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APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
Welcome to Appetite for Discussion -- a Guns N' Roses fan forum!

Please feel free to look around the forum as a guest, I hope you will find something of interest. If you want to join the discussions or contribute in other ways then you need to become a member. We especially welcome anyone who wants to share documents for our archive or would be interested in translating or transcribing articles and interviews.

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Matt Sorum

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Matt Sorum Empty Matt Sorum

Post by Soulmonster Tue Aug 10, 2010 3:31 pm

Matt Sorum NeWborder_zpsk3uwcgt1
MATT SORUM
Matt Sorum Matt_Sorum_2012

Real/pseudonyms/former names:
Matthew William Sorum.

Date of birth:
November 19, 1960.

Band position:
Drums.

Time with Guns N' Roses:
1990-1997.

Shows with the band:
{MATTSHOWS}
Biography:
Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. Sorum is currently a member of the touring project, Kings of Chaos, and is a former member of both The Cult and Y Kant Tori Read. Sorum was also a member of Guns N' Roses side-projects, Slash's Snakepit and Neurotic Outsiders, and released a solo album, Hollywood Zen, in 2004.

After performing on synthpop band Y Kant Tori Read's sole album, Sorum joined The Cult in 1989 to tour in support of their fourth studio album, Sonic Temple (1989). During the tour, Sorum was spotted by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and subsequently replaced their drummer Steven Adler in 1990. Remaining in the band for seven years, Sorum recorded the albums, Use Your Illusion I (1991), Use Your Illusion II (1991), and "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993), before departing in 1997 following an argument with frontman Axl Rose.

In 2001, Sorum rejoined The Cult to perform on their reunion album, Beyond Good and Evil (2001), and its subsequent tour and subsequently co-founded the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, alongside former Guns N' Roses bandmates, Slash and Duff McKagan. The band, which also included guitarist Dave Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, released two successful studio albums, Contraband (2004) and Libertad (2007), before entering an extended hiatus following Weiland's departure.

Sorum has been a permanent member of hard rock cover band Camp Freddy since 2003, alongside Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney, and assisted in hosting its radio show and podcast on Indie 103.1. In 2012, Sorum founded a touring project, entitled Kings of Chaos, featuring members of Guns N' Roses, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick and Slipknot.

In 2012, Sorum was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses. On October 12, 2013 Matt married his longtime girlfriend Ace Harper in Palm Springs, California.[Wikipedia, August 2016].

