Matt Sorum

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Matt Sorum (b. November 19, 1960, in Long Beach, California) is a hard rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum has played in such hard rock bands as Hawk and The Cult. He also played drums on a couple of songs with Johnny Crash in 1989 with their one and only album Neighbourhood Threat.

Matt Sorum started out in Mission Viejo, California as a local hot musician. Wearing trademark "Union Jack" shorts and nothing else, he used to pound a huge acrylic drumset and overpower his first band "Prophecy", where he 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. Matt endured several scrapes with danger during that time, owing to his illicit drug usage, mainly cocaine. 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".

Matt's work with Chateau and Stephen Douglas 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. Matt left to Hollywood to play with a series of bands, including "Population Five", with the bassist from the Knack ("My Sharona"). He then left on a tour around the country with a blues guitarist, playing dingy nightclubs and bars, and drinking heavily.

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.

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Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver

In 1990, with a recommendation from lead guitarist Slash, he joined Guns N' Roses as Steve Adler's replacement. He can be heard on Use Your Illusion I, Use Your Illusion II, and The Spaghetti Incident?. He was fired from the band in 1997 after defending departed lead guitarist Slash in an argument with Axl Rose. In 2003, he got back together 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.

Currently taking some time off, Velvet Revolver is preparing to record their second album, Libertad, which is scheduled to be released sometime in 2006. Matt is also guest recording in his studio with a new project called Circus Diablo. He is handling the drums and co-producing the recordings. in April 2006, 10 years after leaving Guns N' Roses, Sorum has re-established his friendship with volatile Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose

Sorum is also a member of Camp Freddy.

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