Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, other stars host Healdsburg drum circle for Tubbs Fire survivors, first responders

Rock star Rick Allen of Def Leppard and a host of other heavyweight drummers sat down with 2017 Tubbs Fire survivors and first responders in Healdsburg last month for an afternoon of healing, mindfulness, and, of course, drumming.

The Raven Drum Foundation’s April 27 drum circle at Chateau Diana winery also featured Styx drummer Todd Sucherman, Alvin Taylor, who has worked with Little Richard and George Harrison, and Wally Ingram, who has drummed for Dead & Company and Sheryl Crow, as well as songwriter and percussionist Lauren Monroe, who started the Manhattan Beach-based foundation with husband, Allen, in 2001.

All of the performers, friends of Moore and Allen, donated their time to come to the event.

More than 70 people, including members of the Sonoma County Fire District, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and other first responders, joined the drum circle.

Participants were invited by Chateau Diana co-owner and foundation partner Corey Manning.

The Tubbs Fire, which started on the night of Oct. 8, 2017, destroyed more than 4,600 homes, including 3,000 in Santa Rosa.

“The mission is to serve, empower and educate people moving through crisis, healing from trauma,” Monroe told The Press Democrat. “What we do is bring alternative healing methods with rhythm and drumming to teach people there are modalities of how to work with trauma.”

Through the drum circles, the foundation teaches trauma survivors, primarily veterans and first responders, about breathing techniques, visualizing techniques and rhythm-based techniques to help them become aware of how their bodies react to trauma, Monroe said.

“When we have a trigger, if we’re aware of that trigger, we have a better chance of helping it dissipate; if we’re not aware of it, our trauma has the reins,” Monroe said.

Allen is no stranger to trauma, having lost his left arm in a car crash in Sheffield, England, on New Year's Eve 1984.

“He’d been struggling with post-traumatic stress for years and trying to figure out ways to become more whole,” Monroe said. “Rhythm was his key medicine for a long time. Then, when he started mindfulness approaches, he elevated into a different place of healing.”

Manning, who is also a percussionist with a background in peer counseling for men, has worked with the foundation for more than a year after hearing about it from friend Sucherman. The family-owned winery on Dry Creek Road produces a line of wines that benefit the nonprofit and Manning has joined the group at events.

Manning and his wife, Emily, are also survivors of the wildfire, losing their home in Santa Rosa’s Quietwater neighborhood off Mark West Springs Road.

“We had lived in that house for 20 years, and like many people, I would characterize it as probably one of the hardest experiences that I’ve ever gone through in my life,” Manning said.

Now living in Healdsburg, Manning says that he and many other survivors of the firestorm and other recent wildfires are still feeling the fallout from those disasters.

From those I’ve talked to, my neighbors and those who were there (in 2017), they’re still here and still dealing with a lot of grief, they’re still dealing with financial hardship from the fire,“ he said. ”We’re trying to create awareness about the fact that these folks are still dealing with this stuff.“

The April event, led by Monroe, included vocal guidance, conversation and drumming that helped participants live in the present moment, a major tool to help heal from trauma, according to Monroe.

“This is not your typical drum circle you see at the beach, this is a very specific method to bring community together,” Monroe said.

The event concluded with a celebratory drumming session where the superstar percussionists got to show off their drumming.

“It was great. Everyone really connected,” Monroe said.