Quotes:
The Cult was looking for a limey drummer anyhow. So we snatched up Matt, and he gave this band the kick in the ass that it needed. I've been asked before if it's strange playing with Matt after so many years with Steven, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't at first. But now, it's so natural [Guns N' Roses The Illusion Of Greatness by Lonn M. Friend; RIP June 1991]
He's amazing, I can't say enough great things about him, he's always friendly, he's usuall always in a good mood [MTV, January 1991]
We saw him playing with the Cult. We didn't steal their drummer away. We talked to Ian first. It was their last gig of the tour, so it fell right into place. I was crossing my fingers, 'cause he seemed perfect. Then when he came in for an audition, I was like "Okay, yeah!" [Guitar For The Practising Musician, April 1992]
It was a miracle. He saved the band's life. He came in, he's in an up mood, he worked -- he writes his own material. He writes a lot, he works really well with us. He takes suggestion well, he keeps everyone in line, keeps the timing great. He played 29 songs in a month [Famous Last Words, MTV, 1990]
Matt I found after being seriously frustrated looking for a drummer. It was a crucial period where we had to get it together if we were gonna stay together. He was playing with the Cult. I saw him a few months before I called him. I had to sit down and go, "Okay, who's the best drummer I've seen, regardless of what band he's in?" I remembered being blown away by Matt with the Cult. So I thought, "I'll just give him a call. The Cult's off the road." I called him, and he came down and we hit it off right away. [Guitar For The Practising Musician, November 1992]
Matt had to learn all the songs in rehearsals and make charts of them for the recording sessions. At the same time, he started to try to keep up with me and Slash on the drinking front. We recorded the first twenty-four songs fast. But between the volume of work, the volume of booze, and the pressure of recording with a band that was being treated as the biggest thing in town, Matt hit a wall. With three songs to go, he disappeared. I left messages begging him to come in and finish the last three songs. No answer. I told him I'd buy him drugs out of my own pocket. No answer. He was renting my old place on Laurel Terrace during the recording sessions, so I went down there to look for him. "Matt?" I called as I entered the house. "Where are you, pal?" No answer. I walked through the house. In the bedroom, there was a deep walk-in closet. The door was closed, but I could hear someone in there. I opened the door tentatively and peered in, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness; there was Matt, cowering in the back of the closet with a pile of coke, just hiding from the world. He looked at me with no sign of recognition in his eyes. He was completely out of it and paranoid. I made him a very strong vodka drink to bring him back down a bit from his coke high. Matt pulled it together and nailed the three last songs [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 171-173]
The fact that Matt could play and fit in was what saved us. If we hadn't found somebody, it would have ultimately been the demise of the band. Matt's been capable of keeping up with it, if not enhancing it totally and brining new stuff to it. He still can't show up anywhere on time, though [laughs] [Rolling Stone, January 1991]
He's kind of like, what you'd call a monster [...] No, but seriously, I couldn't play with a better drummer. [...] He makes my job a lot easier. Just for the fact that he pounds the drums so hard. He's so on and bass and drums are a big factor in any band, you know [NEW 102,7, September 1991]
Providence was with us at long last when we found Matt Sorum, who had previously been playing with The Cult. Matt is one hell of a drummer, and held the constitution and road fortitude to keep up with the rest of us. These two shows in Rio, 175,000 per night, were Matt's first as our drummer. Trial by fire . . . on steroids Reverb, December 2009]
Matt saved the band. We were trying out drummers and there was a real low point after finally we had to kick out Steve. And it took us like a year to do it. We tried Martin Chambers from the Pretenders and that wasn’t happening, and a few other people. Drummers are the hardest part of the band to find. Especially with this band because it’s like totally a family, so we had to find somebody that’s like a bro. Matt came in and kicked ass. And that put a foot up our ass. It was like, ‘That’s right! We’re a fucking band, man, that’s right!’ It’s like we forgot we were a rock and roll band that could kick ass. And it all came back. It was completely natural [Circus Magazine, 1991]
Matt and Dizzy had never played with us as a complete band, because Axl doesn't come to rehearsals. They'd never seen Axl sing with us. And we didn't even have a set list for Rio. We have this 'pick list' we like to use. So, anyway, we tell Matt, three minutes before he goes onstage in front of 140,000 people, that he's gotta do a drum solo. And he pulled it off! He rocked! Dizzy, shit, the biggest crowd he ever played for was about 400, opening up for L.A. Guns at the Country Club. Let's just say Dizzy had a few cocktails before we went on, but he pulled it off too [Guns N' Roses The Illusion Of Greatness by Lonn M. Friend; RIP June 1991]
I recalled seeing The Cult a few months before [this was after Steven was kicked out of the band] at the Universal Amphitheatre and being mesmerized by their drummer [Matt Sorum]. He was fucking amazing; I was standing at the soundboard and was completely captivated by his playing. I didn't pay attention to the rest of the band at all for the whole gig. His playing was extremely tight and his sound had enormous presence; it was big, bombastic, and delivered with intense authority [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.308]
Two days later [after talking to him on the phone] Matt came in to rehearse, and within the course of two or three songs, Duff, Izzy, and I realized that we'd found the man. We'd found ourselves a player with an innate feel of his own, both in step with the rest of us and individually stylized. He had the power, the chops, and the vibe to fill the void - and add to what the band's sound was about to become [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.309]
Matt's really solid. Everybody in the band can rely on Matt's playing. You know, the drums are like your anchor and he is definitely the strongest anchor we've ever had and one of the best drummers there are, I think, in the world [Interview with Axl Rose, 1990 or 1991]
