The Hysteria: Rick Allen on the band's long road to Mumbai

On March 27, 2026. Ahead of Def Leppard’s Mumbai show on their debut India tour, Srijan interviewed Rick Allen.

DEF LEPPARD IN INDIA
Interview with Rick Allen
Mumbai, 2025

It’s around noon at Taj Land’s end when I am let into a room with a few people in it, photographers, interviewers, management, and Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen. I enter as a fan. As Rick is wrapping up his interview, I remember why this meant so much to me. You see, Def Leppard, when they broke into the scene in the 80s, were not hard rock enough. They had all kinds of harmony and melody and lyrics with sugar poured on them. I, when I first heard them, was a 16 year old archetype teenager, loving the hard in their hard rock but loving the love in their music too, since I was head over heels in love with a girl at the time and learned “Two Steps Behind” on the guitar, just for her. That didn’t work out, but here was Rick, inviting me over for a chat. 
I always record on two mics, and while setting up the phones I joked that this arrangement would make it stereo. No one laughed, and Rick told me if I turned my phone sideways, it records in stereo. 

Well, friends, I was told about iPhone features by the Rick Allen. And with that our chat proceeded.

Srijan: You learn something every day eh?

Rick: Like all of us. 

Srijan: Rick, without you and the band, a lot of us wouldn’t have picked up instruments or gotten into music. Not me, but a lot of us.

Rick: But for a lot of people what you’re doing now is very relevant, getting the word out there. 

Srijan: So, Sheffield. A sporting town, right? Football, cricket..

Rick: Yeah. For a relatively — well, it's the fifth largest city in England — but yeah, we have two football teams, which is awesome. I used to play, yeah. I still get out there and kick a ball around whenever I can. Not like I used to, but I still love it.

Srijan: Sundays are football.

Rick: Yeah. 

Srijan: So a lot of these questions are going to be things you've already been asked before. 

Rick: No problem. 

Srijan: So, 2008, the India gig got cancelled. And I believe in your career it must have happened at other times as well. Things get called off. So what does it feel like when that happens? Is it very bothersome?

RICK: It's very disappointing, because you want to push out and play our music to as many people as possible, bring in new territories. And India is one of those places where we never really got the traction that we wanted to. So whenever things get cancelled, it just prolongs it, it postpones. And that's not a nice feeling, especially when we know there are so many people that love the music and love the band.

SRIJAN: Yeah, I mean, all of us were really crushed as well. But I think we felt the same thing as you did — that it's only a postponement, not a cancellation. It's going to happen someday. And it took a couple of decades, but it did happen.

RICK ALLEN: Well, based on the response in Shillong, it was incredible. People were just — every single person in the audience singing the words to every single song. That in itself is a huge compliment to us.

SRIJAN: Shillong has that thing going on. I think all cities have their own different characters. What are your favourite cities to play in? Which are the ones a person wouldn't guess — smaller towns where you felt really good?

RICK ALLEN: Well, interestingly enough, one of the best audience reactions we've ever had is in Montreal, Canada. They just know how to let go and really be in the moment and have a good time. Very similar to the experience we had just recently in Shillong — just a really heartfelt response to the music.

SRIJAN: I've been to Shillong, and I could feel that in my bones. Have you heard any of the bands opening for you before this?

RICK ALLEN: No, but the band that opened for us the other night in Shillong — yeah, they were just great. Good music, nice music. 

SRIJAN: Many of them just picked up their instruments because of you people.

RICK: Apparently. It was classed as K-pop, but just good, well-written, well-performed songs.

SRIJAN: So — I used to watch your videos back then, and your stage shows were massive. Joe could make the last guy in the last row feel like Joe was singing for him. One would expect that over time you would mellow down. But you've not done that. It's still big, still massive.

RICK ALLEN: It turns into a spectacle. Interestingly enough, you play these songs in a rehearsal room and it's just going through the motions. But when you play in front of an audience, they take on a whole personality of their own — it's like a different energy. Because of the audience's collective experience, when they heard the music for the first time, all that comes back to them. I call music a time machine. It really is. It takes people to moments. It's like a certain smell that takes you back to a time. Music is the same. The power of music is incredible. So we have that going for us because of how long we've been around.

SRIJAN: So when you started off, you were unlike most other hard rock bands in the scene — because hard rock bands were trying to get more thrashy, while you infused a lot of pop influences. So where does Mutt Lange come into all this?

RICK ALLEN: Well, he wanted to transcend the stereotypical rock band. The audiences were mostly male, and Def Leppard — we really like girls!  So with Mutt's influence on melodies, harmonies, and well-written songs, it changed up the audience. Instead of being male-dominated, it was like half guys, half girls. That was really the motivation — to get more people to come to the shows and experience it. Seeing couples coming to shows and having a shared experience — that's really special.

SRIJAN: Yeah, I can identify with that. And so — you have Hysteria, you have Pyromania, and then suddenly you're the best-selling artists in so many countries. What kind of pressure does that put on you for the next album, the next release?

