Matt explains that Slash didn't like Corey Taylor's vocals

Velvet Revolver Shelve Sessions With Slipknot’s Corey Taylor
by: Billy Dukes Yesterday

In a new interview, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum chats openly about the status of his band Velvet Revolver with fellow ex-Gunners Slash and Duff McKagan. He admits that the band recorded material with Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, but that it just didn’t work out.

In his conversation with Dani Buarque of the Brazilian ‘Lokaos Rock Show,’ Sorum began by clearing up the rumor that Slash’s extended tour has kept them away from the studio. In reality, it’s been a struggle to replace lead singer Scott Weiland, who parted ways with the others in 2008.

“We tried a couple of guys and it didn’t work out,” Sorum tells Buarque. “I don’t wanna say it’s over. It’s just on a hiatus. We’ll make music again together at some point.” Corey Taylor auditioned for the job, and impressed most of the group. They even recorded songs together but, “Slash just didn’t see it like the rest of us did. We liked it. We had 10 songs. [We] could put the album out tomorrow. It’s done. I said, ‘Let’s go.’ But Slash wasn’t feeling it. If we’re not all feeling it together, we can’t do it.”

Sorum says Velvet Revolver was his idea after Axl Rose began touring again as Guns N’ Roses in the late ’90s. The three former members of the band wanted to work together, but weren’t trying to seek revenge on Rose, despite a similar band name. “We didn’t even think about it that way, we were like, ‘It’s a gun, and it’s soft like a rose, and it just so happens that it was similar. But that wasn’t a thought.”

Sorum also talks about his time in the Cult (“I was happy, I would have stayed in the Cult for the rest of my life”) and his recent tour with Motorhead. Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead makes a cameo appearance in the debut video for another one of Sorum’s projects, his electro-retro-rock band with girlfriend Ace Harper called Diamond Baby.

Sorum says Velvet Revolver was his idea after Axl Rose began touring again as Guns N’ Roses in the late ’90s. The three former members of the band wanted to work together, but weren’t trying to seek revenge on Rose, despite a similar band name. “We didn’t even think about it that way, we were like, ‘It’s a gun, and it’s soft like a rose, and it just so happens that it was similar. But that wasn’t a thought.”