MATT SORUM: I Found Out About GUNS N' ROSES' ROCK HALL Induction Through STEVEN ADLER

Matt Sorum (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES, THE CULT) was interviewed in early December on Sydney, Australia's Triple M radio station when he was in town for the Hard Rock Café opening down in Darling Harbour, a locality of the city center of Sydney.

When asked about GUNS N' ROSES' upcoming induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Sorum said, "I got this random text from [original GUNS N' ROSES drummer] Steven Adler [one] morning. We're now friends, which is cool. If you could imagine, when I joined GUNS N' ROSES, for Steven I was like the guy who shagged his girlfriend. You wanna just kill the dude. [Laughs] But, really, it's the girlfriend's fault. She's the one who shagged the dude. It's not his fault. He was just happy to be there. And she is a chick. And what dudes do when chicks wanna shag? Get busy. So now we're cool after all these years. It's kind of calmed down quite a bit. But anyway, so he texted me. He says, 'Congratulations.' I said, 'What?' He was the first one to tell me about Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I had no idea. It's kind of a weird thing. It's like, what's gonna happen? Who knows? I don't know. I've been hearing a few things, a little bit, through Sebastian Bach, 'cause he hangs around with [GUNS N' ROSES singer] Axl [Rose]. Hopefully everyone's just sort of… before I get too old, let bygones be bygones. But the problem is it's not me. I'm just the guy that played drums; I'm not the dude that was in the mix of all the other drama. I was there for the drama, [laughs] and maybe I caused a little bit, but there was nothing I could say about it."

Sorum, who joined the band in 1990 following the dismissal of Adler, told Australia's The Vine he's hoping for the best but prepared for the worst when the band gets inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April. Sorum said, "It's going to be as big of a train wreck as the SEX PISTOLS, BLONDIE, or any of those other bands. That's my prediction. Or VAN HALEN, which I don't know if you saw, but we [VELVET REVOLVER] were involved in that. Train wreck; it was a complete train wreck. But maybe it won't; maybe it will be a miracle; I hope for that and put out the positive vibrations."

Slash recalled how VELVET REVOLVER performed for VAN HALEN's induction into the Hall in 2007, when most of the members of VAN HALEN did not attend. "They couldn't get everybody to show up for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame when those guys, when VAN HALEN was inducted, so they of course obviously couldn't perform," he said. "So they asked if we would fill in, and so we did. And that was basically it."

Only ex-members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony turned up for VAN HALEN's induction.

Although Rose was ambivalent in a recent VH1 interview about reuniting with his old GUNS bandmates at the induction, Sorum added that he's wary of making predictions about the big night. He explained, "It's better if I just go, 'I don't know shit.' Which is the absolute truth. They could be in a room right now . . . and I wouldn't be invited, you know what I'm saying?"

It's widely expected that Sorum will be inducted along with Adler, in addition to the other four original members of the group. GUNS will be inducted into the Hall on April 14 in Cleveland, along with the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, THE BEASTIE BOYS, LAURA NYRO and DONOVAN.