Klaus Meine Reflects On Mikkey Dee’s Contribution To New Scorpions Album ‘Rock Believer’

Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine gave an interview to Ultimate Classic Rock in which he revealed how Mikkey Dee contributed to the band’s upcoming album ‘Rock Believer.’

After releasing the 50th-anniversary deluxe editions of their classic albums like ‘Lovedrive,’ ‘Blackout,’ and ‘Savage Amusement’ on November 6, 2015, the Scorpions started touring. They recruited Mikkey Dee on April 28, 2016, to fill in for James Kottak. On September 12 that year, Dee officially became their permanent drummer.

In August 2018, Scorpions implied that they were open to recording a follow-up to their 2015 album ‘Return To Forever.’ After some time, in 2019, Klaus Meine hinted they might release a new album in 2020, but they only released a song named ‘Sign Of Hope’ on their YouTube channel on April 28, 2020.

Scorpions then entered the studio to resume working on their nineteenth studio album on July 25, 2020. Due to the pandemic, the recording sessions were carried out remotely. After they abandoned their plans to work with the producer Greg Fidelman, the album’s progress continued to be slow.

During a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, the host Matt Wardlaw asked Klaus Meine how they plan to achieve the goal to create a classic like their ‘Blackout’ and ‘Lovedrive.’ Meine responded to this by saying that part of it is being in one room and playing all together.

As Meine said, they recorded the album remotely, but having the band in one room to play and feel the songs together makes a great difference. He then mentioned the drummer Mikkey Dee and said the songs feel different with him and playing with him is like setting themselves for performing live on the stage.

Ultimate Classic Rock’s Matt Wardlaw asked Klaus Meine the following:

“You had this goal to make an album that would sound classic like ‘Blackout’ and even further back than that, ‘Lovedrive.’ That’s music to Scorpions’ fans’ ears. What was the key to achieving that?”

Meine then answered:

“I think part of it is definitely having the band in one room, playing all together. In modern times, we’re all used to all of those wonderful Pro Tools sessions. Basically, I could do the vocals in this place and Matthias could play his guitar in his studio at home, or the other way around. I did a lot of basic tracks and the pre-production vocals in my own place – before I came here to Peppermint Park, where we recorded the album finally.

But to have the band in one room together and to play together and to feel it together, I think that makes such a difference. Especially with a drummer in the band like Mikkey Dee, who joined up in 2016. The songs feel very different, and it’s like you’re setting yourself for performing live and you figure out, ‘this would be a great song for our setlist.’ You play it live in the studio, and I think it’s a big difference compared to working in other ways.”

On September 29, 2021, Scorpions announced that the upcoming album’s title will be ‘Rock Believer’ and set the release date as of February 11, 2022. However, they had to postpone the date to two weeks later. As of now, their fanbase is quite excited to listen to the long-awaited album.