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How do you know when the drum riser is level? The drummer drools out of both sides of his mouth!
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
I really don't feel any strong allegiance to any country.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
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I have never been one for the over-the-top.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
We were doing this outdoor show in Salt Lake City, we were about a mile above sea level to start with and it was about 45 minutes before I got my first break. During the sound check they didn't have a drape up but for the show they put it up right behind the drum kit. When I got up, the lighting rig was really low and I hit my head on it, and grabbed hold of what I thought was a solid wall but it was the drape and I fell off the back of the stage. I almost lost a testicle. I had quite a bruise.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
This was when we started taking it seriously, and found out about what hard, hard work really was. Mutt Lange at the helm at Battery studios in Willesden, London. Our first venture into video promo saw us featured on a new channel in America called MTV. The song from the album was "Bringin' on the Heartbreak". This album was slow to take off but a year after it's release it started to make waves in the U.S. Thanks to "Bringin'" on the MTV. The record is a favorite of mine.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Chasing the sensation. Whether it was drugs or sex or whatever. Those things had become my main focus in life.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
I was happy in Dublin because it is very cosmopolitan.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Just the same way I'd say a prayer before going onstage, taking that even further and using the drum to inspire people. And using that as a vehicle for the intention.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
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And more importantly, I wouldnt be the person I am today, I wouldnt be where I am now and I may not even have been here if it wasnt for the accident.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
When anything happens to us we always pull together, not only personally but musically. You get on with working and it seems to take your mind off whatever bad things seem to happen.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Because of the way we work together, there's never any chance of the band breaking up. We know each other so well and we get on really well together.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
You know, people have said to me, 'I don't know what I would have done if I'd have gone through what you went through.' I just turn around and say, 'Well neither did I.' Until you discover that part of yourself, it's inexplicable. You just have to go through the experience, and somehow you're inspired.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
We try to look good and have style.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
I've only ever written two or three song parts in my life ... Er, no, actually I wrote the entire Slang album, but the band will never admit to that! I don't mind carrying those deadweights - at least they're decent company. I wish I'd written 'Happy Birthday', just for the royalties.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
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I can think of maybe a couple of days before my accident or the day of my accident that I could have definitely done things slightly different.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Some people say that practice makes perfect but I just feel that the repetition works against me and I start thinking too far ahead during a show.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
When we first started touring after the release of 'On Through the Night', a lot of people kept calling us a 'punk' band. Obviously they never saw us. Evidently, a paper would assign a writer to cover the show, and the guy would unload his ticket for a few quid, go home and write the review anyway. They all called us 'punk,' because the name sounded that way.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
One time a girl climbed around ten floors up the hotel balconies to Sav's room. All of a sudden, this pair of hands come up. Very dangerous. People do some strange things to meet bands.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
If I couldn't play drums it would have destroyed me. If you're thrown in the deep end you swim, and that's basically what I did. I had to do it and with the rest of the band behind me and the encouragement I got from people from all over the world, I knew that I was going to play.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Thinking about what songs are coming next instead of just relaxing, breathing and playing from my heart. Sometimes it can get to be almost like the enemy.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
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There's a standard that we never let ourselves go below. We're our own worst critics.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Before my accident I was a little too... selfish and self-absorbed and for me, to now be at the place where I can kinda give back and inspire people. I'm blessed. I'm really blessed.
Rick Allen Def Leppard -
Some are more nuts than others. I've had my moments. But I don't think I'm really a typical drummer. I've met some that I couldn't keep up with.
Rick Allen Def Leppard