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Matt Sorum's Autobiography


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I thought Frank was pretty good during the pre-NITL days, but he’s somehow managed to get worse and worse since Slash and Duff came back, to the point where his improvised fills and timing absolutely kills a lot of songs, and I find it difficult to listen to live recordings anymore.

 I don’t really understand it, because they apparently rehearse so much, and still it sounds like a mess. Just listen to the start of YCBM from the show they played this year, it sounds like a train wreck!

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50 minutes ago, metallex78 said:

I thought Frank was pretty good during the pre-NITL days, but he’s somehow managed to get worse and worse since Slash and Duff came back, to the point where his improvised fills and timing absolutely kills a lot of songs, and I find it difficult to listen to live recordings anymore.

 I don’t really understand it, because they apparently rehearse so much, and still it sounds like a mess. Just listen to the start of YCBM from the show they played this year, it sounds like a train wreck!

I said this elsewhere - pre NITL he was absolutely fine...the tempo for a few songs have gotten faster since and that must be a Duff/Slash request. Why would he change it?

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5 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Some good questions based on what he wrote in his book, but let's not forget that the book hasn't been officially released. The reason we're discussing it here is because it was released by accident on Amazon for one day and few people got lucky and read it (and some of them have been kind enough to inform the rest of us). Maybe it wouldn't be appropriate to ask him questions about the content of a book that hasn't been released yet.

This. And they ARE good questions but if linked to the book which shouldn’t be out....

Hopefully we get question in about the mid-90’s sessions. He is effectively the only person who will tell us anything about those sessions as Axl/Slash/Duff are very unlikely to and Gilby was gone by then.

Call me a nerd but I’m genuinely excited about potentially getting some info about this time! 😂

Edited by DTJ80
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4 hours ago, Top-Hatted One said:

^true #3 Slash screwing Jim out of royalty credit is straight from his book

It wasn’t so much that Slash “screwed” him out of the writing credit. Matt was supposed to get a certain percentage point on the publishing. It was agreed to and Axl was on board. Slash came in the studio one day and casually told Matt it would be half of what was previously agreed to. It was implied that Slash had called foul on the deal. In the book, Matt says something like “that’s when I realized it wasn’t necessarily Axl I had to look out for when it came to business.”

I’m assuming you meant Matt unless Jim is some other story I missed

Edited by LunsJail
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Thanks for clearing that up Luns. Matt might be at least somewhat write about Slash being the most maliciously cunning  and two faced  or at least equally as bad as the others.
 

Falls right in line with him not wanting Izzy in the band to begin with. Because of money and artistic control 

Edited by Top-Hatted One
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2 hours ago, DTJ80 said:

This. And they ARE good questions but if linked to the book which shouldn’t be out....

Hopefully we get question in about the mid-90’s sessions. He is effectively the only person who will tell us anything about those sessions as Axl/Slash/Duff are very unlikely to and Gilby was gone by then.

Call me a nerd but I’m genuinely excited about potentially getting some info about this time! 😂

100%. We need "the last GnR dance". 

I'm goin all in on that. 

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Some thoughts:

Is it possible that Slash “screwing” Matt regarding royalties, has anything to do with Slash’s complaints on his book regarding having outside writers on UYI? Don’t remember the exact quote...

After having played in so many projects and even having Slash’s back on an argument that cost him his job, in Matt’s mind he thought there would be some kind of consideration for him when the reunion happened and maybe that generated that much thrashing on his book?

What do you guys think?

My guess is that Matt isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and even though for some type of situation that’s kind of cool, the SAD trio (Big 3 is too cringe of a name) wouldn’t want their employees talking back to them of telling them what they should do. Money and abilities aren’t the driving factor to keep him out, his mouth is. My 2 cents.

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6 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

Some thoughts:

Is it possible that Slash “screwing” Matt regarding royalties, has anything to do with Slash’s complaints on his book regarding having outside writers on UYI? Don’t remember the exact quote...

