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Matt Sorum's Autobiography


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1.Good points.   @allwaystired                                        But I am sure they wants to promote it and make some big money, as much as he can, piggybacking it off NITL tour. I personally don't see it going over big  in sales or charting.

2. Is he close with Izzy?

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7 hours ago, DurhamGirl said:

Have just watched Home and Social axs tv on youtube, guest being Matt.  He said his book has been put back to end of year or early next year as with the virus he cannot travel at the moment.

So then, what was the first delay about, Matt ???

This was mentioned for the first time on a blabbermouth articel on March 5th, but there wasn't a global pandemic warning at that date, neither in the USA nor in EU.

So don't tell me the first delay was also due to the virus. Back than, at the end of February, when the publisher desided to push it to July, nobody knew how the whole corona thing would turn out in the next few weeks/month.

And now suddenly, it's all about the virus and travel restriction, of course Matt<_<

Curious what the next excuse will be about, maybe he should brainstorm about it together with Fernando:max:

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17 hours ago, themadcaplaughs said:

At one point in 1994/1995, the band finally decided to have the entire band at that point - Slash, Axl, Duff, Dizzy, and Matt meet in one room to have a meeting, air out any grievances, and genuinely try to pave a path forward for the band. Apparently, it mainly turned into Axl bringing up random issues he had with Slash and Duff from the early and mid 1980s; things that neither Slash or Duff actually remembered. When the band finally got to discussing music, Axl brought up "modernizing" the band with synthesizers. Slash went back and forth with Axl on this for a while, but eventually gave up and left the room. This was the last time Slash did anything with the band before officially leaving in 1996.

 

You're right! The creepy/gross stuff overshadows some rare interesting parts actually about music and the band. Would love to hear Axl's version of that discussion... Matt's version seems a bit random/cliché about Axl (rambling on mid 80s stories) but who knows!

I can definitely imagine the discussion about synths though. I wonder what Slash truly thinks about Melissa's addition to the band...

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1 hour ago, WillBailey said:

You're right! The creepy/gross stuff overshadows some rare interesting parts actually about music and the band. Would love to hear Axl's version of that discussion... Matt's version seems a bit random/cliché about Axl (rambling on mid 80s stories) but who knows!

I can definitely imagine the discussion about synths though. I wonder what Slash truly thinks about Melissa's addition to the band...

1.  I agree here and with  your other post too.. 2.  How much money  do you all think The Big3GnR made. Independently. My opinion, Slash, Duff care minimum. Axls band of Dizzy, Melissa, Frank, and Richard, fine. Professional, highly skilled, good musicans playing music recorded over 30 years. 550 million plus gross Top 5 highest ranking tour ever.  Money is impt. I think they have been grateful to their audiencrs, grateful to luck and fate to have had this opportunity to do UYI tour all over and show their fam, friends. 550 million plus Top 5 highest grossing tour ever. 3. Matts book could have been so much better because  he had both roles  being a member of the bands in GnR and VR and being totally neutral about GnR pre 1990 UYIs. He had double insight in all of the staff, personalities, everything and up to now. 4.After his book, one thing is for certain never in this lifetime wll you see AFD GnR  5, and Matt, Gilby. There is no money in it. No money, no point. NITL Tour did 550 million plus with GnR Big3 plus Tour 2020 was going to  sell out all shows. I thinl  all relationships , fragile as they were already, are even privately  burned by Matt's book.

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3 hours ago, WillBailey said:

You're right! The creepy/gross stuff overshadows some rare interesting parts actually about music and the band. Would love to hear Axl's version of that discussion... Matt's version seems a bit random/cliché about Axl (rambling on mid 80s stories) but who knows!

I can definitely imagine the discussion about synths though. I wonder what Slash truly thinks about Melissa's addition to the band...

To Matt's credit, Izzy told a very similar story in an interview from 2001.

"He says his last face-to-face contact with Axl was six years ago. “I’d moved back out to LA. I bought this old Norton Commando 850. and was riding around one day and I thought, ‘Fuck it, I’ll go by his house. Bastard, he lives up in the hills, he’s got a big house, I’ll go and see what he’s doing’, you know? “And I go up and he’s got security gates, cameras, walls, all this shit, you know. So I’m ringing the buzzer, and eventually somebody comes and takes me up and there he is. He’s like, ‘Hey, man! Glad to see you!’ Gives me a big hug and shows me round his house. It was great. “Then, I don’t know, probably a month later, one night he calls me [and] we got into the issue of me leaving Guns N’ Roses. I told him how it was on my side. Told him exactly how I felt about it and why I left. And man, that’s the last time I’ve talked to the guy! “But, I mean, he had a fucking notepad. I could hear him [turning the pages] going, ‘Well, ah, you said in 1982. blah blah blah…’ And I’m like, what the fuck - 1982. He was bringing up a lot of really weird old shit. I’m like, ‘Whatever, man’. But that’s the last time I talked to him."

 

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I remember that Izzy interview, it does sound random but after all why not. It seems to me Axl had a lot of unresolved issues about the old band and was overthinking it between 1994 and at least 1998, and even up until 2002 to some extent.

Anyone remembers Albany's 2002 rant?

"(...) You've been played. You've been lied to. You've been used. You've been manipulated so that they (Slash and Duff/ the old band) can ride around in limos and jam with Snoop Dogg or whoever the f**k. I don't care. That's their business, but they shouldn't really do it at your expense or mine. (...)"

