Editor's Note
Banging the drum for resiliency
By Jason Walsh
I can’t recall much about New Year’s Day 1985, but one moment is etched in my memory: I was in my childhood bedroom in Marin County that afternoon listening to the radio and cataloging my burgeoning cassette tape collection when an announcement
is the stuff of legend (and the topic of this month’s lead feature on p. 22)—but also an inspiring tail of resiliency and life-saving action by first responders. Rohnert Park is a far cry from Dronfield, UK, the small town in Derbyshire where Allen grew up—but his incredible journey brings him to the “friendly city” Nov. 1, when he and his partner Lauren Monroe will be keynote speakers at the annual gala for First Responders Resiliency Inc.,
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came on: The drummer from my favorite band, Def Leppard, was involved in a devastating car crash.
Eighties music tech was awesome!
the nonprofit founded in 2018 by Susan Farren to foster and promote the physical and mental health of first responders. Among professions, first responders have significantly higher rates of substance abuse, divorce and chronic illness than the general population. They’re even more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. Allen and Monroe in 2001 launched the Raven Drum Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the healing of first responders and veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress through the use of music, drumming, breathwork, guided visualization and other proven techniques. When first responders saved Allen that day in 1984, they paved his path for a lifetime of success behind the drum kit. Now he’s using that drumming to give first responders happier, healthier, more hopeful lives. Learn more about Raven Drum at ravendrumfoundation.org . For information on First Responders Resiliency, Inc. and its Nov. 1 gala, check out resiliency1st.org . g
Rick Allen was on a New Year’s Eve drive with his girlfriend through the English countryside when an attempt to pass an aggressive driver ended in tragedy: a terrifying crash that severed Allen’s left arm. The news report, from SF station 97.3 KRQR “The Rocker,” lasted about 15 seconds then the station played “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” in tribute. I was 12. Under circumstances that would’ve crushed the spirit of most anyone—let alone a drummer in a hard-driving rock band—Allen refused to give up. And Def Leppard refused to give up on him. Re-learning to play drums with just his right arm and his feet, Allen and the band didn’t miss a beat, continuing on to remain one of the biggest acts of that decade. Here we are a few years later—Rick Allen is still touring with Def Lep; 97.3 The Rocker is a pop station called “Alice” that my daughter listens to on the drive to school, and at some point in the early 2000s Mom sent that tape collection to slowly degrade over the course of millennia in the nearby landfill. That Allen continued on to keep the beat throughout the band’s glory years
October 2025
NorthBaybiz 11
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