MOTÖRHEAD's MIKKEY DEE: Writing New Songs That Sound Like Old Songs Is 'Very, Very Hard'

Germany's EMP Rock Invasion recently conducted an interview with MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the limitations of coming up with new MOTÖRHEAD material, Mikkey said: "We have a very tight framework to work within. And to write new songs that sound like the old songs, but are still yet the new songs, that's very, very hard. It just feels like you've heard it all before, which you probably have. How do you add color to a black-and-white picture and it's still black-and-white? It's very hard."

Asked if MOTÖRHEAD's songwriting restrictions are a blessing or a curse, Mikkey responded: "Both, because it limits us from going in any extreme directions, which we shouldn't do to begin with, but we should be able to experiment a little bit more musically sometimes. And the blessing is that I don't think there's a lot of bands that have that privilege of really build up something like what MOTÖRHEAD has. But it works in both directions. I'm not pissing about it."

He continued: "When you see reviews, and they go, 'Yeah, the new MOTÖRHEAD record, it's a great album, but it kind of sounds like the old one, like the previous one. I gave it a 3 out of 5, because you know what you get when you buy MOTÖRHEAD. And a lot of people take that as, 'That review wasn't that good, Mick, was it?' I go, 'That's the fucking perfect review. You're not getting it. That means that we succeeded of sounding the same, but still new."

The reissue of MOTÖRHEAD's 21st studio album, "Aftershock", was made available on August 26 via UDR/Motörhead Music. The CD was helmed by longtime producer Cameron Webb (MEGADETH, DISTURBED). The expanded edition contains a bonus live CD — also recorded by Webb — consisting of live material comprised from the band's historic appearances in early 2014.

"Aftershock" sold 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 22 on The Billboard 200 chart.

MOTÖRHEAD mainman Lemmy, 68, last year suffered a haematoma (where blood collects outside of a blood vessel),causing the cancelation of a number of the band's European festival shows. He was also reportedly fitted with a defibrillator because of heart problems.