Matt Sorum was born on November 19, 1960. The drummer joined Guns N' Roses as the band was building the sprawling arrangements of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. His work on those records, and later with Velvet Revolver, shows how much a distinctive drum part can contribute to a song's identity.
His interest in drums began with seeing Ringo Starr perform with The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sorum recalled that childhood spark in his official biography, which also describes the preparation behind his later breaks. He played with Tori Amos in Y Kant Tori Read and worked across multiple Los Angeles bands. Before auditioning for The Cult, he spent two weeks studying their music on his own. He wanted to arrive knowing the songs and understanding the band he hoped to join.
The Cult put him on the road, where Slash saw him play. When Guns N' Roses needed a drummer in 1990, Sorum initially understood the offer as studio work: Steven Adler might return for the tour. In a 2012 interview with Rhythm, published by MusicRadar, Sorum said that changed a couple of weeks into the sessions, when Slash asked him to join. He was entering an established band just as its music was taking on a different scale. Sorum remembered being surprised by Axl Rose's piano-led material. Matching it involved specific choices at the kit: he tuned his toms to a piano and selected different snare drums for different songs. A deep Tama birch snare nicknamed Big Red appeared on “November Rain,” “Don't Cry” and “Estranged.” He also recalled recording complete drum performances without a click track, leaving the musicians to establish the pulse together.
The repetition in “November Rain” was equally deliberate. Speaking to Rhythm in 2009, he traced the idea to listening to Elton John's “Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with Rose. The singer wanted a similar drum fill in the song they were preparing to record. Sorum kept returning to the phrase, even though other drummers later questioned the repetition. “I felt it was a musical part,” he explained. It's a useful way to hear the performance: the drums give the arrangement a recurring marker.
His Guns N' Roses tenure ended in 1997, but his partnership with Slash and bassist Duff McKagan carried into Velvet Revolver. Guitarist Dave Kushner and singer Scott Weiland completed the lineup that released its debut, Contraband, in 2004. For Sorum, building that band brought a different kind of ownership. “I was an equal member and a driving force with this group,” he said in his official biography. Velvet Revolver's “Slither” won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2005.
The old influences traveled with him, too. Discussing Contraband's “Fall to Pieces” in the 2009 Rhythm interview, Sorum described choosing prominent toms for the opening because he considered them his signature. In the breakdown, McKagan encouraged him to draw on Ringo Starr's playing. The drummer who had first sparked his interest had become a reference point as Sorum and his bandmates worked out a new song.
