The madness of playing with Guns N’ Roses in the 90s, according to Matt Sorum

In the early 1990s, it was no exaggeration to define the Guns N’ Roses as the biggest band in the world. Even with the rise of Nirvana and the consolidation of names such as U2, Metallica and Bon Jovithe group of Axl Rose and Slash was experiencing a moment of enormous popularity.

The arrival of Matt Sorum occurred in this context. The drummer was brought from The Cult to fill the vacancy left by Steve Adlerfired for going too far with drug use — which was frequent in the band. Between 1990 and 1997, he held the position, recording the albums Use Your Illusionthe covers album The Spaghetti Incident? and a cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” (Rolling Stones).

Guns’ growth during this period was also structural and artistic. The tour he promoted Use Your Illusion — a work that generated two albums with several long songs — lasted more than two years. It started in Rock in Rioin January 1991, and ended in Argentinain July 1993. Almost 200 presentations were held during the period, mostly in large arenas and stadiums.

In a 2016 interview with Mitch Lafon (via Igor Miranda website), Matt admitted his astonishment at the whole situation. The musician understood in practice the label “most dangerous band in the world”, as everything that happened there was unpredictable, even with a great team behind mobilizing to make everything work out.

“We never knew what would happen. There was no sense of stability. It kept the band in a constant state of aggression. When we went on stage, we took it out on our instruments in exhaustion or anger. That made the show legendary.”

In another interview, with billboardin 2021, Sorum highlighted that much of this “danger” came from Axl Rose. The vocalist was usually late to go on stage at shows. When he arrived and the performance began, everyone involved — musicians and fans — showed enormous intensity.

“I’m in the dressing room, we’re two hours late. I’m frustrated. As soon as you hit the stage, it was totally rock and roll. Before going up, we were overwhelmed by frustration, anger, anxiety… all of this took the show to another level. The audience was electric because they were angry because of our delay. But as soon as we got on stage, some nights just caught fire.”

Guns N’ Roses with Matt Sorum: experiments and fatigue

Such intensity leads to exhaustion. Back to the interview with Mitch Lafon, Matt Sorum He also recalled the fact that he entered the Guns N’ Roses precisely in a period where artistic identity was more complex.

“Everything was so different from what I expected. I thought I would find a mix between AC/DC and Aerosmithwith Sex Pistols and Nazareth. Then came the pianos and those epic 10-minute songs. I was surprised.”

As everything was falling apart, Sorum and his colleagues didn’t have time to prepare. In a context where the songs were more elaborate, recording studio dates were scarce, the show schedule was immense and there was still the personality of Axl to deal with, there was only one guarantee: being in the Guns Back then it was tiring.

“We didn’t have much time to prepare. We rehearsed for a month and went to record [os álbuns Use Your Illusion]. We had to learn 33, 34 songs and then we recorded them. I had a lot to learn. The way we operated was insane. We had one or two takes and it was ready. There were no cuts, like bands nowadays.”

Despite everything, Matt believes the experience was immensely satisfying. No wonder, it is still known all over the world for those years. In the midst of a dynamic where Slash presented himself as a musical leader and Axl controlled what happened in general — including at shows —, the drummer played his role of just “holding the line”.

For seven years, it worked. However, his departure and the entire dissolution of that group formation was also due to inevitable exhaustion. Rock and roll is tiring.