MATT SORUM Talks VELVET REVOLVER, Possible Autobiography And GUNS N' ROSES

"Source Of The Sound With Wendy Campbell" recently conducted an interview with drummer Matt Sorum (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N' ROSES, THE CULT, CAMP FREDDY). You can now listen to the chat in two parts below.

On VELVET REVOLVER:

"VELVET REVOLVER, in my opinion, was a miracle, in a way. Because here we are, guys in our 40s, putting together a band that's gonna be [perceived] as a modern rock and roll band. And we achieved that. We were competing against much younger guys, we had a huge success with it. I got my first Grammy, which was amazing and it was really, for me, one of the highlights of my life, because number one, I was an original member for the first time ever; I was always the guy that came in and took somebody's place. VELVET REVOLVER [consisted of] guys that I already played with before, but it was considered a new band."

On whether VELVET REVOLVER is completely over:

"I think Slash is really kind of happy being Slash and not really dealing with the drama of being in a band. He's the leader of his band and they go on stage on time and they play songs. And I've gotta kind of respect Slash for that, because he spent most of his career waiting around for people to show up. [laughs] [So he wants to just] go out on the road and have a nice easy go of it. Get on a tour bus [with] a new band, play songs. I totally respect that."

On whether he plans to write an autobiography after reading Slash's and Duff McKagan's books:

"My book will be a lot better than theirs, and I'll tell you why: I remember everything, and they don't remember shit. [laughs] I told Duff, I said, 'Duff, how are you gonna remember to write a book? You can't even remember where we were last night?' I said, 'I'll write your book for you. And here's the title: 'Duff McKagan: The Shit I Don't Remember By Matt Sorum'. And every time I would tell my stories, I would go, 'Duff, are you tape-recording this right now? I don't want my stories coming out in your book.' Slash's book, guaranteed, there's five years in the middle of Slash's book that are just missing. And I'll tell you what era that was: 1990 to 1995. Those guys don't remember jack-all. And if you notice, his book, it sort of book ends on the early years, and it jumps forward to the breakup. There's a lot of shit that went down [in between]. I could fill in the blanks and I could tell about hundred thousand better stories than they have. And you know what?! I just haven't had anybody give me enough money to make me spill the beans. [laughs]

"It's interesting. I did start writing [a book], and it's a very cathartic, sort of cleansing doing it. Because, I mean, people can look at being in a band however they wanna look at it from the outside, but it's an emotional time in your life. It's a lot like being in a relationship. It takes years and years and years to try to heal from certain situations. But it's very cathartic to do it, because you can go back and you can kind of look at your part in it and go, 'Well, I could have done this different.' And that's the part that I know Duff got from doing his book. He's a completely different human being now than he used to be. I mean, here's a guy who's got tow [daughters] now, he's got a family. There was a time when we used to party so heavily, you don't even know if you're speaking the English language, you know what I mean?! [laughs] Now the guy's got a degree in, like, business. It's awesome. Same with Slash. Slash's got two boys, he's got a family.

"When we were all standing up there [on stage at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in April], I was, like, 'The fact that we're still alive, to be standing up here, is a miracle.' Including [Matt's predecessor in GUNS N' ROSES] Steven Adler. He's slowly but surely getting it together, and I respect him for that. I know he had to go through a lot of stuff, but it's cool. But he was there, we were there together, and he was able to be cool about me being there. 'Cause I laughed at him. I said, 'Dude, look at the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, man. They've got, like, seven drummers. We ain't got shit on those guys. They've got, like, 20 guitar players, seven drummers.' He laughed. He was, like, 'Yeah, you're right.'"

Part 1:

Part 2: