Rock star trades drum sticks for brushes to help veterans

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen is hitting the road again. But this time he’s trading in his drum sticks for brushes and with a collection of paintings to support veterans.

Allen told FOX Business that he started painting long before he discovered music and then found inspiration after spending time with his young daughter.

“I started painting with my 8-year-old like three or four years ago,” he said during an interview on “Mornings with Maria” on Thursday. “I just loved seeing where she went when she painted, very, you know, in the moment, no rules. And I was like that’s where I go when I play music.”

Allen will be touring the Northeast with his collection of paintings, some of which he started with his former bandmate, the late Steve Clark, including paintings of other rock legends like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and his most recent and prized—David Bowie.

All of the artwork is exclusive with Wentworth Galleries across the nation. And Allen added that he’s been working with the Raven Drum Foundation and Wounded Warriors for years.

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“It’s the least I can do because of my own experience of extreme trauma,” he said.

In 1984 the musician lost his arm in a car crash.