Matt Sorum played drums on Use Your Illusion and the biggest tour Guns N’ Roses ever did. In 1997 Axl fired him. In 2016, Axl, Slash and Duff reunited, and Matt wasn’t on the stage.
From a phone call to his mom’s house (“There’s somebody named Slush on the phone”) to Rock in Rio with no rehearsal, the Use Your Illusion years, Slash walking out, the firing, Velvet Revolver and the reunion he wasn’t part of. Told in Matt’s own words, with Slash, Axl and MTV News from the time.
Chapters:
00:00 Why Guns N’ Roses Never Brought Back Matt Sorum
00:57 Slash Is on the Phone
03:44 The Longest Tour
06:06 Without Slash
08:15 The Band Left Axl
10:39 Not Invited
Interview sources:
Matt Sorum | The Inspiration Experience (Black Oxygen)
That DAMN! Podcast – Matt Sorum Interview (DAMN!)
Matt Sorum Opens Up on Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver + More (Loudwire)
Matt Sorum Talks Story Behind Guns N’ Roses 1991 Rolling Stone Cover (AllDayVinyl)
Matt Sorum Talks About Rumors He Is Rejoining Guns N’ Roses (Artisan News)
Velvet Revolver: Sorum Newfound Love for Axl Rose (Artisan News)
Matt Sorum… His Wild Career! (Get On The Bus)
Matt Sorum Interview With Vanessa Warwick (80s, 90s, 00s TV from VHS)
Duff & Matt from Guns N’ Roses backstage in Toronto, 1991 (Grab A Stack of Rock)
Axl Rose – MTV News Interview, August 1990 (WV Monster)
On The Air with Matt Pinfield & Matt Sorum (ON THE AIR)
Matt Sorum Reflects on Being Fired From GNR (107.7 The Bone)
Matt Sorum Interview, Drum For The Song Podcast #4 (Dane Campbell)
Ep292: Experiencing Vinyl w Matt Sorum (The Vinyl Guide Podcast)
Matt Sorum: Double Talkin’ Jive, Jaxsta’s Humans of Music (Vinyl Group)
Matt Sorum Interview: Rock Hall Memories (Fox Cities Core)
Slash: My last words to Axl Rose (CNN)
How Slash really felt about Axl in 1996 (Possessed By Metal)
Velvet Revolver Interview, Howard Stern Show 2004 (Just Duff Stuff)
Guns N’ Roses: TV report, Slash quits (MTV News, via Leopardus Jacobitus)
Origins of Velvet Revolver – Slash & Duff, Power Hour Interviews
Archive footage:
Guns N’ Roses – You Could Be Mine, Live at the Ritz, 1991 (Guns N’ Roses)
Members of Guns N’ Roses – “Paradise City” at the 2012 Rock Hall Induction (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)
Guns N’ Roses – Not In This Lifetime North American Tour, Fall 2017 (Guns N’ Roses)
Guns N’ Roses – MTV interviews, 1992 (Just Duff Stuff)
Guns N’ Roses – MTV Rock in Rio 1991 Interviews (WV Monster)
source
Had the pleasure of meeting Matt, Slash, and Duff ( and the displeasure of meeting Wieland) and Matt was an awesome guy. Really wished he was included but hopefully he keeps doing well for himself.
Matt just talks shit about every singer he’s worked with…
It was the best GNR drummer. Period
It’s about the money.
It’s always about the money.
Seen velvet revolver twice live ,those two albums were excellent.you could be mine is probably one of the best drum intro’s ever .most of us don’t know these guys ,we only know what’s put up or written on line ,listening as a musician Matt is a great drummer .
I saw Matt with the Cult. He was even better with them. I saw Matt with GnR also, he was great too.
slush LOL my mom always called him SASH
Pat boon Debbie Boone. That’s why 😂😂😂
Matt should have been the drummer for the 2016 tour!
I doubt anyone would notice. He is a bland, non-descript drummer. Just a guy. Steven Adler had a more distinctive style.
Band can’t make music because Izzy wrote all the songs
Without all 5 original AOD album members it’s not legit
Saw The Cult with Metallica on city island in Harrisburg during and justice for all tour. The Cult sounded way better live. Their singer sounded amazing ..
Such BS! Matt Sorum deserves better.
Enjoyed watching this….I like Matt…he's definitely a good one (no doubt in my mind)….I wish him continued success 🙏
So no real answer in this video. Thanx.
No they should have brought back Steven Adler
So basically they fired Steven Adler and got Matt and he gets high too so why fire Steven at all
Matt is and was a say what is on his mind type of guy. Axl doesn't like having people like that around him that are not named Izzy.
He's a dork
I don't think anyone would want to be a part of the GnR cash cow machine the way Axl would handle it. The new drummer is a hired gun and not a member, therefore, gets a salary according to the AMF, (American Federation of Musicians) Probably a few grand per month, while the other original members walk away with tens of thousands of dollars per gig.
steve adler is the drummer. thats it.MS may be a classed as a better drummer but he's never been the original. always attached after they get big. the cult, GNR etc. if they can get Izzy and steve back next year and just tour the appetite 40th anniversary it would be a license to print money. no matt, no dizzy no whoever caught AXl's eye for 5 min. just the original 5.
Same old axle
Matt could be Matthew Mcconaughey's brother!
Use your illusion 1 is the best of the 2
If GnR had Matt back on drums I would be more invested.
I hope Slash and Duff feel really bad about not including Matt
Matt is a great drummer and seems like a pretty cool guy.. but! I always preferred Adlers drumming for the sound of the band as a whole. Appetite and Lies are amazing. The sound did shift with the illusions which I think suited Matts drumming.
Steven Adler Is one and only!
He's not a original member anyway
Guns n Roses might sound decent again if they had either Sorum or Adler back in the band.
I was playing at a club in Vancouver, this guy that I thought looked a lot like Slash comes up and asked to get up and jam. He seemed really loaded, so I said no. But he kept coming at me… Finally, we’re on stage and he comes up to the front of the stage now he’s got Matt with him. So I hand him my guitar and go back to the soundboard. That’s when I realized it really was Slash
Matt played great, Slash….not so much.
Matt turned down an offer to play a song or two for the reunion, citing that he wouldn’t do it unless money was involved. Since Adler took part, Matt should have done it too—it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
What a badass drummer
The Cult's tour with Matt ended in March 1990 in LA, not 1989. April 3. Matt rejoined The Cult in 1999 and they toured, recorded an album in 2001, toured and Matt left again in early 2002.
No Izzy no band. . . truth!
So fuked up what his "friend" Duff did
I love the Noel Gallagher narrator like voice, it so funny
I think it’s because he attended the induction.
he's so quick to claim them
Its because Matt was the only one with the balls to confront Axl over his bullshit.
He spoke too many bullshits in the past to be invited… He has a long tongue, and he paid for it.
Honestly, if it’s not Steven then it’s no one!
Yeah I really think they should of got Matt and Gilby back!
You never say "Why Matt was left out of Reunion"…the title of your video. Zero explanation. Nothing. Thumbs down.
Sorum has been in the cult, gunsnroses, and velvet revolver as well as a couple others… axl was doing the same shit that Adler and Izzy both were doing.
He knows Ringo. Life could be worse