MATT SORUM Found Out About GUNS N' ROSES Reunion 'About When Everybody Else Did'

Former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum says that he learned about the partial reunion of the band's classic lineup around the same time as "everybody else did."

The 58-year-old musician, who has also played with THE CULT, VELVET REVOLVER and HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, is not involved with GN'R's hugely successful "Not In This Lifetime" tour, which features singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan alongside drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus and second keyboardist Melissa Reese.

Asked by"Loudwire Nights" host Toni Gonzalez when he found out about the GUNS N' ROSES reunion, Sorum said: "Probably about when everybody else did. [Laughs] I was in the band HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES there for a minute. So it was kind of around that time. That's basically what happened. And then it just went the way it went. And life goes on."

He continued: "I look at my time in that band as well spent. It can never really be reimagined or replaced, that experience in my life. And I give a lot of credit to my career going forward because of that experience. Because I guess when you go down the list of bands that I've played with, there've been many. Some people prefer maybe THE CULT over GN'R. If I run into a fan on the street, the might love me for THE CULT, or there's a lot of people that maybe weren't as much into GN'R but loved VELVET REVOLVER because it was maybe more of a modern rock band that came… In 2004, we were formed. So it's not that long ago."

Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler in GUNS N' ROSES, recorded the highly successful albums "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" (both 1991) and "The Spaghetti Incident" (1994). He also supported the group on the "Use Your Illusion" tour and can be heard on GUNS N' ROSES' "Live Era: '87-'93" (1999) and "Greatest Hits" (2004).

Sorum told The Pulse of Radio in a 2009 interview that if the classic GUNS N' ROSES band reunited, they should perform with both him and Adler. "If it's me on drums or Steven or whatever, if it happened, it'd be great, you know. I would actually say to them, 'Hey, bring both of us back,' you know. Let me play the other stuff. We'll have two drum kits. I don't care. If 'Appetite [For Destruction]', [the band's debut] sounds better with Steven playing it, have both guys up there. They can afford it."

GUNS N' ROSES was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2012. Adler, Sorum, Slash and Duff attended the ceremony, while Rose and former guitarist Izzy Stradlin stayed home.

Photo credit: Michael Segal for Artbit