 Jimmy K here, Metal Voice, look at this. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice. Today, Alan, first time on the show. Yeah, Rick Alan from Def Leppard. Fantastic, nice introduction. Yo, hey Rick, the first time I saw you, Pyromania headline tour. Back in 1983, June 9th here in Montreal with Crocus and Gary Moore opening. Sorry, I think that was pretty early in the tour. Oh, that's cool. Is that where you are, you're up in Montreal? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, my wife's family, we have, or they have a small cabin up in the Adirondack, so. Okay, that's not far. Yeah, we love coming across the border and visiting Montreal. It's a beautiful city. Yeah, very, very cool. Good news, Rick Alan. And I'm gonna read this because I think it's important. Legendary rock and roll hall of fame inductee from Def Leppard will be making two special appearances next month at the Wentworth Gallery, one in Atlantic City and the other one at King of Prusa, which is I believe Pennsylvania, correct? It is, yeah. To celebrate the newest creations, Alan will appear on Saturday, July 10th at the Wentworth in Atlantic City at the Hard Rock Casino and then July 11th at the Prusa Mall. These events are open to the public and the new and extraordinary collection, limited editions, the drum series, the mixed media originals, plus the legends series of the Devin Healen. Is that a great introduction? I just read right off of it. No, no, no, it's great. It'll actually be, I did some in-person art shows recently in South Florida, like Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Hollywood, Florida. I did three shows and it's the first time I've ever done them since March of last year. So it was cool to get out there and amongst the people again. You can tell people really wanna get out there and do something. So it was pretty special doing that. So this is really just a continuation of that. When we heard that the tour was gonna get pushed again, I was like, well, I may as well do the entire sort of Wentworth Gallery tour. So that's kind of what I'm planning on doing. Yeah, very, very cool. Alan, what's the rings of hope 2021? That's tied into a charity. You wanna talk a bit about that? All the pieces, all the proceeds from all the pieces go to various projects under the umbrella of Ravendrum. Project Resiliency is really focused on the suffering of some of our wounded warriors. Not too many people know this, but I suffer from PTSD myself, not through combat trauma, but through a terrible car accident. And I remember in 2006, going to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the DC area. And I was just really shocked, the amount of suffering. So when I got back to my hotel, I called my wife. I said, we need to refocus. So that's when we came up with Project Resiliency. And I just saw a lot of the same traits, a lot of the same triggers in them that I did in myself. So I've been kind of passionate about that ever since. You know, Rick, Steve Gribbit, one of our friends here of the show, who from Grim Reaper, you probably know, who came probably along the same time Def Leppert was coming up, he lost his leg in Ecuador in a different way, but in the same, it was a loss. And he told me that only years later, did the post-traumatic stress hit him hard. I mean, was that your case that it happened right away or was it just years later? I wasn't aware of it. And the first time I met a chap called John Roberts that works with Wounded Warrior Project, he straight out asked me, he said, have you addressed your PTSD? And I said, is it that obvious? And I think it was from that point on that I became more aware of some of, I just thought I was an asshole before my accident, making a bigger asshole after the accident. You know what I mean? But... I must be sorry for people on PTSD as well. Something must happen in my life. You should make a phone call, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it revealed itself. And actually now I do a very strict regime of neurofeedback, which helps me. Actually, neurofeedback and alpha-theta therapy, which is neurofeedback is about building new neural pathways, and then the alpha-theta work really helps with like just deep meditation. It's, and that seems to help calm my nervous system. And then I'm very fortunate to live out in the middle of nowhere. So I think being in nature, being in the presence of something that's bigger than yourself is also a big help. Standing in front of an ocean, looking up at the cosmos, being in a forest, or all these things I help, I think help sort of manage this condition. The more calm I can keep my nervous system, the less triggers I encounter. Wow, fascinating. So we mentioned off the top that you're a Hall of Fame member. But again, a lot of, through your charity work, a lot of humanitarian awards, like the best buddies, Maria Shriver's best