http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=22659 One Arm Bandit Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen discusses the sound of one hand rocking. Summer Burkes What would you do if you were the drummer for one of the most popular metal bands of the '80s? If you were Def Leppard's Rick Allen, you'd go the rock-star asshole route, abusing substances, driving fast and taking chances. Now, what would you do if, two years after recording a masterful and historic heavy metal album that sold over 10 million copies worldwide, you were road-raging down a rural English road on New Year's Eve and lost your arm in a horrible car accident? If you were Rick Allen, you'd re-assess your life, become a nice guy, keep rocking, find serenity, start a non-profit (www.ravendrumfoundation.org), and kick back and listen to the sound of one hand clapping. The Wave: Do journalists always ask you questions about your missing arm, or are they too chicken? Rick Allen: Normally I'm pretty forthcoming. I usually talk about it anyway. TW: What question do you hate the most? RA: "Where'd you get the name Def Leppard from?" TW: Lead singer Joe Elliott came up with the name, didn't he? RA: Yeah, it tends to be his least favorite question as well. TW: For High 'n Dry and Pyromania, you had two arms. And you rocked. Once you attained one-arm status, you learned - very quickly I might add - to rock one-handed for Hysteria, which yielded a whopping seven top 40 hits. How do you think your new drum style affected the drastic change in Def Leppard's sound, starting with that album? RA: I think the success at that time was generational, which is a kind of success that you can't really stop. You can't put a foot wrong, as it were. TW: I was in high school when Hysteria came out and I remember everyone being very inspired by you in a "Wow. He has one arm and he's still rocking!" sort of way. RA: You know, I get that a lot and it's really cool. I feel blessed that I'm in this situation. I remember when I first lost my arm - people would ask me for my autograph and they'd be standing there looking really sad. So I started doing these little stick people, a regular stick person with one arm holding a drumstick or a peace sign or whatever. Then their faces started lighting up. But it was kind of strange at first - people were sad for me and I didn't necessarily wanna go there for myself because I'd been wallowing in that particular part of myself for a while. [The accident] put a giant full-stop at the end of that period of my life. It was like, "Okay, you've gotta do it differently now." TW: Sort of a wake-up call. RA: Yeah, I think so. Since my accident, I felt a sense that I'd left a trail of devastation, and that my way of leaving less of a trail of devastation was to just kind of review my life. I think when you go through a near-death experience like that, you get an eagle-eye view of your life and the relationships you have - everything, you see everything. TW: You've only had one arm for 17 years now. Do you miss it, or are you proud that you've attained the same non-extremity-having celebrity status as Van Gogh, John Bobbitt and Evander Holyfield? RA: That's funny. I never really thought of it that way before, but I guess you're right. TW: Yeah man! You've got the most famous non-arm in modern history. RA: The funny thing is when people ask me where the arm is. I'm like, well, I don't know where the f*cking thing is. TW: You didn't save it so you could take it out and beat people with it every once in a while? RA: Nope. [laughs] Shortly after the accident I had a prosthetic arm made. It was the most ridiculous thing. I really appreciate the people who made it. I ended up spending a day in Dallas at the clinic where they make all those bionic arms. I put this thing on and it just looked f*ckin' ridiculous. So what I started doing after that was, I just took the arm out for Halloween every year and scared the local kids. I'd put a big cushion up my back and come to the door with this stupid looking arm hanging down. TW: Who designed your one-armed drum kit, and what does it entail, gear-wise? RA: It's half acoustic, half electronic. I use a real kick, a real snare and all real cymbals, and then I make samples of my real snare drum and place those in a sampler and trigger those sounds using my left foot on a foot pedal on the floor. TW: How did it physically feel to lose such an important part of your body and your instrument? RA: Initially, your body kinda goes, "Okay, there's nothing wrong with you." Your body tricks you into thinking that everything's still there. And then eventually... well, I started to realize there was a presence. Not what they call a phantom nerve, but actually a presence. My dad came into my room one day and I said, "Dad, reach out and touch me where you think my hand is." And he reached down and touched it - "Ugh! It's THERE! What IS that?" I said I don't know. It occurred for about two weeks after I'd lost my arm. I could do party tricks like pass my phantom arm through people's hair and it would stand on end. It made me think - what happens to the energy? Does that just die as well, does that just disappear? So it really started to raise those questions about energy and who we really are. I experienced it on a first-hand basis… and the fact that my dad was there… I knew that it wasn't just me going through a strange period in my head, it was a physical presence. TW: So you're a hippie, then. RA: You know what? I guess so. TW: What do you collect? RA: I guess I could say I collect music, rocks, crystals. TW: Crystals?! Hippie! RA: I know, I know, sad but true. Def Leppard performs at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on December 14.