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Rick Allen
(July 2005 Issue)
Still Feeling The Power Rick Allen has been playing drums all his life, and nothing was going
to stop him from doing what he loves to do. Nothing.
By now we all know the story of Rick's terrible car accident
on
December 31, 1984, which resulted in the drummer losing his left arm
when he was twenty-one. One could only imagine
the horror.
Amazingly, within a few short months after his accident, Rick began a
whole new approach to playing, with
the help of family, friends, and a
special electronic kit made for him by Simmons.
"The way that I play is pretty
alternative," Rick says. "I can't really
consult with the book of one-arm drummers. What I do is develop, or
adapt, certain
exercise routines to the way that I do it. It's like they said in the Stick Control
book: You can try different
combinations, and that's what I do. Just
because it's a left-hand part in the book doesn't mean I can't play
it
with a different limb, like my right foot. I like to challenge myself."
Def Leppard recently released its tenth studio record,
simply titled X.
"We took a different approach with this record," Rick explains. "We
decided it would be good to
collaborate on certain songs with different
songwriters and producers. X contains the same radio-friendly
appeal that
you'd expect from the hard-working band. In fact, as we
speak, Rick, Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Phil Collen, and Vivian
Campbell
are preparing for yet another tour. According to Rick, "We're planning
on touring Japan, England, and then the
States."
Billy Amendola
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