Matt Sorum

Matt Sorum

Matt Sorum (born November 19, 1960, in Mission Viejo, California) is an American hard rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses (1990-1997). Matt currently is playing drums for supergroup Velvet Revolver (2002-present), which features former GN'R members Duff McKagan (bass) and Slash (lead guitar).

Biography

Early career (1960-1989)

Matt Sorum was born Matthew William Sorum (Norwegian spelling Sørum), on November 19 1960, in Mission Viejo, California. His parents were of English and Norwegian descent. Sorum started out in Mission Viejo as a local hot musician in 1975. Wearing trademark "Union Flag" shorts and nothing else, he used to pound a huge acrylic drumset and overpower his first band "Prophecy", where he and lead singer / guitarist, Jeff Harris, stood out and the rest of the band just disappeared. A local songwriter, Stephen Douglas, pulled him from the band and joined him with other talented musicians in the area to form "Chateau", a wall-of-sound band with grandiose themes and sounds in their songs. Chateau played the Hollywood circuit, appearing at Gazzarri's and almost getting into a fight with the original members of the band Ratt, which at the time was known as "Mickey Ratt".

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 the bassist Prescott Niles from The Knack, . 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. In the wake of that project, he joined The Cult as their live drummer for the 1989 tour in support of Sonic Temple.

Guns N' Roses (1990-1997)

In 1989, after Slash saw Sorum live with The Cult on their Sonic Temple tour, he was impressed and shortly after Sorum joined Guns N' Roses in 1990 as Steven Adler's replacement.

Sorum with Guns N' Roses can be heard on 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 192 shows, 8 legs and to over 7 million fans.

In 1995 with Slash and Gilby Clarke he formed Slash's Snakepit and drummed on their debut album It's Five O'Clock Somewhere. Sorum also lent his drumming skills in the theme song for the 1995 20th Century Fox film, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. In the same year Matt formed the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders, which featured fellow bandmate Duff McKagan where they released their only album, self titled Neurotic Outsiders. John Taylor (Duran Duran) and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) also participated on this album, and toured. Early performances featured guest spots by Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), Slash, and Billy Idol.

In 1997 he was fired from Guns N' Roses by Axl Rose after defending departed lead guitarist Slash in an argument with Rose and Paul Tobias. 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 2001 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 the album.

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

Velvet Revolver (2002-present)

In 2002, Sorum reunited with Slash and bassist Duff McKagan for a charity benefit. Realizing that they still had chemistry together, they formed a new band called Velvet Revolver with former STP frontman, Scott Weiland and rhythm guitarist Dave Kushner. After the 2004 release of their debut album Contraband, they embarked on a worldwide tour that continued through December 2005. In August 2005, Sorum broke his wrist in a boating accident, stalling the tour temporarily. While recovering from the wrist injury the drummer Brian Tichy and Mark Schulman filled in for him.

After taking some time off in 2006, Sorum and the rest of the band returned to the studio in December to record Libertad, Velvet Revolver's second album, released July 3, 2007. Sorum toured with the band, until Singer Scott Weiland left the band on April 1, 2008 to reunite with his STP bandmates.

Other ventures

In addition to those projects Sorum released his first solo album entitled Hollywood Zen, in 2003. The album, available through his website, was a musical statement about his life, touring, relationships, etc. In the same year, Sorum also began playing with newly formed Camp Freddy.

In addition, Sorum has endorsed Zildjian cymbals for the past 18 years and has featured in numerous sweepstakes with Zildjian. Matt Sorum also toured with the Sex Pistols during their reunion tour in the 90's on drums.

In 2006, Sorum began guest recording in his studio with a new project, called Circus Diablo. That year, he also launched a clothing line, SorumNoce.

On June 4, 2008, Sorum revealed Camp Freddy is working on an album.

Endorsements

Sorum has endorsed a number of drum companies over the last 20 years, with these being Yamaha Drums, Drum Workshop and Ludwig, whom he currently uses and has been using since the start of the present Velvet Revolver tour.

Sorum was one of the first drummers to endorse the Easton Ahead sticks in the early 90s during the Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion Tour, sticks which are now used by many metal drummers, including Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Joey Jordison of Slipknot and Tico Torres of Bon Jovi. Now, he uses Zildjian wood sticks.

Equipment

Drums

Yamaha Drums

• Rock Tour Custom with 18 x 24 power kick drum, a 14" rack tom, and 16" and 18" floor toms
• 12" Joe Montineri snare drum
• 14" Black Beauty Snare Drum
• 20.5" Tympani
• DW 5000 double pedal

Percussion

Latin Percussion

• LP Rock Ridge Rider Cowbell
• LP Jam Block (Low Pitch Red)
• Rhythm Tech DST (Drum Set Tambourine)

Cymbals

Zildjian

• 15" A Series Rock Hi Hats (stand)
• 14" A Series Rock Hi Hats (clamped)
• 24" A Series Ping Ride
• 19" K Series Dark China
• 20" A Series China Boy Low
• 19" K Series Dark Crash
• 18" A Series Rock Crash
• 20" A Series Crash/Ride
• 22" A Series Crash/Ride
• 10" A Series Splash
• 14" UFIP China

Sticks

• Easton Ahead sticks and gloves
• Pro-Mark Maxxum 4195

Drums

DW In Various Finishes

• 24" x 18" bass drum
• 14" x 6.5" DW Edge snare drum
• 13" x 11" tom
• 16" x 14" floor tom
• 18" x 16" floor tom
• DW 5000 double pedal

Ludwig

• 24" x 14" bass drum
• 14" x 6.5" DW Edge snare drum
• 13" x 9" tom
• 16" x 16" floor tom
• 18" x 16" floor tom
• DW 5000 double pedal

Cymbals

Zildjian

• 15" Avedis Rock Hi-Hats
• 18" Avedis Medium Crash
• 19" Avedis Medium Thin Crash
• 22" Avedis Rock Ride
• 19" K Custom Dark Medium Crash
• 22" Oriental China
• 20" Avedis Medium Thin Crash

Percussion

Latin Percussion

• Tambourine
• Ridge Rider Cowbell

Sticks

Zildjian His own Signature Sticks with Ahead grip tape

Heads

REMO

Discography

With Hawk

• Hawk (1986)

With Y Kant Tori Read

• Y Kant Tori Read (1988)

With Johnny Crash

• Unfinished Business (2008)

With Guns N' Roses

• Use Your Illusion I (1991)
• Use Your Illusion II (1991)
• "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993)
• Live Era: '87-'93 (1999)
• Greatest Hits (2004)

With Slash's Snakepit

• It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (1995)

With Neurotic Outsiders

• Neurotic Outsiders (1996)

With The Cult

• Beyond Good And Evil (2001)

With Velvet Revolver

• Contraband (2004)
• Libertad (2007)

Solo

• Hollywood Zen (2003)

External links

• Official website
• Unofficial website
• MySpace site
• Sorum & Noce clothing range
• Velvet Revolver's website
• Camp Freddy's website
• Sorum's Drummerworld page