Victor “Moulty” Moulton

How he lost it: Moulty lost his left hand due to a homemade pipe bomb incident in his youth. (I’m lucky I only lost my eyebrows.)

How he overcame it. He had a prosthetic that could hold a stick.

Main Project: The Barbarians.

Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2191338/bio/

Moulty was the one-armed drummer who started it all. He played with The Barbarians, straight outta Cape Cod. My uncle-in-law partied with him in the 60’s and says he’s “a hell of a good guy.” Moutly was name checked by the Ramones in the song “Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?” with the line, “Will you remember Jerry Lee, John Lennon, T.Rex and Ol’ Moulty?”

Jason Barnes 

How he lost it: He lost it from a severe electrical shock.

How he overcame it: He’s got a robot arm.

Main project: Cybrnetx

Website: https://www.jasonbarnes.me/about/

Besides being a drummer and music producer, Jason Barnes also holds the Guiness book of World Records holder for most drum beats in one minute. He controls his robot arm using the remaining muscles in his arm. The two sets of sticks on his prosthetic arm create unique  instrumental patterns, not unlike how Tony Iommi’s tone was influenced by the Black Sabbath guitar player’s prosthetic finger tips. It really is a shame that so many musicians get factory jobs. Will Jason Barnes’ be an early Neurolink adopter? 

Jack Thomas-

How he lost it: He lost it due to a faulty conveyor belt at work when he was still a teenager, and immediately jumped to physical therapy with a kick-ass attitude. 

How he overcame it: No idea how he does what he does one handed. He’s just really fucking good.

Main project: Drumeo

Website: https://www.jackthomasmusic.ca

This guy is an absolute beast. He’s involved with Drumeo, so you can see him operating the mouse lending vibe to the poor bastard during the “Hears Blank for the First Time” series. That’s where they find a technically demanding song that a drummer has never heard before and must improv a drum part on the spot on camera. Sadistic, clean, fun for the whole family. 

Buddy Rich (For One Tour)

How he broke it: Playing stickball like a 1930’s orphan.

How he overcame it: The same way Jack Thomas did, just playing twice as fast with one hand.

Main projects: The Buddy Rich band and the Buddy Rich Bus Tapes.

Website: https://thebuddyrichband.com/

If you are wondering how Buddy developed his famous one handed drum roll, here is Buddy in his own words, “There was a lot of comment about that period in 1948 when I played with one hand, because one arm was in a sling. I understand Jo Jones said: ‘If that heals, he ought to break it again.’ That was a thing born out of necessity. I was playing handball one morning when I fell, and broke my arm in three places. So they rushed me to the doctor; he straightened my arm out and put it in a cast. Well, the band had been booked for months in advance. And with 19 people on the payroll, I couldn’t very well just say: “We’ll be off for three months.” There was too much involved to cancel our bookings, We were in Dayton, Ohio; we played a one-nighter that night. The following week we played the Apollo Theatre in New York, and immediately after closing there we opened at the Paramount Theatre.

It was just a matter of having to do it. What the hell’s the difference anyway? If you can play with two hands, you can play with one. If you don’t have any, you play with your feet. Which I did, too, using bass drums, in the Paramount show.”

Rick Allen

How he lost it: Contrary to popular belief, Rick wasn’t drunk when he had the car accident that took his arm. He was driving in England trying to pass someone.

How he overcame it. He utilized electronic drum pads that he could play with his feet.

Main project: Def Leppard.

Website: https://rickallen.com/

 I know I said drummer’s besides Def Leppard’s Rick Allen, but this guy is the one-armed drummer poster child. Between world tours, Rick Allen is also a celebrated photographer and is the recipient of the Humanitarian Award by Maria Shriver’s Best Buddies of CA. 

When he lost the arm, Lars Ulrich from Metallica asked Rich to borrow his Ludwig Black Beauty, the Rolex of snare drums, and thanked him on the album credits. And he’s still rock’in.