MATT SORUM On Being Inducted Into ROCK HALL With GUNS N' ROSES: 'It Was Sort Of Unimaginable' And 'Kind Of A Shock'

In early January, former GUNS N' ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum was interviewed by WCZR Code Zero Radio's Fox Cities Core when he performed at the "Joey's Song" benefit concert in support of epilepsy research in Madison, Wisconsin. Asked what specific memories he had of being inducted as a member of GUNS N' ROSES into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2012, Matt quipped (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't have very many memories of any of that band. [Laughs] No, no, no. I'm just kidding. The induction? Wow. I never really had that in the bucket list. It was sort of unimaginable. So it became something that was kind of a shock. And I think the whole process was interesting. It was very emotional, getting up there and stuff. You have rock and roll dreams when you're a kid, but that was just beyond any rock and roll dream I ever had. I just wanted to play music and get on stage and travel the world, and I did all that, and then I got that. So it's pretty cool. I'm happy about it. I'm very proud of it. And now you have to say, 'Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Matt Sorum'."

Asked if he thinks "classic rock" is "more like a time period or more of a style", Matt said: "Classic rock is a style. I think it falls under the moniker of just blues-based rock and roll, in my opinion — anything from AEROSMITH to THE [ROLLING] STONES to GUNS N' ROSES. There's bands like [a band] I was in called THE CULT, and we kind of maybe fell under a little bit different of a category, maybe somewhere in the realm of the BAUHAUS rock movement of England or whatever. So there's always slightly different subcategories. When you say 'heavy metal'… I played in MOTÖRHEAD and [MOTÖRHEAD leader] Lemmy didn't like to be called heavy metal. He was a rock and roll. It's, like, 'I'm in a rock and roll band.' And Lemmy used to say, 'We are MOTÖRHEAD and we play rock and roll.' You know, what is rock and roll? ROLLING STONES are rock and roll. There's rock and then there's roll. THE STONES are rock and roll. GUNS N' ROSES were rock and roll. It was the attitude. It was the way we lived our lives. I can't say I live like that anymore. I still like to rock, but I don't roll as hard as I used to, because I used to roll nightly."

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, Adler, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan attended GUNS N' ROSES' 2012 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony, while singer Axl Rose and founding guitarist Izzy Stradlin stayed home.

Rose announced three days before the ceremony that he would not attend and was not accepting his induction. Also missing was longtime keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who still plays in the current version of the band.

For the Rock Hall induction performance, McKagan, Slash and Adler were joined by guitarist Gilby Clarke and Sorum for three songs — "Mr. Brownstone", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City" — from the band's classic 1987 debut, "Appetite For Destruction". Providing vocals in the absence of Axl Rose was Myles Kennedy, the singer for ALTER BRIDGE and Slash's current solo band.

Sorum played drums for "Mr. Brownstone", while original drummer Adler took over for the other two songs.

Stradlin issued a statement the week before the induction, thanking his bandmates, the Hall Of Fame for "the acknowledgment of our works over the years," and the fans who "have supported GUNS N' ROSES from day one."

McKagan addressed Rose's absence during the bandmembers' acceptance speeches, saying, "I don't know if it matters who's here tonight because it's about the music that band created."

Slash admitted that all the drama almost stopped him from attending, saying, "The fans are the ones who made it possible for us to get together tonight with all the adversity and everything that was going on ... I was, like, 'Fuck it', but [my then-wife] said, 'Go and do it with the guys,' and I said 'You're right.'"

Photo credit: Jonas Åkerlund (courtesy of AFM Records / Ken Phillips Publicity Group, Inc.)