buddies, and of course the wounded warrior projects carry a forward award as well. What for you is more important when it comes to these types of accolades? I think the people that it touches, the people that it potentially inspires, we all need that human interaction. And I think during COVID, it really highlighted the fact that we are social beings. And I heard about a lot of issues with mental health, so much so that my wife came up with an idea for Big Love Benefit concerts. And I called some people that I knew, I called Tommy Shure, I called Billy Idol, Matt Sorum, and Matt got in touch with Miles Kennedy, and all these people jumped on board. And we put a virtual concert together that raised money for an organization called Sweet Relief. And they help industry professionals. The ripple effect that went out into our industry was just devastating. So it was cool, because it gave us both the focus during the pandemic. And it became very rewarding, because it would have been very easy for me to become really depressed. So again, if you suffer from any sort of depression or whatever, sometimes it's very difficult to explain to somebody else what that is and what that looks like. So I think because I've gone through my own experience of it, I think that's the real reason why I do it, is to try and inspire people to ask for help. It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help. Let's talk about the art now. And I'll tell you this quickly, Rick. I remember the day you lost your arm, like where they announced it. I was at a club, a hard rock club, and they announced it. It was just like, and I'm sure Alan remembers too, it was just shocking. You guys were just, it was just, everything was going so well for you, for the band, you know? I know. I just wanted to share that, that's all. Let's talk about your art. Let's talk more positive. I don't want to, you know. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, it's good. We've got to look at the shadows sometimes though, in order to move forward, you know? Sometimes it goes that way. Not to live in the shadows, but acknowledge that they're there. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't just mean to pry. That's what I'm trying to say. Oh, no, no, no, no, it's fine, it's fine. It's a part of me, you know? Yeah, the art. Okay, what can people expect to see? For someone who doesn't know you're an artist, why should they go to the art gallery? What can they expect to see in terms of your artwork? Well, to see me, of course. Well, they're okay, I feel that. That's a given. No, I think the Legends series is really interesting because it's really, it's like a history of all the people that inspired me. And probably the reason why I became a musician in the first place. The first one I did was Steve Clark, who was with Deathly Bird and sadly, we lost him. I miss him every day. But yeah, that was the first one I tried out. That was probably about four or five years ago. And I sent a picture of it to my mom, who happens to keep in touch with Steve's mom. And I got a huge compliment from her. She said, you know, Rick really captured Steve's essence. And, you know, so that kind of inspired me to keep going. So then I got into Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon. I mean, they've been so many along the way of Prince. And then more recently, I did a Johnny Cash, which is really cool. I actually didn't want to let go of that one. It was really nice. And then I did a really cool Kurt Cobain, which I was very proud of. And then I did two Eddie Van Halen's and they were extremely well received to the point where I think those two pieces were sold before I even finished them. Oh, wow. Yeah, but short story. So in 1978, my friend calls me. He says, I've got this new record that I want you to listen to and it's great coming over. So, you know, I went around. He only lived three doors up. So he put on Van Halen's first album and it was the first time I'd heard it. And it just completely blew me away. I'd never heard anybody play guitar like that. And just the musicianship within the band, they really set the bar very high. And then a couple of months later, they were coming through town, opening up for Black Sabbath. And to be honest, Van Halen, they own that show. You could see Black Sabbath, the wheels were coming off a little bit and it wasn't the same. I'd seen them plenty of times, but you saw Van Halen on this trajectory and then like Sabbath, you could see that things weren't that good, but it didn't take away anything from Van Halen. It was just the most incredible performance, very hungry, just incredible showman. And then in 1991, I moved to the States and I became friendly with a guy called Steve Lukerthof from Toto, anyway, he called me one night and he said, we're having a get together. We'd love for you to come down. And I want to introduce to my