Matthew William Sorum is an American drummer and percussionist. 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 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 also a
member of Guns N' Roses side-projects, Slash's Snakepit and Neurotic Outsiders,
and released a solo album, Hollywood Zen, in 2004.
After performing on 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.
During the tour, Sorum was spotted by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and
subsequently replaced their drummer Steven Adler in 1990. Remaining in the
band for seven years, Sorum recorded the albums, Use Your Illusion I, Use Your
Illusion II, and "The Spaghetti Incident?", before departing in 1997
following an argument with frontman Axl Rose.
In 2001, Sorum rejoined The Cult to perform on their reunion album, Beyond
Good and Evil, and its subsequent tour and subsequently co-founded the hard
rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, alongside former Guns N' Roses
bandmates, Slash and Duff McKagan. The band, which also included guitarist Dave
Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, released two successful
studio albums, Contraband and Libertad, before entering an extended hiatus
following Weiland's departure. 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. 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. On October 12, 2013 Matt married his longtime punch
girlfriend Ace Harper in Palm Springs, California.
Biography = 1960–1989: Early career=
Matt Sorum was born Matthew William Sørum on November 19, 1960, in an
unincorporated area of Orange County, California that later became the city of
Mission Viejo. His parents were of English and Norwegian descent. 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, Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Roger Taylor, Buddy Rich and Bill Ward.
In his first couple of years in high school, Sorum was part of the Mission
Viejo Marching Bands drum section. 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,"
which consisted of lead singer / guitarist Jeff Harris, drummer Matt
Sorum, and bass player David Pagan. Prophecy played many gigs ranging from
high schools to concerts, all the way to the Hollywood scene, where they played
clubs like Gazzarri's in 1977. A local songwriter, Stephen Douglas, pulled
Sorum 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. = 1990–1997: Guns N' Roses=
In 1989 Slash saw Sorum live with The Cult on their Sonic Temple tour and,
shortly after, Sorum joined Guns N' Roses as Steven Adler's replacement.
Sorum with Guns N' Roses can be heard on Use Your Illusion I, Use Your Illusion
II, "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.
In 1995 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 in the theme song for the 1995 20th Century Fox film, Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers: The Movie. In the 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 and Steve Jones also participated on this album, and toured. Early
performances featured guest spots by Simon Le Bon, Slash, and Billy Idol.
In 1997 he was fired from Guns N' Roses by Axl Rose after an argument with Rose
over the inclusion of Paul Tobias in the band. In 1998, he released his first and
only drum instructional video 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.
In April 2006, nine years after leaving Guns N' Roses, Sorum re-established his
friendship with the band's frontman Axl Rose.
= 2002–2008: Velvet Revolver= In 1999, Sorum reunited with Slash and
McKagan to promote a concert for the independent film Soundman at the
Slamdance Film Festival. Sorum had composed the film with Lanny Cordola and
Michael Stearns. Realizing that they still had chemistry together, they
formed a new band called Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots 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, which was released on July 3, 2007. Sorum toured with Velvet Revolver
until singer Weiland parted ways with the band on April 1, 2008.
= 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 1994, Sorum was one of many guest drummers on the
album, "Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich". Playing with
the Buddy Rich Big Band, Sorum was able to display his skill and finnesse as a
jazz drummer. In addition, Sorum has endorsed Zildjian
cymbals for the past 18 years and has featured in numerous sweepstakes with
Zildjian. In 2006, Sorum began guest recording in his studio with a new
project, called Circus Diablo. That year, he also launched a clothing line
with designer Max Noce; SorumNoce. On June 4, 2008, Sorum revealed Camp
Freddy is working on an album. Matt has also lent his talents to
Submersible Music's DrumCore software. Sorum was featured in episode 54 of the
television program LA Ink originally airing on August 27, 2009. On the
program Kat Von D. tattoos a portrait of his wife Ace on his leg.
Matt filled in for Mikkey Dee as drummer on Motörhead's 2009 US tour. Dee took
part in Kändisdjungeln, a Swedish version of I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of
Here!. After performing together at the "Giving
2010" benefit event on May 3, 2010, Sorum formed the cover band "Carnival of
Dogs" with Tracii Guns, Franky Perez and Phil Soussan.
He made an appearance in an episode of FSN Sport Science, when a test was
undertaken to determine if a professional basketball point guard had
faster hands than a drummer. In 2014, he worded with Animals Asia and
adopted a moon bear that had been on a Chinese bear-bile farm, when her bile
was extracted for traditional medicine. He hoped to draw attention to the abuse
that bears suffer on the farms in China and Vietnam.
Endorsements Sorum has endorsed a number of drum
companies over the last 20 years, including Yamaha Drums, Mapex, Drum
Workshop, Ludwig and Gretsch Drums . He also has used Zildjian cymbals over the
last 26 years. His drum kit and cymbals are as following
24"x14 Bass Drum 14"x6 Snare
13"x10 Rack Tom 16"x16 Floor Tom
18"x16 Floor Tom Cymbals: Zildjian
15" Rock Hi-Hats 18" Medium Crash
19" Rock Crash 19" Rock Crash
22" Medium Ride 20" Medium Crash
21" China Boy Low 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, drum sticks which are now used by many famous drummers,
including Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Tico Torres of Bon Jovi. Now, he uses
his own Zildjian Matt Sorum Signature wood sticks.
Discography Studio albums
Hollywood Zen Stratosphere
References External links
Official website