This Saturday Def Leppard comes to the Virginia Beach Amphitheater. 24SevenCities sat down with drummer Rick Allen, who shared insight into his battle with adversity, the ancient history of drumming and his non-profit organization Raven Drum Foundation.

At 15 he started playing drums with Def Leppard. Then at 21 Rick Allen lost his left arm in a tragic car accident.

But even on the hospital bed he couldn’t stop hearing the drums in his head, couldn’t stop feeling the beat in his one arm and in his heart. As we all know, Allen got back into the studio and back onstage, going on to achieve worldwide fame. With wife Lauren Monroe, who he met during his recovery, Allen has started the non-profit Raven Drum Foundation. Its mission is “to serve, educate and empower veterans and people in crisis through the power of the drum.”

24SevenCities: You’d been playing with Def Leppard from the age of 15. After the accident, did you ever consider doing something else?

Rick Allen: Interestingly enough, going through the experience of the accident renewed my interest in drums again. That was one of the reasons we came up with Raven Drum in the first place. It was me digging into the history of drumming. The fact that it is such an ancient form–that renewed my whole interest, but ultimately deepened my experience when I play.

Do you use a prosthetic arm?

RA: I got one, but my shoulder is so short it felt really kind of alien when I first tried it. And I think the other thing is the technology was nothing like what it is now.

The stigma around physical disability seems to have changed in recent years.

RA: For sure.

As one of the first really well-known figures with this challenge, how have reactions to your disability changed over the years?

RA: I think a lot of the misperception is in how you think people will react versus how they really do react. I agree with you; I think attitudes have changed. I talk a little bit with people about celebrating uniqueness. I think once you get into that mindset, you can perform or do things in a way that nobody else can. And all of a sudden your experience of yourself is completely different.

It takes a while. It took me a while. There were times I thought, ‘Oh, this is easy.’ Then I’d be confronted with a group of schoolchildren and thought, ‘Man, this is really uncomfortable.’ But now it’s a lot easier, and I can appreciate that I can do things that two-armed people can’t. So I guess I’ve stopped comparing.

When do you think it changed and you stopped comparing?

RA: Well I still do it a little bit. I think it’s just residual. But the opposite is stronger–that part of me that realizes that I’m unique in what I do.

When did it strike you that you could really go beyond helping yourself recover and succeed in helping thousands of others help themselves?

RA: I guess once I met with Lauren. I originally met with her as a client.

Lauren Monroe: My background is in massage therapy and alternative and holistic healing. I met Rick when he was a patient. We just developed a relationship. And the work that I was doing with him really had some profound changes and brought about a deeper awareness. I think you get to a point in healing where you have enough strength and awareness that you really need to give to other people, and I think that’s where he was at.

When we developed the foundation, our intention was to offer from my background and my knowledge, but also Rick’s experience and his own charity. And that keeps going.

RA: It keeps unfolding. Once I got that clarity, it was easier to share it with other people. And as you know, it’s a lot more powerful for me to share it as opposed to reading it from a textbook.

Rick Allen and wife Lauren Monroe, founders of Raven Drum Foundation.

LM: I’ve also been a teacher for over 16 years, and my emphasis in the curriculum has been steeped in body-mind awareness and also spiritual aspects. And I use ’spiritual’ lightly in the work that we do. It’s spiritual because the experience becomes this inexplicable one, not because we put any spiritual dogma into anything.

RA: It just comes natural. All we’re doing is just drawing from the universal experience. It’s all part of us. It’s not like we’re coming up with anything new. It’s just tapping into a wisdom that’s already there.

There’s a lot of focus here on supporting veterans and troops. Is there a specific connection to the military in your life that inspired you to focus your attention on helping servicemen?

LM: In my family I lost a cousin in Vietnam. But the thing that has stayed with me for most of my life is the ripple effect of death and what happens to family. You see what happens to these people, these families, and our hearts are so there. And Rick’s knowledge of post-traumatic stress, and mine being with him, really made me see a deep connection to help these people.

What does the name Raven Drum symbolize?

LM: Transformation. There are many indigenous cultures around the world that look to the raven as a symbol of transformation.

Rick, what is it about the power of the drum that you feel really affects people in times of crisis? How does it empower them?

RA: That’s actually a really good question. It’s something that I rediscovered when I went through my experience of losing my arm. And I have to keep going back to that because I think drumming is a lot more powerful than I ever realized prior to my accident. I remember listening to this African piece–it was a very complex series of rhythms that were put together. It took me a good couple of months to master the rhythm. But once I had, I played it from start to finish for the first time, and in that moment I realized that I was actually playing a prayer. Then I started to dig into the origins of drumming and realized that in all our ancestries there was some percussive instrument in some shape or form, whether that be guttural sounds done with the mouth or hand-claps or body slaps. That’s simply part of us. That’s something we can never deny. It guided me to a more ancient part of myself through playing the drums.

LM: And I think too it brings oneness to people. It brings people closer to their heart and helps them be in the moment. And that’s where healing happens. While Rick is drumming, he was in the present.

RA: I didn’t think of anything else.

LM: There was no future, no past. And that was so healing for him.

RA: It doesn’t necessarily have to be drumming. It can be anything. I call it The Zone. Anybody that does something intense, whether that be a downhill skier, whether that be a warrior; when you’re in that place where you cannot think of anything else, you find The Zone.

The spiritual drum influence and your rock-metal fame seem like an odd combination. Is it for you?

RA: No. The same intention is true for whatever I do and whoever I’m in front of, whether that be a Def Leppard audience or working the way that we do with Raven Drum. My intent is the same. At the end of the day I’m inspired by people and their potential. It’s human connection.

Adversity, particularly trauma, can make you or break you. It’s been said that you are a better drummer with one arm than you were with two. What is it in a person that allows them to turn weakness into strength?

RA: The human spirit. That’s exactly what it is. All you have to do is wake that up. Once you do, it’s unstoppable. It’s actually the most powerful thing I know–the human spirit.

Speaking from your own experience, what is it that ultimately has kept you going? When you lose that and drift away from that awakening and get into the dark moments and want to give up? How do you defeat that?

RA: Just going into service. If I can connect with another human being, it diminishes all the self-pity that I have.

Rick Allen and Lauren Monroe have recently put out a release of healing music for meditation, relaxation and peaceful sleep called ‘Oneness Chant.’ (“It’ll put you in The Zone right away.”)  It is available for purchase on iTunes and can be found by searching Lauren Monroe. They are offering it free to military personnel. Just contact Raven Drum Foundation to get the code for your free download.

Information on the Raven Drum Foundation can be found at ravendrumfoundation.org.

Def Leppard will be performing this Saturday, July 11 at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater with Poison and special guest Cheap Trick. Visit defleppard.com for details. Tickets can be purchased at livenation.com.