Richie Allen's Quotes

I wish they'd shut the gates, and let us play ball with no press and no fans.

I'll play first, third, left. I'll play anywhere - except Philadelphia.

If a horse won't eat it, I don't want to play on it.

I once loved this game. But after being traded four times, I realized that it's nothing but a business. I treat my horses better than the owners treat us. It's a shame they've destroyed my love for the game.

Before my accident I was a little too... selfish and self-absorbed and for me, to now be at the place where I can kinda give back and inspire people. I'm blessed. I'm really blessed.

Chasing the sensation. Whether it was drugs or sex or whatever. Those things had become my main focus in life.

My situation should have been a lot worse. By rights I shouldn't have survived the crash.

But I think that the most important thing was to really stop drinking.

But the irony is that because the band isn't the focus any more, it allows me the chance to enjoy being a member of Def Leppard much more.

But unfortunately, in my unrelenting drive to get back on that drum stool, the major casualty in all of it was that I really forgot about me.

'Cause I felt I didn't have anything else to prove as a musician... and boy was I wrong about that one.

I have never been one for the over-the-top.

I really don't feel any strong allegiance to any country.

I wanted to be as far away from everybody as I could be. I found it difficult to be close to anybody, not just the guys in the band.

I was happy in Dublin because it is very cosmopolitan.

Some people say that practice makes perfect but I just feel that the repetition works against me and I start thinking too far ahead during a show.

Yes, of course that's true but you know, the irony of all that is that before the accident, I'd pretty much lost interest in playing drums.

America feels like home as much as it does here. Although it's a strange situation as I feel almost like I'm in no-man's land some of the time, because although I'm a resident, I still can't vote so I don't really have a say in what goes on where I live.

And more importantly, I wouldn't be the person I am today, I wouldn't be where I am now and I may not even have been here if it wasn't for the accident.

At the end of the day, they're happy if you do the obvious songs towards the end of the set and you've got to try and make yourself happy by doing certain songs at the front end of the set.