In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Matt Sorum says he has made peace with not being invited to the Guns N’ Roses reunion.
Matt Sorum found out about the 2016 Guns N’ Roses reunion while he was touring with Slash and Duff in South America. He only found out that he would not be part of it until they had come back to L.A., when Duff revealed that Frank Ferrer would be on drums instead.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Sorum — who was part of Guns N’ Roses 1990 -1994 — explained that in the years since, he has made peace with not being part of the reunion:
“I’ve come to terms with the fact that they’re doing their own thing, and I’m doing mine,” he said. “I can’t say that when it went down, I was completely happy with the circumstances. At the same time, I feel really good about my time in the band.”
Later on, he also speculated that he may also have been left off the roster due to Axl Rose’s familiarity with Ferrer: “I think Axl is a loyal guy. He likes his band he’s had for a long time. He didn’t look at it that way. … If anyone in that band is loyal, it’s probably him. He was like, “I’m going to bring my guy [Frank Ferrer]. If I get Slash, that’s cool. If I get Duff, that’s cool too. And that’s enough.” That’s how it went down, and that’s what they’re doing.”
The drummer also expressed regrets at how the band’s schedule — and partying, as he put it — had a toll on their musical inclinations in the mid-90s, when they started working on the follow-up to “The Spaghetti Incident?”
“We came off the road and everyone was so burned out. We were out there for two and half years. It was doing five or six nights a week and partying hard. We got home and we could just never really get the musical thing going again.” he explained.
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“We went in the studio and tried to write, and everybody had too much money, everyone bought houses, and went separate ways in a lot of ways. I wish we could have sat down and talked it out, but we just didn’t. And then I left.” said Sorum. “It becomes this crazy rollercoaster ride that you really couldn’t get off. It almost felt uncontrollable.”
When the prospect of being invited again — Sorum declined guesting on parts of the tour due to budget constraints — he said that he would have “to wait until that call comes to make that decision.”
“I have a lot of different things going on in my life. I just produced Billy Gibbons’ new record. I’m about to start my own. I have six startup companies. I’m a busy guy. It’s gotta be what works with my life. I feel really good about my time in the band. And I always thank Guns N’ Roses for my legacy going forward.”
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