|
Have The Article Read To You Here: Brought To You By Drumming News Network
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Latest Drum News
Matt Sorum has seen it all. If not all, well, then he’s seen a lot. From his days growing up as a hustler in Long Beach getting entangled in the drug trade, Sorum not only made it out alive but drummed for some of the monsters of rock. No one else can boast a resume that includes stints with The Cult, Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and a stint with Hollywood Vampires.
These days, Sorum is living the good life out in the Southern California desert with his wife and young daughter. But, while there, he found time to write his autobiography, Double Talkin’ Jive: True Rock ‘n’ Roll Stories from the Drummer of Guns N’ Roses, The Cult, and Velvet Revolver . It took him and two writers four years to get it done, which was slowed down by the pandemic.
Looking back at a nearly four-decade career from behind the kit, Sorum says there’s been one as to why he’s been able to succeed.
“I’ve always gotten those gigs because I could just hold down the fort,” the drummer tells SPIN over the phone. “When you’re up on a big stage in a stadium like that, you know, I’m kind of the guy who was relied on. I have to play big and heavy.”
Despite remaining relatively quiet on the musical front and busy with fatherhood, Sorum still keeps in touch with many of his old bandmates. But, now that he’s north of 60, he has other things on his mind.
“I get up in the morning and I’m happy to be in the life I’m in now,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of really cool stuff going on.”
That includes his recording studio out in the desert, his Adopt the Arts charity, playing in Kings of Chaos and producing and co-writing with artists such as ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. “That’s like a whole other level of iconic shit,” he says of that experience.
Did you find any mental challenges revisiting all of these wild times?
Matt Sorum: Somehow writing the stories down wasn’t the hard part. It was editing in them. That was harder because I probably got three books worth of stories. However, it’s picking out which stories you’re going to tell so it doesn’t turn into this wild escapade of rock and roll debauchery. As you see in the book in the Velvet Revolver years, everyone got married up, except for me, and I was still kind of trying to wave the flag for rock and roll, if you will. It was interesting because it became a cathartic process. You start to look at things differently. Like, man, boy, I kind of acted a certain way, but at the same time, here you are a guy who wants to be in a band, and you get the opportunity. I’ve always said, you know, take advantage of it, enjoy it. You’ve been given this great opportunity that you’ve dreamt about your whole life. It’s your job to go ahead and partake, because what are you supposed to do? Go back to your hotel room, go to sleep? I always lived every moment. I never wanted to miss out on all of the adventures.
You definitely give that notion early on.
It’s interesting because times have changed quite a bit with the way people represent how they talk about things. In those days, it just seemed apropos. In the ’80s and ’90s, there was no question of the interconnection between people backstage. The antics that went on weren’t frowned upon. Nobody got hurt, everyone was entertained, and the people that were there had just as much fun as the band. That was the beauty of it. I said this before, but when music got a little bit too serious, especially rock and roll when the grunge era showed up and rap metal. I remember going backstage at some rap metal band’s show and it’s 99 99.9% dudes hanging around back there. I was like, “Whoa, this is weird.” I never understood that.
What are some of the misconceptions about Guns N’ Roses from that era that you wanted to lay out there or maybe dispel about what was going on with the band at that time?
It’s nobody’s fault really. The band was way too big at the time. There’s a lot of people with their paws in the pie, a lot of distractions, too much money, and too many drugs and alcohol. Young guys don’t make clear decisions. I look back and go if that was me now, I’d make a phone call and have a conversation, but it just didn’t seem that easy in those days to do that. To be able to explain things between each other, to help mediate a problem instead of being egotistical about it or being arrogant. It could have gone a different way if there was more communication. Once you’re out of a situation like that, you realize that good God that was a great fucking band and I wish we could have kept it together. If you ask any band that stayed together, they have to go through those struggles, just like any other relationship. You gotta figure it out if you want to keep it together, like, how much is it worth to you? At the same time, when I talk about things that went down, I want to give accolades to people in the group. In the Use Your Illusion era, we were at the height of our game. Axl, Slash and Duff — and even Izzy Stradlin and Gilby — personalities that stand on their own, and sometimes those personalities mix and sometimes they don’t.
That said, you’ve dealt with some interesting singers during your career.
When you’re dealing with guys like Scott Weiland, Ian, and Axl, these guys are interesting characters. But, that’s what makes them great because they are maybe a little bit more difficult, maybe hard to understand at times. But once they get on stage, they’re the guys that are leading the band to the next level. You have to appreciate everything in the way they come from the demons and otherwise, it pours into that performance they give. When Scott Weiland passed away, I said as difficult as he was, I don’t think he would have been able to have that sort of persona or that lyrical and artistic astuteness to be able to come up with stuff if he wasn’t from an interesting and sometimes dramatic background and had all of these demons around him all the time. He couldn’t keep them at bay, but at the same time, it made for great artistry. But for him, it was always something he had to battle all the time obviously until the very end. It’s difficult to be at that level and to be a normal person, and to be able to bring that sort of artistry.
Absolutely. You, Slash, and Duff had a long run where you all were as thick as thieves.
We ran like a gang. There wasn’t one thing we didn’t do together and I was obligated to drink with them. In those days, I was a bigger guy than I am now so I could put away a lot of alcohol. Even if they got drunker than I did, I could carry them out of a club. It happened a few times. We were these three guys that were just loving the experience, three pirates on a pirate ship purveying the land.
What about Axl?
Axl did his own thing. In retrospect, he had to be this guy that was focusing on the show every night. He was the greatest frontman of that era. It was all eyes on Axl.
What are some of your memories about making the Use Your Illusion albums?
It was a different band with a different vision for what Axl wanted to do. I was surprised when I saw the piano. I thought I was joining a guitar-driven rock band. What he unveiled was next-level, epic proportions songs like “November Rain,” and even songs like “Coma” that were 10 minutes long and I was like “we’re really stepping outside the of the box here.” We could have made AC/DC records or another Appetite for Destruction. But we didn’t. We went into this bigger-than-life, big tom fills. Axl didn’t want want to make Appetite for Destruction again, even though how can you beat that? You can’t. It’s perfect in its own right. Use Your Illusion was supposed to be one record but ended up being two.
Which of those two albums do you like more?
I like both [Laughs.]. The songs I liked the most were “Double Talkin’ Jive” and “You Could Be Mine.” Those would probably be my two most representative tracks that I would go back out and play with the guys if they wanted me back for two songs. I also loved playing “Dust N’ Bones” with Izzy. There’s a lot of good songs on those records.
To read this full article by SPIN’s Daniel Kohn follow this link: HERE
