It’s been 35 years since Def Leppard’s Rick Allen lost his left arm in a life-changing car accident, but the drummer has admitted he’s still trying to “master the art of one-armed acoustic drumming.”
Over the weekend, Allen shared a video to Instagram which showed him rocking out on a drum kit at his home studio, while including the caption: “Still trying to master the art of one-armed acoustic drumming #blessed #rickallen #leadwithlove.”
Following his accident, which took place in England, the rocker was forced to relearn how to play the instrument, while drum manufacturer Simmons worked with him to build a custom kit. Meanwhile, his Def Leppard bandmates stuck by him throughout the entire ordeal, when most musicians would likely face the end of their career.
Speaking of the life-altering accident during a recent interview with Modern Drummer, Allen described the moment he realised he had lost his arm, saying he “wanted to disappear.”
“I remember coming around in the hospital and then realising what had happened to me after the accident, and honestly, I wanted to disappear. I didn’t wanna do this anymore. And then I started getting these letters from all over the world… I got encouragement from everywhere — from my family, from the guys [in the band], from people all over the world. And I don’t know what happened, but I discovered the power of the human spirit and just said, ‘You know what? I can do this.'”
Allen continued, “It was really a collective thing. It was all this encouragement I was getting from other people, and then it just manifested in wanting to succeed. And that’s exactly where it came from.”
Speaking on his bandmates perseverance in supporting him throughout the devastating situation, Rick Allen explained: “They left the decision to me, whether I wanted to go on or not, and they gave me time to grow and develop, really, a whole new style [of playing].”
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“And that’s all I needed — I just needed the time. I needed the time to build my confidence and realise that I could do it. Nobody ever said, ‘Well, you have to make a decision now.’ I think that was the most important thing — just that time that they gave me just to find myself.”
Check out ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ by Def Leppard:
