but he did not have much input on that year's release, March or Die, as this had been recorded with Tommy Aldridge prior to Dee joining the group. Dee did play on the tracks 'Hellraiser', which was on the album, and 'Hell On Earth', which was not on the album, but was on the soundtrack album to the film Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.

Although Aldridge was a member of the band, Dee's photo appeared on the rear album sleeve. Aldridge generously said that Dee could take his credit for the playing but Dee politely declined, as the drummers' styles are very different. In an ironic reversal, Aldridge had earlier had his photo on an album on which he played nothing, namely Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman.

Mikkey Dee live with Motörhead at Ursynalia Festival 2013, Warsaw, Poland.

Their record label, Epic Records dropped the band after its release and the group continued recording with SPV GmbH. The band also started a label themselves, called "Motörhead", which was copyrighted and distributed through Warner-Chappell and ZYX, Dee's first album for this label being 1993's Bastards.

He also played drums on Helloween's 2003 album Rabbit Don't Come Easy, stepping in for Mark Cross.

In April 2006 King Diamond reunited with old friend Mikkey Dee at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Gothenburg, Sweden.^[6] In 2001 King referred to Dee as "one of the best [drummers] of all time and that's something that has bothered us since he left."^[7]

Dee also played the drums for Martin "E-Type" Eriksson in the Swedish pre-qualification to the Eurovision song contest 2004, as well as on E-Type's 2003 Eurometal tour.

He is famous for his long drum solos during concerts, often lasting between five and fifteen minutes and filling between songs. Dee currently plays a drum solo halfway through the song "The One to Sing the Blues"; previously it was during "In The Name Of Tragedy" and before that "Sacrifice".

Dee is an ice hockey enthusiast and a supporter of the Frölunda HC team from Gothenburg. The rumor that Dee was in a Swedish National Youth Hockey team (stemming from an interview on Motorhead's Stage Fright DVD) has since been rebutted by Dee himself, claiming that "in the end of the 80's and a bit into the 90's I played for a team called Team Sweden in southern California" causing the rumor to arise.^[8]

Dee was a contestant celebrity on season 1 of Kändisdjungeln on TV4. He was eliminated on the 15th episode.

Equipment

Mikkey Dee uses Sonor drums, Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads, and Wincent Drums sticks. He was endorsed by Vic Firth, but recently switched to Wincent, with whom he has his own signature model.^{[citation needed]}

Cymbals: Paiste (left to right):

• 20" Signature Power Crash
• 19" Signature Power Crash
• 18" Signature Heavy China
• 14" Signature Sound-Edge Hi-Hats
• 18" Signature Power Crash
• 18" Signature Power Crash
• 10" Signature Splash
• 22" Signature Power Ride
• 14" Signature Thin China
• 20" Signature Heavy China
• 20" Signature Power Crash
• 16" Signature Thin China
• 19" Signature Power Crash

Discography

King Diamond

• Fatal Portrait (1986)
• Abigail (1987)
• Them (1988)
• Conspiracy (1989)

Don Dokken

• Up from the Ashes (1990)

Motörhead

• 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 Wörld is Yours (2010)
• Aftershock (2013)

Helloween

• Rabbit Don't Come Easy (2003)

Other

• "Sanitarium" on Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica (2001)
• "Fear of the Dark" on Numbers from the Beast: An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden (2005)
• "Zombie Slam" on Psalms Of Extinction (2007) by Pain
• United - Where is the Fire (This video was made to raise funds to help the victims of 2004 tsunami disaster; the DVD features an All Star band of Scandinavian musicians, consisting of Göran Edman as one of the main singers, Mikkey Dee on the drums, Tommy Denander, Kee Marcello, John Levén, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tommy Nilsson, Jim Jidhed, Geir Rönning, Mattias Eklund, Thomas Vikstrom, Peter Tätgren, Stefan Andersson, Mats Levén and many others.)

References

External links

• Motörhead official website
• Motörhead Gallery with Mikkey Dee on Alberta Stars