Tapping with both feet on his hospital bed's footrest and on the plates of his wheelchair gave him an idea, which he developed with an electronic wiz friend. The result: an electronically-triggered Simmons kit combining drum pads and pedals that's hooked up to a patch board, providing Rick with five differently-tuned kits in one. "I make the left hand beats with my left foot," he says. "There are things I can't play that I used to be able to, but I can play things now that sound physically impossible."
Now in the same boat as Lep's guitarists if the power fails, Rick -- who'll do no solo on tour -- is more concerned with keeping time than doing tricks, and relies on bassman Rick Savage more than ever. "In a way I wish I'd played a double bass kit, it would have been useful," he notes, but his left foot is much stronger today -- he's better at soccer, too. He quickly relearned tasks like tying shoe laces (a one-armed volunteer helped him) but trying to slice a small piece of bread is sheer frustration.
Overall, Rick says he's "settled down" since the accident. "I used to be full of nervous energy all the time. I have the ability to relax now." But his love of drumming hasn't changed. "When you go on stage in front of an audience, your adrenaline starts pumping away, your senses are on edge, and you see all these people smiling," he says. "I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything."