DEF LEPPARD's RICK ALLEN Excited For Fans To Hear DIAMOND STAR HALOS Album

Wednesday, 30th March 2022

Def Leppard 2022

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was recently interviewed alongside his wife and mentioned the new Diamond Star Halos album.

'Diamond Star Halos' is the band's 12th studio album.

As announced on 17h March it will be released on Friday 27th May 2022.

Rick and his wife Lauren Monroe were interviewed for the Appetite For Distortion podcast where they talked about Lauren's new single, “Kiss Me Now", the Raven Drum Foundation, marriage, artwork/music, Rick's accident/recovery, Diamond Star Halos and Guns N' Roses.

He also went onto discuss the new album very briefly.

Diamond Star Halos Album

Following the playing of new single 'Kick' on the podcast Rick briefly discussed the new album.

He said he hope that fans like it and he is excited for them to hear all of the new material.

Accident/Recovery

Rick also talked about his accident and recovery from the 1984 car crash and said he hoped people see his example as an inspiration.

Watch and listen to the full interview below.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

Rick Allen (Appetite For Distortion) - March 2022 Interview Quotes

New Single Kick

Rick Allen - "Yeah we just played Kick which is the first single. And then, you know, hopefully you know people are gonna love the rest of what we did. So I'm just excited for people to hear, you know, not just the first release but the whole thing."

Rick Allen's Artwork/Music

Rick Allen - "I think what, one of the things - I just really enjoyed the feeling of doing art as a kid because time just passed like it was nothing you know. I could do it for hours and feel like it was only a few minutes."

Rick Allen - "And I think music did the same. And then when our youngest was born it wasn't long before we started painting together and it just kind of reignited my passion for that."

Rick Allen - "And then I met with Wentworth Galleries' Christian O'Mahony and yeah we just started pushing more and more into the art. And you know now I'm doing these beautiful Legends pieces. The last one I did was Charlie Watts."

Rick Allen - "And without Charlie's influence I probably wouldn't be talking to you now."

Artwork Inspiration

Rick Allen - "Really just life experience. You know growing up in England and then eventually getting on a plane to the United States in 1980. Having joined Def Leppard at the ripe old age of 15. But really it's just life experience. Symbology. You know when I go to London I've got my camera with me. I'm taking pictures of everything I can see that inspires me and would inspire other people. And then of course all of the Legends pieces which my first one was Steve Clark."

Rick Allen - "And that kind of just led me into everybody else that really inspired me to become a musician."

Painting vs Music

Rick Allen - "More pressure to get it right. The nice thing about painting is you can go over it. You know and start again. Whereas live performances with music, you know, that's something that you strive to get better at you know. In the moment, as you're actually performing in front of people."

Car Accident/Recovery

Rick Allen - "I get what you're saying. At first I didn't wanna do this. I wanted to disappear after my accident. It was really difficult to be around people. I felt very self conscious. I think my parents and then, you know, family. And just people, letters from all over the world really encouraging."

Rick Allen - "And I think the best thing that the guys did in the band was give me time to really decide if I wanted to continue doing this or not."

Rick Allen - "And once I discovered the power of the human spirit. I think that just kind of opened me into a different realm. It was like oh I can do this. And then it was a, really a conscious decision to wanna continue in my physical state and, you know, expose myself to I don't know. Judgement, ridicule. You know like the guy up onstage that's different."

Rick Allen - "But I think once you can get over that it - then you're really on the path. I think one of the things that was important for me was I stopped comparing myself to how I used to be. And I stopped comparing myself to others."

Rick Allen - "And tried to really embrace how unique it was to play like this. And then it gave me a whole new sort of outlook on how people would receive this and really just any of the noise or anybody that wanted to be negative. It was like, you know, it's just noise and I didn't pay attention to that."

Rick Allen - "People will always - there will always be people out there that find a reason to be negative. But it's not those people that really register with me. It's the people that are more awake. And people that see what I'm doing and use that as inspiration."

Guns N' Roses

Rick Allen - "I thought that first record was just insane. I loved it. It was one of those records you couldn't play quietly. It had to be on Warp 10. Preferably 11. And yeah I thought that just kinda blew the doors off the place."

Rick Allen - "You know it had that angst. It was just something - it was just something that you had to play loudly. So I really loved it."

Appetite for Distortion · Rick Allen/Lauren Monroe: Music, Marriage, and Def Leppard | Ep. 340

Buy 'Diamond Star Halos' Online

Amazon - Regular CD
Amazon - Deluxe CD
Amazon - Vinyl
Amazon - MP3

Diamond Star Halos - Tracklisting

01 - Take What You Want - 4:14
02 - Kick - 3:42 - (Collen) - Amazon - (MP3)
03 - Fire It Up - 3:19
04 - This Guitar [feat. Alison Krauss] - 3:50
05 - SOS Emergency - 3:25
06 - Liquid Dust - 4:01
07 - U Rok Mi - 3:33
08 - Goodbye For Good This Time - 4:27
09 - All We Need - 4:46
10 - Open Your Eyes - 4:19
11 - Gimme A Kiss - 3:12
12 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - 4:57
13 - Lifeless [feat. Alison Krauss] - 4:19 - (Collen/Elliott)
14 - Unbreakable - 3:46
15 - From Here To Eternity - 5:37