Def Leppard Drummer Opens Up About ‘Traumatic’ Experience

2025-05-01

Def Leppard

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen is revealing how he has been dealing with a horrible incident. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo courtesy of Def Leppard

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen is revealing how he has been dealing with a horrible incident that took place outside a Florida hotel two years ago. It’s not easy to get over a traumatic experience, and Allen says he hopes it can all be behind him soon.

Allen was assaulted outside a Florida hotel in Fort Lauderdale in 2023, and the assailant, Max Edward Hartley, was arrested following the incident. Hartley, according to a Ford Lauderdale police report, was charged with four counts of criminal mischief, one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of aggravated battery.

Rick Allen of Def Leppard Talks About Life After Horrible Incident

Thankfully, Allen is okay, but he’s still dealing with the mental anguish of going through an incident like that. Speaking to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation” on April 17, Allen talked about why he decided not to have his artwork on display at this year’s Monsters of Rock cruise.

“I’ve been going through some challenging times, kind of related to what happened in Florida,” Allen said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “And that whole thing is kind of ongoing, when I got beaten up outside the hotel [there]. So I’ve been trying to deal with that the best that I can, and really I just needed to take a break from some of the side projects that I was busy with, just so I could spend more time at home.”

He also said that it’s “been a real challenge for me” and that “hopefully I can put it all behind me and I can just kind of get back to as normal as I could possibly be given the circumstances. But that was very traumatic for me, and, yeah, it’s been difficult. But hopefully I can put it behind me soon.”

Rick Allen and His Art

Allen also said that he tried going a cruise after the assault, but he found it hard to be around a lot of people in that kind of environment. So, he decided not to bite off more than he can chew. Why force something too fast? “Just deal with this, deal with what’s in front of you,” he said. “Spend as much time as you need to at home. And I’m just hoping, as I say, that I can put it behind me… I’d love to get back to doing some of my side projects, particularly the art.”

Allen has still been touring with Def Leppard, so at least the incident hasn’t gotten in the way of his day job. The group has plans to tour in 2025 and is also headlining the Rock the Tides destination festival this November in Mexico.

Def Leppard is touring on the band’s latest studio album, 2022’s “Diamond Star Halos.” In a review of the album for Louder Sound when it was released, Neil Jeffries said of the set, “Two years in the making, Diamond Star Halos seems to aim higher than Leppard’s last couple of albums, the band thinking long and working extra hard on this one. It’s a lot to absorb, but its’s comfortably the best album by this line-up.”

Charles Ken
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Posted by Charles Ken | Music, Rock, Rock News

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