Biography - N.I.R.

During the 80's Matt Sorum was a session man on the Los Angeles scene. His work included the first Tori Amos album, but he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere in achieving his dream of rock n' roll success with fame, wealth and girls. His big opportunity came when the Cult auditioned for a drummer for their Sonic Temple tour. Matt got the job: "Then I'm with The Cult and for the first show, we opened for Metallica in front of 25,000 people. Cool, now it's true!"¹ His situation would change a lot more in a few years...
   In the summer of 1990 Guns N' Roses fired drummer Steven Adler due to drub abuse. The Cult had just finished the Sonic Temple tour, and an impressed Slash had been in the audience for one of the last shows. So, when GN'R needed a new drummer Slash got in touch with Matt. Of course, Matt saw this as an even bigger chance than being with the Cult as GN'R was truly the biggest band around this time.
   Slash has said that Matt's entrance was like "a shot in the arm."² The band had been in the studio for a very long time without getting anywhere with the new album. Now they had a drummer that actually could focus on playing, and the result was 36 songs rehearsed in month and the basic recordings done in five weeks.³ Matt's dream of rock n' roll success was also fulfilled... "I got very rich, very quick. A lot of people came around, people who weren't really my friends, and I got caught up in the wild ride /../ I think I lived the dream of every kid who wants to be a drummer in a rock 'n' roll band." ⁴
   In 1994 Matt worked with Slash and Gilby on what would become the first Snakepit album. But, in order not to further divide GN'R. Matt didn't go on tour with them. "I was in between, there was Slash "Come on, man, tour with us", but I told him "Slash, for 4 months, we will fuck GNR up". So I stayed at home and I work a bit with Axl and Duff."⁵
   The work with GN'R didn't get very far in 1995, though, and when Matt was asked to put together a band for a benefit concert at the Viper Room in Hollywood, CA, it turned out to be the birth of a new band, the Neurotic Outsiders. The other members were Duff, Steve Jones and John Taylor. They did a lot of club shows in Hollywood, and did some small tours. They disbanded due to commitments to their original bands in the fall of 1996, after releasing a self titled album.
   When returning to GN'R, Matt didn't feel comfortable with the situation anymore: "I'm making a lot of money, but I'm not being a musician anymore. Somehow I've dug myself into a hole and my life has become more about my lifestyle and the money I'm making and not so much about my drumming."⁶ In the end it was an argument over Slash's departure that made Axl fire Matt, who has explained it like this: "I said, "We've got to get Slash back and start making this record." Axl said, "We don't need Slash," but I said, "Seems to me all the great songs - 'Welcome To The Jungle' and 'Sweet Child Of Mine' - were very much you and Slash. We need you two guys together." So he said, "Are you going to quit then?" I said, "No, I'm not going to quit." And then he said, "Well, then you're fired." And about a month later, I got the notice from the lawyers that I was out."⁷
   Matt then decided to get his act together and downsize from his rock n' roll lifestyle and to "beat Axl out on the road."⁸ He formed the band Binge together with, among others, Steve Caton (whom he knew from the Tori Amos-days), and they released an EP, "Crash" in 1999. That year also saw Matt back with The Cult. In April the Neurotic Outsiders were scheduled to play four shows at the Viper Room and Matt called orginal Cult members Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury to ask them to play some songs with the band. They did "Wildflower" and "Love Removal Machine" as encores to all three⁹ shows. It went well and eventually the three of them got back together, did a successful comeback-tour and recorded an album.
   Other work Matt has done include guest appearances on albums by Gleen Hughes, Pat Torpey, Gilby Clarke and Duff McKagan.