Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / How Matt Sorum Saved Guns N’ Roses During Use Your Illusion [Highlight From Episode 371]

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How Matt Sorum Saved Guns N’ Roses During Use Your Illusion [Highlight From Episode 371] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

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  Speaker 1: Going behind the music once more with this highlight from
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  Speaker 1: a recent episode of Booked on Rock. Jeff Harkness is
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  Speaker 1: back on the show. He's got a book out titled
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  Speaker 1: Estranged Guns N' Roses and Use Your Illusion. Let's talk
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  Speaker 1: about Matt Sorum. So he had been playing with the Cult. Yep,
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  Speaker 1: what qualities did he bring that axel in the band
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  Speaker 1: felt that they needed at that moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question.
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  Speaker 3: He was a professional drummer. He was in a big band.
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  Speaker 3: They had just put out Sonic Temple, which was a
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  Speaker 3: big hit album that had some Firewoman a big hit song.
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  Speaker 2: So, and they had.
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  Speaker 3: Been out on tour and toured the world on that album.
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  Speaker 3: So Matt Soorm was a professional first and foremost. He
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  Speaker 3: could step in and from day one do the job.
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  Speaker 3: He wasn't going to be awed by playing in front
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  Speaker 3: of big crowds. This wasn't his first rodeo. He could record,
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  Speaker 3: he could do it all. So I think they really
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  Speaker 3: appreciated that. They had also seen him Slash and Duff
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  Speaker 3: saw him with the Cult, went to that concert, were
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  Speaker 3: very impressed by him. So he was somebody who I
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  Speaker 3: think was kind of on their radar anyway, of like, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: this guy can actually step in and do the job.
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  Speaker 3: They had played with a few other people. They played
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  Speaker 3: with Martin Chambers from The Pretenders for example, and said, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: just it didn't fit. You know, some people we tried,
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  Speaker 3: we couldn't find the right fit. Matt comes in and
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  Speaker 3: he's like one of the guys. Immediately they could just
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  Speaker 3: not only could could he play and do everything, but
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  Speaker 3: he could also you know, sort of hang out and
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  Speaker 3: become one of the gangs, so to speak. And I
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  Speaker 3: think they look they were looking for something like that too.
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  Speaker 1: How would you describe his sound? I'm trying to you know,
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  Speaker 1: when I listen to him, he's just he's got a
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  Speaker 1: massive bottom like sound. Also that's the production, but he's
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  Speaker 1: just rock solid, like a machine. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean if you hear like locomotive or something.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a good example of the kind of like,
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  Speaker 3: you know, he's really like he is like a machine
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  Speaker 3: or something like that. His feel is very different from
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  Speaker 3: Steven Adler, and he's been criticized for that quite a bit,
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  Speaker 3: and I think it.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely changed the band's sound.
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  Speaker 3: There are some tapes that you can hear of Steven
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  Speaker 3: Adler rehearsing with the group on some of these songs
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  Speaker 3: and it's like wow, you know it's it's really pretty
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  Speaker 3: amazing sounding and what could have been. But by the
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  Speaker 3: same token, I think that Matt's gave them a more
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  Speaker 3: cinematic style that really fit in with what Axel had
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  Speaker 3: in mind. I mean Matt's drumming on November Rain, which
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  Speaker 3: there I described in the studio in how Actual came
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  Speaker 3: in and worked those parts out with him on November Rain,
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  Speaker 3: on Don't Cry and on Estranged and said.
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  Speaker 2: This is going to be a trilogy.
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  Speaker 3: He got to use the same fill on every one
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  Speaker 3: of these songs, and I want this symbol here and
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  Speaker 3: this to go here. And Axel and Matt very much
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  Speaker 3: worked out all the parts to that, you know, in
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  Speaker 3: a studio one night, and I think that ultimately he
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  Speaker 3: was able to deliver exactly what Axel had in mind.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, he wanted this grand sort of Elton
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  Speaker 3: John Don't let the Sun Go Down on Me sweeping sound,
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  Speaker 3: very cinematic, very large.
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  Speaker 2: It's different.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't swing like Steven did, it doesn't have all
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  Speaker 3: his little hooks and turnarounds that he's so famous for.
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  Speaker 2: But it did give the group. I think what Axel
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  Speaker 2: was looking for.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, I've been listening to these albums for
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  Speaker 3: thirty plus years and I still think the songs hold up.
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  Speaker 2: I still think they're.
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  Speaker 3: Great, and I think Matt, you know, you have to
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  Speaker 3: give him credit for his work on these albums. If
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  Speaker 3: I'm still listening to these songs and still like them,
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  Speaker 3: then it can't be like, oh yeah, I'm not sitting
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  Speaker 3: there going.
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, I like these Bud.
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  Speaker 3: If only Stephen were on this song, It's like, no,
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  Speaker 3: these are still great songs.
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  Speaker 2: You got to give him credit.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: It feels it feels right that he's on these tracks.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm glad you mentioned the fact that Axel sat
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  Speaker 1: down with him and said these three songs. There's a
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  Speaker 1: theme here of consistency, because I feel like I owe
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  Speaker 1: Matt sorem Matt, if you're listening to this, I owe
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  Speaker 1: an apology because a lot of fans were getting on
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  Speaker 1: him for what's up with this same drum film Boom boom,
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  Speaker 1: and you just I remember thinking myself, like, come on, man,
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  Speaker 1: what's what's the deal? You can't mix it up? Right?
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  Speaker 1: And then I read an interview with him. He says, no,
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  Speaker 1: Axel wanted.
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  Speaker 3: That, Yeah, that he wanted this, this sort of a theme.
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  Speaker 3: And I agree, we all owe Matt saw him a
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  Speaker 3: bit of a ready because we've all said this, you know,
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  Speaker 3: had this critique of him.
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  Speaker 2: But I was also again part of the process.
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  Speaker 3: You know, he went in, they had the songs ready,
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  Speaker 3: and they say he learned a song a day for
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  Speaker 3: thirty days. They went into the studio and knocked him
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  Speaker 3: out in three weeks. And he's got to not only
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  Speaker 3: record the parts for thirty new songs, but they got
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  Speaker 3: to do it in one take.
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  Speaker 2: He can't go back and overdub or fix something. It's
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  Speaker 2: got to be a perfect take that he delivers too.
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  Speaker 3: So that he was able to learn those songs, go
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  Speaker 3: in and record him in three weeks in single takes
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  Speaker 3: was astonishing to me.
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  Speaker 2: I definitely didn't know that, you know.
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  Speaker 3: So I feel like a lot of us so Matt
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  Speaker 3: srem an apology or at least as you know, he
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  Speaker 3: deserves more credit.
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  Speaker 2: Than he's probably been given over the years.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to the full episode wherever you get your favorite podcasts.