friend, Eddie Van Halen. So I went and met up with them and I met up with Eddie. He was really unassuming, very, very humble. You would never think that he did what he did for a living. Did he know who you were? He did and there was a mutual respect, but I was super starstruck. I, having followed him for that whole time as a kid and then finally getting to meet him, it was fantastic. So paying homage to him and his family, I thought what better way to do that than to paint him. And I got fantastic response, people were really kind. And it's really just paying homage to him and his family and the millions of fans that love Van Halen. You mentioned all these singer-guitars. What are you gonna paint some drummers? I just love that, that's true Alan. Just over a year ago, I guess we lost Neil Peer. I was actually at the same place that I just was in Florida. I was at the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. The one with the giant guitar and everything. And I heard the news while I was there and every spare moment that I had, I would just sit and listen to Rush and it really hit me, it was such a massive loss. And because he was such a private person, none of us really got to find out anything about his condition. But... Did you ever meet him? I did briefly, we shared the same rehearsal space. So we met on occasion. But yeah, that was one of those occasions where I was just so deeply, yeah, sort of shocked by the whole situation that I... That was the first thing I did when I got home was I started a Neil Peer painting. Oh really? Yeah, it's actually really cool. And all these pieces, I get started on them and then by the time I'm three quarters of the way through, I don't wanna let them go. They're like your babies, yeah. I know. Yeah, I'd sell all this art and I don't have one piece hanging in the house. Take some pictures. No. Yeah, full copy then. Big good answer, Jim. All right, can we flip to some Def Leppard? Just sort of just do, I know a lot of people are curious about, are you guys working on any new album or anything going on there? There's always new music on the go. And I'm happy to announce that in the not too distant future, we'll be able to present that. But yeah, I think that's one of the nice things about technology these days is that we can be all over the planet and still sharing ideas or coming up with new songs. So yes, that's a given. It's always something that we pride ourselves in is the fact that we come up with new music and we don't try and rest on Christmas past. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, if you wanna, could we ask you a couple of more Def Leppard questions? I got a lot of friends asking a lot of stuff. Have you ever? Pete Willis, which I love, his playing on the first two album, was there any contact with him over the years or any, I guess it didn't end well, I guess at that time or? At that time it didn't, but I mean, if you heard Joe's speech from the Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was beautiful, the way that it included everybody that was anything to do with the success of Def Leppard. And I think that the tone of that speech kind of sums up what we're about. And there's no long lasting animosity towards anybody. If you were part of this thing and for whatever reason you couldn't hang on to the reins, you know, that's your fair game, you know what I mean? Cause it's not as glamorous as you would think, spending lots of time away from home and just keeping up, getting up on that stage and doing what we do, it's work, you know? So, it just so happened that Pete, he didn't do well when we got out on the road. He was fine when he got home. But no, there's no animosity, you know? In fact, Pete was very welcoming when I first joined the band. I wasn't the first drummer, Tony Kenning was the first drummer. And I answered, actually it was a newspaper article a local newspaper. And the heading was Leopard Loser Skins. And I guess Tony was more interested in his girlfriend than rehearsing with the band. So I called up the newspaper and got Joe's information and within a few days I met with Joe and Steve at a local club and then we realized that we'd been to all the same concerts together and we'd probably rubbed shoulders. And then within a couple of days after that, I went and auditioned. Tony came back, he wanted his job. There was another guy and I decided I wanted to go last. And by the time I'd heard the two of them play, I'd kind of got the parts down pretty good. And when I played, there were smiles all around the room and I got the gig. But my point being is Pete Willis was so welcoming. He was kind of the first person to really just put my mind to ease and just very kind words. So I'll always be thankful to Pete for that. That's nice. I just realized, it's funny how Dennis Stratton would have been inducted with Iron Maiden but Pete wasn't