After having played in so many projects and even having Slash’s back on an argument that cost him his job, in Matt’s mind he thought there would be some kind of consideration for him when the reunion happened and maybe that generated that much thrashing on his book?

What do you guys think?

My guess is that Matt isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and even though for some type of situation that’s kind of cool, the SAD trio (Big 3 is too cringe of a name) wouldn’t want their employees talking back to them of telling them what they should do. Money and abilities aren’t the driving factor to keep him out, his mouth is. My 2 cents.

I think it's as simple as this:

Matt is trying to sell books. Duff & Slash are trying to sell tickets. 

All parties are saying whatever they need to say to whomever in order to accomplish their specific goals. 

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19 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

Some thoughts:

Is it possible that Slash “screwing” Matt regarding royalties, has anything to do with Slash’s complaints on his book regarding having outside writers on UYI? Don’t remember the exact quote...

What outside writers? I don’t recall that in Slash’s book. Plenty of outside interferences at the time but aside from that....... 

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4 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

What outside writers? I don’t recall that in Slash’s book. Plenty of outside interferences at the time but aside from that....... 

If I remember correctly, it was a section where he talks about the writing and recording process, then he talks about songs written by Del James, West Arkeen and how the royalties dynamics had changed. Something along those lines...

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2 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

If I remember correctly, it was a section where he talks about the writing and recording process, then he talks about songs written by Del James, West Arkeen and how the royalties dynamics had changed. Something along those lines...

 

That's weird, since West Arkeen has a writing credit on It's So Easy and Del James has a credit on Move To The City. Chris Weber has 3 credits (I think) on AFD and Live Like A Suicide. So it's not like outside writers was a new thing on the UYI records...

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24 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

That's weird, since West Arkeen has a writing credit on It's So Easy and Del James has a credit on Move To The City. Chris Weber has 3 credits (I think) on AFD and Live Like A Suicide. So it's not like outside writers was a new thing on the UYI records...

Slash in his book talked about weird % for writing credit. For example West Arkeen would get 12.3% of a given song. And it was Axl the one who came up with those kind of numbers. Outsiders means other people who colaborated but they were not band members.

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29 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

That's weird, since West Arkeen has a writing credit on It's So Easy and Del James has a credit on Move To The City. Chris Weber has 3 credits (I think) on AFD and Live Like A Suicide. So it's not like outside writers was a new thing on the UYI records...

also Don't Damn Me lyrics written partly by Dave Lank

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13 minutes ago, Padme said:

Slash in his book talked about weird % for writing credit. For example West Arkeen would get 12.3% of a given song. And it was Axl the one who came up with those kind of numbers. Outsiders means other people who colaborated but they were not band members.

 

Ah, ok. I thought he meant it was weird to have outside writers, not the 'weird percentages'. That makes more sense.

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On 02/05/2020 at 7:05 PM, Gambit83 said:

I always welcome questions. Sometimes I even rely heavily on them. So I don't overhype, it'll probably be a 20-25 minute interview and I will need to discuss the new Cherie Currie album that he produced. I actually have an interview with her too beforehand. So it's a time/see-how-it-goes approach in my head. Though I am looking at questions submitted regardless.

Could you ask Matt if Deadland Ritual is still a thing? Really loved their two singles & they were great live.

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On 5/2/2020 at 7:34 PM, Chester 524 said:

wow Brando, that's really great that you have Matt on.  

here are a few questions that shouldnt ruffle any GNR feathers and probably arent covered in the book:

1.  was VR done after Scott got canned?  I know they recorded a bit with Croey Taylor, but how serious were they about keeping the band going?

 

2.  what's the real story with hiring Scott?  he was a great front man but I think many felt he wasnt suited for GNR music backing him.  did the record company force the guys to hire Scott?  what's the real story?

3.  what's next in regards to music for Matt?  any chance he would record with guys with GNR ties like Rod Jackson, Izzy or Buckethead?   I realize he might now know all of them but I'd bet GNR fans would be interested while they wait for GNRs supposed new album.  

