MIKKEY DEE, the Swedish drummer who spent 25 years behind the kit for MOTÖRHEAD, has delivered a candid and emotional reflection on the band's legacy in a recent interview with Detroit radio station WRIF — one made all the more poignant by the loss of guitarist PHIL CAMPBELL, who passed away in March 2026 following complications from major surgery.
DEE, who joined MOTÖRHEAD in 1992 and remained until LEMMY KILMISTER's death on December 28, 2015, described the band as "such a team, very unique team and family." He recalled how the three-piece operated with a democratic spirit: he and CAMPBELL would sometimes outvote LEMMY on business decisions, though he credits LEMMY's grounded, old-fashioned sensibility with keeping the band balanced. "He really didn't care much about this rock star thing at all," DEE noted.
What made the classic lineup last so long, DEE explained, was never just the music — "the friendship and the family" kept him committed, alongside the carefully handpicked crew surrounding the band. He would have stayed with MOTÖRHEAD indefinitely had LEMMY survived.
DEE recounted his final conversation with LEMMY after a Berlin show on December 11, 2015 — just 17 days before LEMMY's death from cancer. The intimacy of that memory clearly still cuts deep.
Beyond LEMMY, the band has also lost guitarist WÜRZEL, who died from heart disease in 2011. And now PHIL CAMPBELL — 64 years old, the last surviving classic-era member — is gone too.
"They're all gone," DEE said simply. "It's f***ing weird."
MOTÖRHEAD remains one of the most important acts in heavy metal history. Moments like this interview are a reminder of just how much of that world now lives only in memory.