inducted with you and I think he had a much larger role. He was, he was, he wasn't there but he was inducted. We asked him, we did all the right things. Like I say, it's all inclusive. You can't take that away from anybody. Yeah, so we asked, we did all the right things. He was very happy for us but obviously declined to be there. Yeah. When I was preparing for this, something that struck me was like here in Canada, we had Robbie Backman with BTO right out of high school. We had Johnny Fay with the tragedy hip right out of high school, right into the profession. And you were very, very young when you started out as well. Looking back, would you have rather started out at the age that you did or a little bit later in life in getting the touring and the success? No, I think it was a good time. It was a good time to get into it. You know, I'd been playing probably from the age of about nine, nine and a half, 10. And, you know, I, it was interesting. My friend got a guitar for Christmas and I was so jealous. So the first thing I asked when I got home was, you know, could I get a drum kit? Of course the answer was no. You know, we can't afford it, that kind of thing, which was true, you know? But my parents rethought their position and they said, okay, if you help around the house or if you're helping the neighborhood, you make some extra money, I didn't go get lessons. That was the main criteria. I had to go get drum lessons. We'll get you a drum kit on layaway. And that's exactly what they did. So, yeah, I was very fortunate that I was able to get a drum kit. And by the time I got the drum kit, because I'd been doing the lessons, I could actually play a little bit. So that was huge. You know what, you're truly an inspiration. I was watching the web series and it was like, I don't even think it was accurate. The Def Leppard, there was a doc. Oh, Def Leppard story, yeah, yeah. The Def Leppard story. I don't know how accurate that was, but I didn't feel accurate. There was the part when you guys were recording Pyromania and Mutt Lange was just kind of grinding everybody. I mean, how much truth was in that recording process of Pyromania to the point where I was reading that the engineer said, they're basically reverse engineering the songs where the drums were on last. I mean, it was, how much truth was that where you must have been upset, you know, here you are the drummer and they're just putting in the drums on last and they had this new technology with the drum machines and well, what I tended to do was, because the songs were evolving as we were in the studio. So it seemed easier to me to, you know, to put down a basic drum track or a drum machine and then to go back in and punctuate the songs afterwards instead of trying to second guess what the songs were gonna become. So that was really the reasoning behind that. It was just more convenient instead of having to agonize over, you know, trying to get the drums right in the first place. And then, you know, it became a hybrid, you know, some of the drum machine remained and then, you know, I would overdub things or go back in and redo. It was whatever the song needed. And that's kind of, Pyramania and Hysteria were complete. They were like experiments, experiments in how to record different ways to record, how to come up with hit songs, you know? And just- Oh, groundbreaking, groundbreaking, yeah, definitely. But the definite story I feel was, it was pretty accurate, but the things that weren't so accurate were the characters themselves. Like for instance, Mut Lang, he's a very quiet, shy individual. If you ever look up, try and look up a photograph of Mut Lang online, every picture I see is from 20 years ago. He's very private. And the way that he would challenge you, but in a way where you would challenge yourself, it wasn't like cracking the whip. It was more, he would push you to the limits of your physical and mental ability. And it was more that you would challenge yourself as opposed to Mut Lang directly challenging you to do it better. So, I mean, he was one of the sweetest guys I've ever encountered. I mean, he was very instrumental in my recovery. I remember he came to see me in the hospital and I was vegetarian, so was he. And, you know, he said, what's the food like in here? And I'm like, eh, you know, they just kind of take the meat off and you get soggy vegetables, you know what I mean? So, he had this association with the Harry Quishners down in London and he had this couple, Padma and Quipper. He had them drive up to Sheffield to where the hospital was and they would prepare food for me every single day. And he was really generous. He obviously donated money to Harry Quishner for them to come and do that for me. But I think that was a huge part of my recovery was the fact that I got fed extremely well. And it was funny, they would come in, the entire ward smelled like an