But the upside of [Steven being fired] is that Matt has made the band - I think it was a shot in the arm, no pun intended, that the band didn't necessarily need but that took the band beyond what we were before. I think we're a little bit more - just tight, more focused, more serious about what we're doing. We're not so much the punk band as we were, only because we've been doing it for a while and we're all sort of really aspiring musicians, regardless of the lifestyle [Tears Before Bedtime?; Q July 1991]
We went on late [Mannheim, Germany, on August 21, 1991] - late even for us - then, pretty early in the set, something happened and Axl walked off for what reason I have no idea. (...) He went to to the van and headed off to the dressing room. "Fuck that guy," [Matt] said. "I'm gonna go straighten him out." Matt felt that Duff and Izzy and I had played it too delicate with Axl for too long (...). By this point we'd discovered that Axl's van had not left for the dressing room; he was sitting in it but refused to come out and return to the stage. So Matt went down to Axl's van to rally him, but as he got down there, he ran into Axl, who had emerged to head back to the stage. "What the fuck are you doing?" Matt yelled. "Get back onstage!"(...) Axl went back to his van, and it didn't look like he was coming out again. (...) The local police were already there in riot gear, ready to deal with a full-on situation. It was a scary, tense scene, and a very near miss. We got Axl back onstage once he realized he had no choice, and the rest of the show went as planned. All I remember thinking as I walked offstage after the encore was 'Fuck, that was close.' Well, too close, as it turned out: by the next morning, Izzy sent a message through Alan [Niven] informing  us that he was quitting the band [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.343-344]
One night when I was bummed, Matt came around and put his hand on me: "It's all right, man." Those little things are really special. With the new band and the new people, it's the first time I've really felt at home. It used to be just the five of us against the world. Now we've brought some of the outside world into the band. The first night we played with the new band, I was sitting at the piano during 'November Rain,' just looking at this and feeling really glad that I was a part of this thing [Axl Rose: The Rolling Stone Interview, Rolling Stone, April 1992]
With Matt you can't go wrong with anything. We have a serious backbeat groove, especially live [Guitar For The Practising Musician, April 1992]
On the new stuff [for Use Your Illusions] we didn't use a click track, but I had Matt count in everything. Matt's got really good time, so it wasn't a problem [Guitar For The Practising Musician, April 1992]
We’re really into letting Matt go more off on his own in terms of drumming for GN’R. On Use Your Illusion, he was pretty much playing just what we wanted to hear on a particular song – which we already had together before he joined the band. On the record, he’s one of the most amazing drummers I’ve ever heard, but he’s better than that. [...] When he goes off on his own creative sense it’s pretty amazing. I want to facilitate that getting out. I want Matt to just explode on the next record [Hit Parader, 1992]
Sorum suddenly got sober [in 1993]. I don't know what happened, but there was a moment that changed things for him, an epiphany of some sort [Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 217]
Telling why Matt is not part of the touring line-up of Slash' solo band in 1995: He had to stay at home to avoid more conflicts between me & Axl [Folha De Sao Paulo Journal 21st of July 1995]
Anyway, [Axl, Matt and Duff] were supposed to keep working while I was gone. That's why Matt didn't come on tour with [Snakepit], because he was supposed to help keep that foundation for them to jam. Well they only jammed like twice since I was gone, so no one had really been doing anything [Guns N' Roses: Is It All Over? Does Anyone Care? Metal Hammer November 1995]
Matt was never a full member of the band, he was on an ejector seat and Axl said: «I’m gonna fire him.» I answered that this decision required more than one person to be taken since we were a band, that he alone didn’t own the majority. All of this because Matt told him he was wrong. The truth is, Matt was right, and Axl wrong indeed [Duff McKagan Interview, Hard Force Magazine June 1999]
Matt was fired, but Matt came in attempting to get fired and told many people so that night [Axl Rose - A conversation with Kurt Loder, MTV US November 8th 1999]
The road that Axl chose to travel forced me away. And once I left, Duff was next-he split of his own accord less than a year later. Not too long after that, Matt got fired. Apparently, he stood up for me when I was slandered at rehearsal and that was the end of him. By 1998, Axl was the only one of the original five still in the "band" he'd legally arranged to be able to call Guns N' Roses [Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York, p.396]
(...) as much as I was a friend to [Matt] he was incapable of reciprocating and life is much better without such an obvious albatross [GN'R press release with Axl interview, 2002, gnronline.com]
Describing playing with Matt: It's a pocket. He makes me play better. The bar is raised with both of us. We all keep raising the bar for each other and there's chemistry there, it's not like we're forcing something and going to get into some prog rock weird timing [Duff McKagan - Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver, Total Guitar Bass Special Issue 2, April 2004]
With 'Illusions' several years ago, something came on the radio and I realized how the energy in the drums, though solid and consistent, brought me down in a way I feel damaged the material in the long run, if not from the get-go. Maybe it's there with some, most or all of us in ways, but I specifically notice it more with the drums. And when listening in that sense of analyzing how something feels to me in regards to its involvement or inclusion in the song, whether anyone disagrees I'm somewhat capable of removing myself and events from the picture [Axl interview by Del James, spinner.com, 2009]
His were just half-assed, crappy versions. Nothing personal against the guy, but he's like a goddamn drum machine. He's got no heart; he's got no soul; he's got no feel. And as life and the years have shown, obviously, I'm not the easiest drummer to replace. All I know is, "Use Your Illusion" would have been bigger than "Appetite" [Ultimate-guitar.com, July 2010]
When it comes to after I left, I do believe that Matt Sorum and Dizzy Reed both have every right to be inducted [to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame] too. [...] Matt Sorum also played on Use Your Illusion. I think that the seven of us deserve it. I was just texting Matt Sorum in Australia. I'm going to play with him at The Roxy next week with Camp Freddy. He invited me to come down and play. He's a great guy [Rolling Stone, December 2011]
About recording with Matt: There were never click tracks - Matt was always on time. [Songfacts, October 2013]