RICK ALLEN: There's always pressure, I think. There was more then than now, because now we just play the music that we love — for ourselves — and we just hope that there are more people that feel the same way about us. Instead of trying to write something you think somebody is going to love, you write it because you love it yourself. And I think if you come from that point of view, you influence people's taste in music. We're always trying to create new music as we go. We don't suddenly stop after we get off tour and say, let's make a record. While we're on the road, people will be coming up with ideas. There's a song we're all working on at the moment, while we're here in India, and I can hear it developing as we go. Maybe when we get back to America or Europe there'll be other songs we'll be working on. Before you know it, you've got three or four songs — or more — that you can already see are going to be finished at some point. It's an ongoing process.

SRIJAN: That's beautiful. Yeah, the song grows and takes form by itself.

RICK ALLEN: Yeah, sometimes songs take forever. We've even had a chorus idea that's been around for 10 years where we could never find the right bridge or verse. And then 10 years later, the right verse comes along, and you go: oh, these two things fit together perfectly. So sometimes the songs are written decades apart.

SRIJAN: And that must take a lot of patience as well — just knowing the chorus is good, but it doesn't have the perfect bridge for it yet. But it will arrive someday.

RICK ALLEN: So you put it in the archive, you put it in the back of your mind, and then at some point it'll become something.

SRIJAN: Speaking of road life — how has it changed over the years? From what we see in films and documentaries, it's a very rough sort of living. You're playing shows, then sleeping in the van or the bus, moving around constantly. But you're still playing three continents this time, still a large number of shows. How has road life evolved?

RICK ALLEN: Well, as you suggest — back in the early days, we had a lot of energy and a will to just play. So you didn't mind sleeping in the van, sleeping on musical equipment, getting sleep whenever you could. Obviously with success comes more comfort. Staying in a beautiful hotel like this, which we would never have imagined. But yeah, it's changed really through the success that we had. We can now afford to make life a little easier for ourselves.

SRIJAN: And being a father and a husband changes things too.

RICK ALLEN: Yeah, you know, I want to be a good role model for my daughter. I want to be there for my wife. There are many facets to my life over and above what I do with Def Leppard, but it's all a reflection of the same thing.

SRIJAN: I think that belief inside you has kept the entire band going for so long. Because normally, bands will disband once they get into the whole hedonistic rock and roll lifestyle. But you found something to ground you.

RICK ALLEN: I think one of the reasons for that is having post-war parents. Just the idea of — we'll get through this together. That's what our parents instilled in us. My mother remembers being in air raid shelters during the war, and the community they created really rubbed off on us. One of the keys to our success is we have one dressing room. And you know, that's rare — very rare. But when we're all sitting together in one room, you feel the camaraderie. We can make jokes, finish each other's sentences. All you have to do is say the hook line to a joke and everybody knows what the joke is. I think that's what comes with that longevity and just being around each other for so long.

SRIJAN: That's beautiful. And exceptionally rare, because we have so many bands where people just can't get along.

RICK ALLEN: Yeah, it's true. We've experienced it ourselves when we play with other bands and they can't believe we only have one dressing room.

SRIJAN: How's it working with Tom Morello?

RICK ALLEN: Awesome. Very unassuming, extremely talented, really sweet guy. Last time we saw him, I think we were up in Canada, and he brought his son up on stage to play guitar with him. That was really cool.

SRIJAN:He is also a personal hero of mine. Now — have you played for musicians who are your own heroes personally?

RICK ALLEN: Yes, and that is a little intimidating. When other people show up — I remember Jackson Browne showed up when we were playing in Vegas, and that was intimidating. Because when it comes to vocal harmonies and that level of perfection — like the Eagles, you know — whenever there's somebody you look up to in the audience, obviously it's going to be a little nerve-racking.

SRIJAN: Yeah, I think that's what all the openers are feeling right now today as well. So — in general, after everything that happened, I think if I just listen by ear and I don't know about what you've gone through in your life, I would imagine you've been playing straight up. No one would even imagine there might have been an accident of any kind. It doesn't show in your drumming. You're probably just playing better every time.

RICK ALLEN: That's very kind of you. I've used a wonderful blend of machines and real playing over the years. And it's interesting how in that instance I can learn from machines — I can hear their perfection and impress that upon what I do as a player. It's a two-way street. You try something, you go: oh, that sounds cool. And then you listen back and you're not going to do that again. So it's always a learning curve.

SRIJAN: Always, yeah. But you’re a drummer’s drummer, as they say.

RICK ALLEN: So, yeah. I appreciate that.

SRIJAN: Did you always feel that you were going to continue playing?

RICK ALLEN: Did I know I was going to continue playing? Not always, no. I think it takes a village, as they say. My family, and then the guys in the band — they gave me as much time as I needed to get to the place where I felt confident to play. And then just bands in general, the amount of support I got from them was overwhelming. So I think it's finding that in yourself, where you make the decision to want to do it.

SRIJAN: And all those lessons from football, and the air raid shelters, and everything — like you said, it takes a village. They all come together and give you some strength. You were talking about playing with both feet?

RICK ALLEN: Yeah, I was very right-footed. And then when I got out of hospital, I realised I could kick with my left foot as well as my right, and there was no learning involved. To me, that's just a natural survival response — the neural paths figured it out.