4. last one, and i bet i am the only one interested in the answer (this includes Matt, lol).  back around 2007 Matt had a clothing line called Sorum Noche which had a store in LA.  I think the great recession is what made it close prematurely.  Any plans to bring his clothing line back?   

 

 

Haha - please don't ask Question 4.

Would be interesting to ask Matt if he recognizes any og ChiDem from the sessions he played on - or if Hardschool was that song Duff mentioned for the Jackie Chan film

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11 minutes ago, reayj2003 said:

Could you ask Matt if Deadland Ritual is still a thing? Really loved their two singles & they were great live.

Jesus, completely forgot Deadland Ritual were a thing! Caught fleeting bits of their set last year at Download, seemed fine even if a bit unoriginal.

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2 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

That's weird, since West Arkeen has a writing credit on It's So Easy and Del James has a credit on Move To The City. Chris Weber has 3 credits (I think) on AFD and Live Like A Suicide. So it's not like outside writers was a new thing on the UYI records...


 

That’s the quote from his book. 

Edited by Hank Moody
Fuck, I can't upload the picture with the actual quote. Tried from the cellphone and pc, it doesn't work.
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2 hours ago, Hank Moody said:

Some thoughts:

Is it possible that Slash “screwing” Matt regarding royalties, has anything to do with Slash’s complaints on his book regarding having outside writers on UYI? Don’t remember the exact quote...

After having played in so many projects and even having Slash’s back on an argument that cost him his job, in Matt’s mind he thought there would be some kind of consideration for him when the reunion happened and maybe that generated that much thrashing on his book?

What do you guys think?

My guess is that Matt isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and even though for some type of situation that’s kind of cool, the SAD trio (Big 3 is too cringe of a name) wouldn’t want their employees talking back to them of telling them what they should do. Money and abilities aren’t the driving factor to keep him out, his mouth is. My 2 cents.

I think that could be possible. Matt had always been loyal to those guys in the past then he wasn't included in the reunion.

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2 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

That's weird, since West Arkeen has a writing credit on It's So Easy and Del James has a credit on Move To The City. Chris Weber has 3 credits (I think) on AFD and Live Like A Suicide. So it's not like outside writers was a new thing on the UYI records...

Since I couldn't upload the pic from the book, I'll transcribe the text:

"This was when Axl started getting obsessive about the details of every thing to do with Guns N' Roses, starting with the publishing splits of the songs on Illusion I and II. The days of band members getting a straight 20 percent were long gone because there were so many outside writers this go-round, especially on the old songs that existed before Guns that were now in the equation, such as "Back Off Bitch." We also had to factor in Matt, who wasn't a full fledged member: he hadn't been around during the writing of the songs, though he'd played on all of them. In the end, because of contributors like Paul Huge and West Arkeen and Del James, Axl insisted upon splits that were like 22.75 percent or 32.2 percent per song for us core members. It was mathematically worked out according to who wrote what, which made it easy in the sense that we'd never have any thing to fight over, but at the same time, it was pored over and complicated things to a corporate degree."

Slash's bio - p. 319.

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16 minutes ago, Hank Moody said:

 

Since I couldn't upload the pic from the book, I'll transcribe the text:

"This was when Axl started getting obsessive about the details of every thing to do with Guns N' Roses, starting with the publishing splits of the songs on Illusion I and II. The days of band members getting a straight 20 percent were long gone because there were so many outside writers this go-round, especially on the old songs that existed before Guns that were now in the equation, such as "Back Off Bitch." We also had to factor in Matt, who wasn't a full fledged member: he hadn't been around during the writing of the songs, though he'd played on all of them. In the end, because of contributors like Paul Huge and West Arkeen and Del James, Axl insisted upon splits that were like 22.75 percent or 32.2 percent per song for us core members. It was mathematically worked out according to who wrote what, which made it easy in the sense that we'd never have any thing to fight over, but at the same time, it was pored over and complicated things to a corporate degree."

Slash's bio - p. 319.

 

Thanks. It's been years since I read Slash's book and I misunderstood what you meant at first. :thumbsup:

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