Scorpions drummer Mikkey Dee, who became a victim of COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic, argued that the world had to get out of lockdown soon despite the implications.

The former Motorhead member became ill in March 2020 but recovered. Since then, he’s been working with his bandmates on a new Scorpions record. But he said they’ve encountered a number of production problems as a result of the health alert, including having to give up working with their preferred producer.

“I was influenza sick,” Dee told the RRBG podcast in a recent episode. "Some people are not that lucky, of course, but most of the people are really the elderly people and people with underlying diseases that turn out to get really, really sick. … You have some exceptions with young, healthy people, of course. And I realize the seriousness of it.”

But, he added, "the world has been shut down for one full year now, and that can just not continue like that. It’s a disaster in so many other ways than the virus. That’s how I see it. It’s very, very unfortunate.”

He said musicians could “only hope” about returning to full-time employment. “I’m done speculating," he noted. "One day you hear this, next day you hear a completely opposite thing. All this fucking second wave and third wave – now they're talking about a fourth wave, and there's mutations from every fucking country in the world. If we're gonna continue adapting after that, we're talking 15 years.”

You can listen to the interview below.

Despite all this, Dee said the new Scorpions album has reached the mixing stage. “It's gonna be a great record," he enthused. "It's all recorded live in the studio, and it's a good vibe. It's a harder record [with] great songs. So it’s gonna be great to get this one released.”

He added that he's "been telling magazines about us releasing it in the spring, but it's not gonna happen, I don't think. Because it has to be matched to the touring,  unless something completely crazy happens.” Looking toward its arrival, he said, “I would think in the fall or something like that, hopefully.”

 

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