Matt Sorum’s book - WTF?

[HueyRamone]

There's something really off about some rando who's never done anything joining a band with the biggest superstars in rock and having the balls to call himself "Huge".

He didn't even really want to join the band. Initially he only agreed to help Axl write. Axl & Paul had a similar dynamic to Axl & Izzy in their songwriting process and Axl believed putting Paul in that role was what was best for the music. But with so much ego and money at stake, I understand why Slash thought he should be the one to take over the songwriting. It was certainly a weird situation. Axl really didn't write many songs by himself. In the early days he liked to sit with Izzy, or Paul, or West, have them strum an acoustic guitar and just jam out ideas together.

Axl never really had that comfort level with Slash.

I bet when Axl decided he wanted to be Elton John, Trent Raznor, or anyone else he was inspired by, Slash would come in with Buckcherry-esque riffs and Axl would be like "wtf, we've moved on from that."

[veritas]

someone asked what Sorum said about the Cult in the book, it was basically this over and over:

-- the Cult could have been huge if Ian hadn't been such a fuck-up (apparently insecure, so drank / partied too much and didn't pander to American audiences)
-- no one but Ian and Billy could write songs for the Cult (great loss, given Sorum's huge songwriting repertoire)
-- the Cult were a great band (he writes more fondly of them than GnR or Velvet Revolver)

The book is remarkably light on the UYI days, especially the recording. He really sticks it to Slash (which surprised me a bit) - maybe Axl had a point?

Overall, he comes off like an arrogant moron. Extremely unlikable.

[DangerZone]

I didn’t read it but saw the chapters.
One is called “becoming Matt Sorum”

So there u you go

[TheCULTofMANSON]

someone asked what Sorum said about the Cult in the book, it was basically this over and over:

-- the Cult could have been huge if Ian hadn't been such a fuck-up (apparently insecure, so drank / partied too much and didn't pander to American audiences)
-- no one but Ian and Billy could write songs for the Cult (great loss, given Sorum's huge songwriting repertoire)
-- the Cult were a great band (he writes more fondly of them than GnR or Velvet Revolver)

The book is remarkably light on the UYI days, especially the recording. He really sticks it to Slash (which surprised me a bit) - maybe Axl had a point?

Overall, he comes off like an arrogant moron. Extremely unlikable.

Thanks

[FreddyFender]

You left out the part where Astbury got fat.

Sorum said it attributed it to derailing The Cult both in the earl 90s and in the 2000s reunion. He couldn't sing the high parts when he was ballooned up.

Never seen The Cult myself, but I remember a girl telling me she went to see them, and that she and het boyfriend didn't realize it was The Cult until a few songs in because Astbury gained a ton of weight and looked like a fat homeless man.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

This topic made me read his book.
He seems somewhat delusional.
He refers to Sonic Temple as 'our' album that is racing up the charts, whilst he did not play on it and was only hired as the touring drummer.

Then he says the cult started him on 1500 a week, raised it to 3000 a week and finally to 5000 a week.
I don't believe these amounts for a second. Why would the Cult pay a touring hired drummer that amount of money in 1989?
Then later in the book he says the Cult never got a million dollar advance until he was a equal member in the band for Beyond good and evil.
If they never got a big advance, how were they paying him 20K a month in 1989?

Lars invited him to fly to the next city in the Metallica plane when the Cult supported Metallica and he did it leaving the rest of the band to drive 10 hrs on the tourbus and he can't understand the band was not happy about that.

Then at the end of the tour Billy and Ian decide to fly back to LA and not take the tour bus. They tell him he can fly with him but he needs to pay his own plane ticket or he can take the tour bus. He is mad about that even though he left them to take the bus when he hopped on the Metallica plane.
Also, why can't he afford a plane ticket if he is on 20k a month in 1990? He drove the tour bus for 2 days to get home.

[Neil Diamond Dave]

He drove the tour bus for 2 days to get home.

He actually drove the tour bus himself to get home? That kinda sounds fun! You’re driving the bus of a pretty big band at the time, all alone, as a member of the band, across the country. He gets to stop at burger king’s across the country to take a piss, sign autographs, and pull in whatever groupie he’d like to join him for awhile. Now that’s a reality TV show.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Plus he must be a pretty multitalented guy to be able to drive a commercial vehicle that distance.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

He drove the tour bus for 2 days to get home.

He actually drove the tour bus himself to get home? That kinda sounds fun! You’re driving the bus of a pretty big band at the time, all alone, as a member of the band, across the country. He gets to stop at burger king’s across the country to take a piss, sign autographs, and pull in whatever groupie he’d like to join him for awhile. Now that’s a reality TV show.

Lol, yeah yeah, English is not my first language....