Matt Sorum

Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer.

He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver.

Sorum is currently on tour with Billy Gibbons, with whom he also records, is a member of the touring project Kings of Chaos, and is a former member of both The Cult and Y Kant Tori Read.

Sorum was born Matthew William Sorum on November 19, 1960, in an unincorporated area of Orange County, California, that later became the city of Mission Viejo.

He started to play drums after watching Ringo Starr with The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

Later he was mainly influenced by Ian Paice, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Roger Taylor, Buddy Rich and Bill Ward.

At Mission Viejo High School Sorum was part of the jazz band, marching band, and wind ensemble.

According to Sorum, he and his high school band, Prophecy, would play at The Starwood on amateur nights.

Sorum's work with Chateau produced a four-song set that was covered by local radio stations for a short time, but the music scene changed from grandiose rock to punk and alternative new wave music.

Sorum left and went to Hollywood to play with a series of bands, including Population Five, with bassist Prescott Niles from The Knack, and Hawk, replacing Scott Travis, who went to play with Racer X and later Judas Priest.

He then left on a tour around the country with a blues guitarist, playing nightclubs and bars.

In 1988, he was recruited to play on the debut album of Y Kant Tori Read, a band fronted by a then unknown Tori Amos.

After performing on Tori Amos' first record and synthpop band Y Kant Tori Read's sole album, Sorum joined the Cult in 1989 to tour in support of their fourth studio album, Sonic Temple (1989).

In the wake of that project, he joined The Cult as their live drummer for the 1989/1990 tour in support of Sonic Temple.

In 1989, Slash saw Sorum live with The Cult on the Sonic Temple tour and, shortly after, Sorum joined Guns N' Roses as Steven Adler's replacement.

During the tour, Sorum was spotted by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and subsequently replaced their drummer Steven Adler in 1990.

Sorum with Guns N' Roses can be heard on the 1990 cover of the Bob Dylan track "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", the albums Use Your Illusion I, Use Your Illusion II (excluding the track "Civil War"), "The Spaghetti Incident?", the 1994 cover of The Rolling Stones track "Sympathy for the Devil" and the majority of Live Era: '87-'93.

Sorum featured fully on the lengthy Use Your Illusion Tour, drumming on all of the 194 shows, 9 legs and to over 7 million fans.

Remaining in the band for seven years, Sorum recorded the albums Use Your Illusion I (1991), Use Your Illusion II (1991), and "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993), before departing in 1997 following an argument with Axl Rose.

In 1994, Sorum formed Slash's Snakepit with Slash and Gilby Clarke and drummed on their debut album, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.

Sorum also lent his drumming skills to the theme song for the 1995 20th Century Fox film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

That same year, Sorum formed the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders, which featured bandmate Duff McKagan.

In 1996 they released their only album, the self-titled Neurotic Outsiders.

John Taylor (Duran Duran) and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) also participated on this album, and toured behind it.

Early performances featured guest spots by Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), Slash, and Billy Idol.

In 1997, Sorum was fired from Guns N' Roses by Axl Rose after an argument with Rose over the inclusion of Paul Tobias in the band.

Sorum claimed that Tobias made disparaging remarks about a Slash performance on TV, resulting in him blowing up at Tobias.

Slash had recently left the band, and Sorum told Axl “without Slash there is no Guns N’ Roses”, to which Rose asked if he was going to quit the band.

Sorum said no, then Rose fired him.

In 1998, he released his first and only drum instructional video (Drum Licks and Tricks from the Rock n Roll Jungle) demonstrating his techniques.

In 1999, Sorum rejoined The Cult to perform on their reunion album, Beyond Good and Evil (2001), and its subsequent 2000/2001 tours, and subsequently co-founded the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, alongside former Guns N' Roses bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan.

In 1999, Matt joined The Cult once again and featured on their album Beyond Good And Evil, which he spent most of 2001 touring in support of.

Sorum has been a permanent member of hard rock cover band Camp Freddy since 2003, alongside Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney, and assisted in hosting its radio show and podcast on Indie 103.1.

Sorum was also a member of Guns N' Roses side projects, Slash's Snakepit and Neurotic Outsiders, and has released two solo albums, Hollywood Zen (2004) and Stratosphere (2014).

The band, which included guitarist Dave Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, released two successful studio albums, Contraband (2004) and Libertad (2007), before entering an extended hiatus following Weiland's departure.

In April 2006, nine years after leaving Guns N' Roses, Sorum re-established his friendship with the band's lead singer Axl Rose.

In 2012, Sorum founded a touring project, entitled Kings of Chaos, featuring members of Guns N' Roses, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick and Slipknot.

In 2012, Sorum was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses.

He was the touring drummer for the supergroup Hollywood Vampires from 2015 to 2017.

His latest project is Deadland Ritual, featuring Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, and Apocalyptica vocalist Franky Perez.