Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee recalled his final moment with bandmate Lemmy, describing it as “very sad” because he hadn’t known they’d never meet again.
The pair spoke for the last time backstage after what turned out to be their last show, which took place in Germany on Dec. 11, 2015. Lemmy, who didn’t realize he was suffering from cancer at the time, died 17 days later, aged 70.
In a new interview, Dee told noted how he and guitarist Phil Campbell had discussed Lemmy’s health as the first leg of their latest tour came to an end. “[B]oth me and Phil were trying to talk him out of starting the second part,” he said to Waste Some Time with Jason Green. “But there was no way in hell we could do that. I said to Phil, ‘Look, instead of arguing with Lemmy or pushing him… Let him decide what he wants to do. He knows best what he wants to do.’ And he wanted to be on stage. So we said, ‘Let’s just support him instead,’ and that’s what we did. But we never made it to the second leg of that European tour, unfortunately.”
He recounted his last words to the band leader following the Berlin concert, which included a discussion about changing the part of their set list that covered latest album Bad Magic. “We were all gonna go separate ways… I was gonna just fly out to Sweden, and Phil went back home to Wales,” he said. “Lemmy was flying back to L.A., but I believe he was gonna fly to London and stay one night or two or so and say ‘hi’ to friends and then fly back home.
“I went down to Lemmy’s dressing room, and I said, ‘Alright, go back to L.A. and figure out, maybe, another two songs from Bad Magic that you think that we should do. And we take out the two songs that we already played on this leg, and we put in two new songs from the record.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, alright, I’ll check that out.’ And I said, ‘Let’s hook up after Christmas.’ Because it was the 11th of December at that time, and I figured we’d talk between Christmas and New Year’s Eve… And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go back and work on that.’ … So we did a little finger-hook, as we always did, and that was the last time I saw him, actually. Very sad.”
When asked if he’d known it would be their final meeting, Dee replied: “No, not at all.” He recalled that Lemmy had made changes to his lifestyle in recent years to address his failing health, but added: “[M]y personal belief is that it was maybe a little too late,” he said. “He should have maybe changed a little earlier. But knowing Lemmy, he was not for that. … He never compromised with his music, he never compromised with friendship, he never compromised with what way he was gonna go for anyone else in that way, which is why Motorhead was Motorhead – and still is Motorhead.”
Mikkey Dee Interview