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Matt Sorum
Founding member and drummer of Velvet Revolver
Background information
Birth name	Matthew Sorum
Born	November 19, 1960 Mission Viejo, California, USA
Genre(s)	Hard rock, Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Drums Percussion
Years active	1975–present
Label(s)	Geffen Records RCA
Associated acts	Guns N' Roses Velvet Revolver Hawk Johnny Crash The Cult Camp Freddy Circus Diablo Slash's Snakepit
Website	Official website

Matt Sorum (born Matthew Sorum, November 19, 1960, in Mission Viejo, California) is a hard rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7 year stint in Guns N' Roses (1990-1997). Sorum has also played in many rock bands such as Hawk, Slash's Snakepit, Johnny Crash, and The Cult. He is currently the drummer for Camp Freddy, Circus Diablo and Velvet Revolver.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early career 1.2 Guns N' Roses and beyond 2 Endorsements 3 Equipment 3.1 Guns N' Roses live (1991-1993) setup 3.2 Drums 3.3 Percussion 3.4 Cymbals 3.5 Sticks 3.6 Velvet Revolver live (2002-present) setup 3.7 Drums 3.8 Percussion 3.9 Cymbals 3.10 Sticks 4 Discography 4.1 With Hawk 4.2 With Y Kant Tori Read 4.3 With Guns N' Roses 4.4 With Slash's Snakepit 4.5 With Neurotic Outsiders 4.6 With The Cult 4.7 With Velvet Revolver 4.8 Solo 5 References 6 External links

Sorum started out in Mission Viejo 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. 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".^{[citation needed]}

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 from The Knack ("My Sharona"). 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.

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 and 8 legs.

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.

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 2003, 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.

In addition to those projects, Sorum in 2003 released his first solo album entitled Hollywood Zen. The solo album, available through his website, is a musical statement about his life, touring, relationships, etc. Sorum also is a current member of Camp Freddy.

In April 2006, nine years after leaving Guns N' Roses, Sorum re-established his friendship with Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose.^[1]

Sorum launched a clothing line called Sorum & Noce in 2006. In November 2006 he allegedly proposed to Bulgarian Playmate Sonia Vassi, the first Bulgarian ever to appear in U.S. Playboy. Sorum has since denied this.

Currently taking some time off, Sorum finished recording Velvet Revolver's second album in March 2007, Libertad is scheduled to be released June 2007. Sorum is currently guest recording in his studio with a new project called Circus Diablo.

Sorum currently endorses Drum Workshop drums, he endorsed Yamaha Drums when he was with Guns N' Roses. Sorum was the first drummer to pioneer 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, however, he uses Zildjian wood sticks. In addition, Sorum has endorsed Zildjian cymbals for the past 18 years and has featured in numerous sweepstakes with Zildjian.

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" 2nd snare drum
• Kettle Drum
• DW double pedal

Latin Percussion

• LP Cowbell, Tamourine, Jamblock

Zildjian

• 2x Hi hat (one on stand and one clamped)
• 4x A Custom Crash
• 1x 22" Ride
• 2x China
• 1x Splash
• 1x Trash

• Evans Ahead
• Pro-Mark Maxxum 4195

Drum Workshop

• 24" x 18" Bass Drum
• 14" x 5 ½" Brass Snare
• 13" x 10" Tom
• 16" x 14" Floor Tom
• 18" x 16" Floor Tom
• DW double pedal

Latin Percussion

• LP Ridge Rider Cowbell

Zildjian

• 1x 14" A Custom New Beat Hi-Hats
• 1x 18" A Custom Crash
• 1x 19" A Custom Projection Crash
• 1x 22" Rock Ride
• 1x 19" A Custom Medium Crash
• 1x 20" A Custom Medium Thin Crash
• 2x China
• 1x Gong

Zildjian

• Matt Sorum signature sticks

• Hawk (1986)

• Y Kant Tori Read (1988)

• Use Your Illusion I (1991)
• Use Your Illusion II (1991)
• The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)
• Use Your Illusion (1998)
• Live Era: '87-'93 (1999)
• Greatest Hits (2004)

• It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (1995)

• Neurotic Outsiders (1996)

• Beyond Good And Evil (2001)

• Contraband (2004)
• Libertad (2007)

• Hollywood Zen (2003)

• Matt's Official Website
• Official MySpace Site
• Sorum & Noce Clothing Range
• Velvet Revolver's Website
• Camp Freddy's Official Website
• Matt's Drummerworld Page

Preceded by Steven Adler

Guns N' Roses Drummer 1990-1997

Succeeded by Josh Freese

v • d • e Guns N' Roses

Axl Rose • Dizzy Reed • Robin Finck • Tommy Stinson • Chris Pitman • Bryan Mantia • Richard Fortus • Bumblefoot • Frank Ferrer Ole Beich • Rob Gardner • Tracii Guns • Steven Adler • Izzy Stradlin • Gilby Clarke • Slash • Matt Sorum • Duff McKagan • Josh Freese • Paul Tobias • Buckethead Discography Albums: Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide • Appetite for Destruction • G N' R Lies • Use Your Illusion I • Use Your Illusion II • The Spaghetti Incident? • Use Your Illusion • Live Era: '87-'93 • Greatest Hits • Chinese Democracy Related articles Use Your Illusion Tour • Chinese Democracy Tour • Adler's Appetite • Neurotic Outsiders • Slash's Snakepit • Velvet Revolver • UZI Suicide

Velvet Revolver
Scott Weiland | Slash | Duff McKagan | Matt Sorum | Dave Kushner
Discography
Contraband | Libertad
Related articles
The Cult | Guns N' Roses | Johnny Crash | Neurotic Outsiders | Stone Temple Pilots | Slash's Snakepit

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