SRIJAN: Right. Okay, we have 10 minutes including photos — yes, I've been grateful for every second. Rick, tell me about the charity.

RICK ALLEN: The Raven Drum Foundation. Something myself and my wife set up in 2000 through her work in the healing arts. She was working as a massage therapist, an energy medicine practitioner. And through my experience of trauma, and her experience of being in the healing arts, the combination of the two of us together was just so valuable for the community. Initially, we started working in 2001 with kids from Afghanistan who had lost limbs from landmines. We went on the bus and started playing drums with them. And their response was just so beautiful — counter-intuitive. You think: oh, drums, that's gonna be intense. But no, it's like a trance-like tool. The way you can get people into a zone, into the moment. We've gone on to work with veterans, and now we do a lot of work with first responders — firefighters, cops. That's been extremely satisfying in terms of helping the community.

SRIJAN: That's … wow — that gives one a lot. Okay, just the first thing that comes to mind: favourite album?

RICK ALLEN: Favourite Def Leppard record is whatever's newest, because that's the thing that's fresh to us. But in terms of the songs that ignite a crowd, the more well-known songs are always a foundation. Hysteria is one of those records — it is. Start to end.

SRIJAN: Okay — favourite book?

RICK ALLEN: Right now I'm reading The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton. He's an incredible writer, and interestingly enough, my wife and I became friends with him. So it means that much more.

SRIJAN: The title itself sounds so interesting — I'll check it out. And I guess the last thing I'll ask — first of all, I want to be really grateful on behalf of an entire country for everything you've done and continue doing, and will be doing tonight as well. There's probably a kid in the crowd tonight somewhere who's thinking: should I pick up an instrument? Is music something I want to do? What do you want to say to that kid?

RICK ALLEN: Pick up the instrument, even if you don't do it professionally. The instrument will become your friend. My daughter plays piano. She doesn't play professionally, but when I hear the piano in the distance, I know not to go in the room — because she's having a moment. As soon as I walk in, she stops. So I know not to go in the room. And I think that's the one thing about an instrument — it's really about that connection to the instrument and where it takes you. You can tap into being in the moment so easily when you're playing. That's a very beautiful thing.

SRIJAN: Yeah, that's — okay, I'm just so grateful right now. I'm not even sure how I will end this.

RICK: Thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you. 

Post this I spoke to Ashwin and Diane from Ahhaa, founders of  a personalized mind fitness platform that have worked with Rick.

SRIJAN: I have questions for you. (Ashwin) So — Rick, and of course chip in — it's a thing, right? Musicians in the West, when they reach a sort of zenith of popularity, they find something which is perhaps missing spiritually, and they look eastwards in some way. So what is it that they're looking for? What is it that they get?

ASHWIN: I don't think we can generalise it, because everyone's unique. I can only share about the journey Rick and I have had for the last 20-plus years. I think it was a journey where, when a person is seeking to find that clarity inside — seeking to find that awareness inside — the simplicity happens. I mean, I won't necessarily say it's India. People might go to South America or the Far East. But I do know that a lot of people come to India to find, because this has been the land where people realise, people get enlightened, people find wisdom. Rick's journey with us has been that way, because we met very organically. He used to come to my monastery. And ever since, it's been only growing. At the end of the day, they're all humans — they're all trying to find that clarity. It doesn't matter which rung of life they're on, and that's where it all unfolded. But largely speaking, India is known for that.

SRIJAN: I guess they find themselves. No, Diane. Tell me — spiritually, or in terms of your constitution or belief system — what would you advise young people who are just becoming musicians right now? Because you know how the world is these days. There's a lot of pressure, tension, competition. How do people ground themselves? What would you say to someone just breaking out?

DIANE: So I've raised a musician myself — he's semi-professional, a jazz musician, my son, 17 years old. And like Rick says, when you hear them playing, you leave them alone. You don't enter the door, because they're having their moment. I've raised my kids to be emotionally grounded. And what does that mean? Becoming aware of your emotion means: check in when something is bothering you. Inquire about it. Look inward. It's not an easy thing — it's a practice. Things are going to happen. People are going to say you can't do it, you're going to have challenges. But you are in control of how you take the challenge — and your emotions in response to it.

RICK ALLEN: One of the things that social platforms do for people is lift them up as a community. But I've seen — through both of my daughters and a lot of people around me — how sometimes social platforms can be the antithesis of that. It's clickbait, taking pot shots at people. It would be wonderful to have social platforms that really do lift people up. And to me, in order for us to thrive, that has to be the future of social platforms.

SRIJAN: And I suppose I have received a lot of great advice today, which I'll pass on to a bunch of people about how to go about that. Thank you all so much.

I got up to leave just as Rick was leaving. Right before I wrapped up, I turned and tapped Rick on the shoulder and said, “Hey Rick, Armageddon It!”. Rick grinned and came over for a hug. And a drummer’s handshake, callused and honest. As the band says, Günter glieben glauten globen.

Written by Srijan D, Instagram: @floorcollapsing 
Photographs by Shahzad Bhiwandiwala, Instagram: @shahzadbhiwandiwala