Matt Sorum NeWborder_zpsk3uwcgt1


Last edited by Soulmonster on Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:50 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Post by Soulmonster Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:31 am

I ate at a random sushi restaurant in Los Angeles yesterday and Matt with friends were sitting at the table behind me Hay
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Post by Uli Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:15 pm

Cool, did you get the chance to chat to him? (Or ask him for an exclusive a-4-d interview?)
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Post by Soulmonster Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:45 pm

I wouldn't disturb him during his dinner, and I finished up before him, so no. I considered hanging around a bit and talk to him after his dinner, but decided it wasn't worth it.
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Post by Uli Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:07 pm

Soulmonster wrote:I wouldn't disturb him during his dinner...

I can completely understand that. Cool
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Post by Soulmonster Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:09 pm

If it was Axl I probably would have hung around to talk to him when he had finished up Wink
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Post by Uli Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:43 am

Some interesting quotes by Matt about the UYI era:


“We never knew what the f**k was going to happen. There was no sense of stability whatsoever.

“That kept the band in a constant state of aggression. When we got on stage we’d take it out on our instruments in sheer exhaustion or anger. It made the rock show legendary.

“People ask me what’s different about rock’n’roll and I say, ‘It’s not as dangerous as it was.’ I’m not saying that’s a good thing.

“I was in the most dangerous rock’n’roll band in the world at the time. That’s been an amazing journey, but I can’t handle living my life like that any more.”

“Everything was so much different than what I expected. I thought I was walking into a straight-up rock band, a crossbreed of AC/DC and Aerosmith, mixed with the Sex Pistols and Nazareth.
“Along came pianos and these epic 10-minute opuses. I was surprised.”

“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare – we rehearsed for about a month and went into the studio. We had to learn 33, 34 songs then we went in and recorded everything.

“I was so crammed with music. I had so much to learn. In those days it was so crazy, how we operated. We’d take one or two takes and it was in the can. You don’t cut it up, you don’t f**k with it like bands do nowadays. It’s done.”

“Everything that happened was so natural and everyone was given free rein. The leader, I would probably say, was Slash – he had such a work ethic. Axl was the front guy, the guy controlling what was going to happen that night.

“They needed a guy that could hold the fort together and I did that. It was an interesting time because things were moving so fast.

“I look back with admiration that we all lived through it. We did it.”

Sorum insists he still has nothing but respect for Axl, Duff, and Slash to keep doing what they’re still doing, even though none of the hard-rocking trio are as young as they used to be.

“They’re out there doing that, going on stage on time every night. Times have changed, haven’t they?

“What’s going on now is great for them, but I was there when it was great too – probably the greatest.”
http://www.inquisitr.com/3795616/i-held-guns-n-roses-together-when-they-were-the-most-dangerous-band-in-the-world-claims-matt-sorum/
http://tinyurl.com/hsxz6nb
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Post by Soulmonster Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:53 am

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Post by Blackstar Mon Aug 29, 2022 2:07 pm

Matt has a cute little girl.

Matt Sorum 2022_304
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Post by Uli Sun Apr 30, 2023 1:00 pm

It has come to my attention that Billy Gibbons will be touring with Matt Sorum on drums!

https://blabbermouth.net/news/zz-tops-billy-gibbons-to-be-joined-by-matt-sorum-for-june-july-2023-european-tour

ZZ TOP's Billy Gibbons has announced the renewal of his livewire solo band, to appear at select European venues late spring and early summer of 2023. The trio is headed by Gibbons on guitar and vocals, with drummer Matt Sorum (THE CULT, GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) and lefty guitarist Austin Hanks, who has worked with Gibbons previously, providing the heavy bottom and rhythm for the ensemble.

The new tour brings Billy and company to 12 countries with 20 performance dates during the four-week span starting June 10 in Sölvesborg, Sweden.
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Post by Blackstar Sun Jan 14, 2024 1:07 pm

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