Indian restaurant and they would proceed to feed everybody in the hospital. It was so cool, it was really cool. So, yes, Mut Lang, just one of those human beings is just an example, you know, for all of us. You know, Rick, me and Alan can talk to you like all day. I've got like thousands of questions but I know there's a time limit here. Oh, and all I need to do is figure out when my next one is and let me just have a quick look and then we'll see how we are, oh, so we can talk until tomorrow at 9 a.m. Well, you know what, we won't, we'll just ask you one or two questions and we'll let you go. We won't take, we won't take about it. That was a joke, by the way. No, I was thinking, I thought you were serious there for a second there, just get comfortable in the bunk bed. Let me get a pillow. Alan, what'd you want to say? No, just with all your charity work, if there's any links or any you want us to put on the website and the show where we launch it, we'd be happy to do so, any of the charity. Oh, cool, well there's always, there's always, let's see. You know, Instagram is always good, Rick Allen live, rickallon.com or wentwithgalleries.com. You know, they always have all the shows, the art shows that are coming up, they always have those posted on their website. Yeah, and I think that's, yeah, I think that's about it. You're probably, you know. Rick, what about bringing your art to Canada? Is there issues with going over the border with the art? Is that what it is? No, it's the fact that- Come to Montreal or I'd love to go to the art show. I would love to, I would love to, but I have this exclusive relationship with Wentworth. And, you know, it's convenient for me because all I do, you know, I produce the art and then I send it off to, you know, head office in Miami and they distribute the artwork amongst all their galleries. But the only thing is, it's an exclusive sort of deal. Now, one thing that the gallery have started doing more recently, which I think is really cool, like for instance, I'd mentioned the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. They happen to have a gallery inside the casino. And then they've done the same, of course, with Atlantic City. That's another hard rock. So I think the trend is, is that they're starting to move into more sort of Hard Rock Hotel casino type venues. So there's a good chance that that trend will kind of, you know, move north of the border. That's a good strategy, yeah. We've got casinos here, we've got casinos here, we've got whatever you need. I know, I know, I know Canada very well. I know this every week. What's your fondest memory of Montreal? Playing Montreal, what's your fondest? I saw you on the last tour, by the way. I saw you in Def Leppard, not you personally, but I saw Def Leppard, great show at the Bell Center. What are your fondest memories of playing Montreal, for all the Montreal fans out there? I'll keep it clean. No, the crowd in Montreal, and not too many people realize this, that per capita, we're probably bigger in Canada than anywhere else on the planet. I believe that. And did you know that the birthrate spiked when hysteria was released in Canada? I'm sure in Montreal, it really... I think, yeah, yeah. A few women were watching those videos, and I think they went home happy after turning off the TV, so I believe that. More than happy. Hey, you guys... Most of them got rid of their TVs after that. The guys will say, that's it, no more MTV. But no, in all seriousness, I think a Montreal crowd for us is probably the loudest thing that we've ever heard. They were... I think they were somewhere in the region of about 110 decibels. And we were having a hard time, or a sound engineer was having a hard time, competing with the sheer volume of the crowd. Yeah, I can attest to that. I was there, and I can attest to that. Yeah, I was there too, yeah, with the Tesla and Poison, I think, opened that one, so... Yeah. So you guys have got that going for you. You know, the cool thing about up there in Canada is people definitely aren't afraid to have a good time, and that's a good quality. Saturday, July 10th at Wentworth Gallery at the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City, and then July 11th in Pennsylvania at the King of Prusa Mall, the one and only, the drummer and the artiste, Rick Allen. I'm flattered. Rick, if you ever get around to painting or fill in it, let me know. Hey, that's a good one. That's a really good suggestion. I like that. Yeah, thank you for that. Yeah, I'm just to see it. So again, thanks for your time, Rick. What a pleasure was talking to you, and just all the best and the success, and let's raise a lot of money for these great charities. That's cool, man. You guys are very gracious. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to see you guys in the not-too-distant future. Hopefully, yeah. All right, thank you. Take care.