VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES Drummer MATT SORUM: '50 And Ready To Rock'

VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum has issued the following update:

"Yep, it's happenin'. I'm turning 50. How am I feelin' about it?? I'm alright. I'm actually surprised I made it this far.[ I've] had many close calls and have had quite a life up to now.

"I have mellowed a lot in the last couple of years and things seem to be easier somehow. I don't sweat the small stuff, I quess.

"I have done so many things and traveled so many places and have met so many great people in my travels.

"Have I made mistakes?? Plenty… but at this phase of my life I feel like resentments and feelings I held when I was younger for situations I was in at the time seem so minuscule now. Let bygones be bygones, if you know what I mean.

"A lot of it is like watching somebody else's movie. Like the GUNS N' ROSES years. Feels like another lifetime. And how I was then is so removed from who I am now. Gratitude is where I am at. The fact that I have lived my dreams that have gone far beyond my expectations. There is nothing that life can hand me I can't handle at this point.

"It wasn't always easy. But knowing that I am always grounded. And [I] did have moments when I wasn't when I was younger. So that being said, I look forward to what the future holds. Life is more exciting than ever.

"50 and ready to rock."

Matt Sorum was born Matthew William Sorum (Norwegian spelling Sørum),on November 19, 1960, in the present-day city of Mission Viejo, California. His parents were of English and Norwegian descent.

Sorum achieved fame with guns n' roses, where he replaced Steven Adler in the band, who was fired because of drug addiction. While with the Los Angeles-based hard rock group (1990-1997),Sorum 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). Starting out as a season musician in Los Angeles in the 1980s, Sorum had his first taste with success as part of THE CULT in 1989. A decade later, after being fired from GUNS N' ROSES, he was reunited with the group and played the drums for their 2001 album "Beyond Good And Evil". Currently, Sorum is the drummer of VELVET REVOLVER, a group he founded in 2002 with former GUNS N' ROSES band members Slash and Duff McKagan. The band has released two albums, "Contraband" (2004) and "Libertad" (2007). On his own, Sorum released a solo debut in 2003 called "Hollywood Zen".