Rick Allen
Rick Allen

And more importantly, I wouldn't be the person I am today, I wouldn't be where I am now and I may not even have been here if it wasn't for the accident.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I prefer the rather old and battered, things with character, to the brand new.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

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
Rick Allen

But it's funny that now I'm in such a happy situation, I look more objectively at my own past and see what others have seen for a long time and I'm just so glad I've been able to get to this point.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

America feels like home as much as it does here. Although it's a strange situation as I feel almost like I'm in no-man's land some of the time, because although I'm a resident, I still can't vote so I don't really have a say in what goes on where I live.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

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
Rick Allen

But unfortunately, in my unrelenting drive to get back on that drum stool, the major casualty in all of it was that I really forgot about me.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

We're probably doing better business than we thought we would do especially considering the disappointing way the record company has handled the album.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

Yes, of course that's true but you know, the irony of all that is that before the accident, I'd pretty much lost interest in playing drums.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

But the irony is that because the band isn't the focus any more, it allows me the chance to enjoy being a member of Def Leppard much more.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I was happy in Dublin because it is very cosmopolitan.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I think my perception of my own life is different and the fact that Lauren and myself are together. I've never felt this free or happy and so that permeates onto my onstage persona and to my working environment.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

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
Rick Allen

If we had loads of money as a family, things would be different and they'd come to visit more and I'd get to spend more time here. But I'm laying down roots in America so when I'm there, just being at home, it's harder to break away from that.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

My situation should have been a lot worse. By rights I shouldn't have survived the crash.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I really don't feel any strong allegiance to any country.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

Chasing the sensation. Whether it was drugs or sex or whatever. Those things had become my main focus in life.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I wanted to be as far away from everybody as I could be. I found it difficult to be close to anybody, not just the guys in the band.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I think all of those things, but certainly the booze really brought out the really unreasonable side of me, and I just didn't want to revisit that place again.

Rick Allen
Rick Allen

I have never been one for the over-the-top.