"He's up my a**, thats where Slash is! F**k off! Go home!" (Reacting to fans in the audience asking for Slash, Leeds 2002)

The guy was pretty angry back then...

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4 minutes ago, WillBailey said:

I remember that Izzy interview, it does sound random but after all why not. It seems to me Axl had a lot of unresolved issues about the old band and was overthinking it between 1994 and at least 1998, and even up until 2002 to some extent.

And in the 2008 chats and in interviews after that. Axl always had unresolved issues, he seemed deeply hurt by the breakup and kept revisiting and rethinking events from the early days. I suspect part of the issues he had with Slash's book was about stuff regarding the early days, even the Hollywood Rose days.

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Most of what Matt says in the book about the events that led to his firing from the band and about Paul Huge/Tobias is the same with what he had said in interviews previously. But there are a few new details and an inconsistency.

Matt says he was going to the rehearsals drunk, which pissed Axl off. One time when Axl wasn't there, Matt "bullied" Paul to make him leave. Paul was scared off and left the studio, but then told Axl what happened. Axl reprimanded Matt for being drunk and told him that from then on alcohol was prohibited in the studio. Matt kept getting frustrated with the rehearsals and one day, on purpose, he brought tequila and beer in the studio and started drinking.

Then Matt goes on to describe the scene, known from his interviews, where Paul badmouthed Slash (in the book he becomes specific and says Paul made a comment about Slash's appearance on David Letterman), Matt defended him, then Axl interfered, there was an argument, Axl asked Matt "Are you quitting?", Matt said no and Axl said "Then you're fired". Then Matt turned around to leave, Paul ran behind him and told him something, and Matt called him "Yoko" and left. 

The inconsistency between the book and what Matt has said previously lies in what Paul supposedly said in that last conversation:

Mojo Magazine, Dec. 2004: Paul Huge chased me out to the parking lot and said, 'Just come back in and apologise!' I said, Fuck you, Yoko! I'm gone! And that was it. 

Matt's autobiography: I turned to leave, and Paul Tobias came running after me. “Dude, I’m really sorry for saying that shit about Slash.” “Fuck you, Yoko,” I snapped at him. Then I rounded off by adding, “How does it feel to be the guy who broke up the best rock ’n’ roll band of the last decade?” 

So in the book Paul is not portrayed as such a big "asshole" and arrogant as in the interviews, as he apologised for the negative comment he had made about Slash. Earlier in the book Matt mentions that their problem with Paul was that he couldn't play and didn't have experience from being in a band, and not his personality. 

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4 hours ago, themadcaplaughs said:

To Matt's credit, Izzy told a very similar story in an interview from 2001.

"He says his last face-to-face contact with Axl was six years ago. “I’d moved back out to LA. I bought this old Norton Commando 850. and was riding around one day and I thought, ‘Fuck it, I’ll go by his house. Bastard, he lives up in the hills, he’s got a big house, I’ll go and see what he’s doing’, you know? “And I go up and he’s got security gates, cameras, walls, all this shit, you know. So I’m ringing the buzzer, and eventually somebody comes and takes me up and there he is. He’s like, ‘Hey, man! Glad to see you!’ Gives me a big hug and shows me round his house. It was great. “Then, I don’t know, probably a month later, one night he calls me [and] we got into the issue of me leaving Guns N’ Roses. I told him how it was on my side. Told him exactly how I felt about it and why I left. And man, that’s the last time I’ve talked to the guy! “But, I mean, he had a fucking notepad. I could hear him [turning the pages] going, ‘Well, ah, you said in 1982. blah blah blah…’ And I’m like, what the fuck - 1982. He was bringing up a lot of really weird old shit. I’m like, ‘Whatever, man’. But that’s the last time I talked to him."

 

Sounds like Axl would've been a great attorney.

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1 hour ago, WillBailey said:

I remember that Izzy interview, it does sound random but after all why not. It seems to me Axl had a lot of unresolved issues about the old band and was overthinking it between 1994 and at least 1998, and even up until 2002 to some extent.

Anyone remembers Albany's 2002 rant?

"(...) You've been played. You've been lied to. You've been used. You've been manipulated so that they (Slash and Duff/ the old band) can ride around in limos and jam with Snoop Dogg or whoever the f**k. I don't care. That's their business, but they shouldn't really do it at your expense or mine. (...)"

"He's up my a**, thats where Slash is! F**k off! Go home!" (Reacting to fans in the audience asking for Slash, Leeds 2002)

The guy was pretty angry back then...

Re-reading this, its quite funny since they actually played on the same bill as Snoop a few months ago and took pics with him backstage. :)

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8 hours ago, Blackstar said:

And in the 2008 chats and in interviews after that. Axl always had unresolved issues, he seemed deeply hurt by the breakup and kept revisiting and rethinking events from the early days. I suspect part of the issues he had with Slash's book was about stuff regarding the early days, even the Hollywood Rose days.

I agree.

But about the last sentence- what stuff about the early/HR days do you suspect Axl had problems with? It's been quite some time since I read Slash's book, so I'm probably foegetting something, but off the top of my head I don't remember anything too terrible about him described in there when Slash talks about that time period.

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10 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Most of what Matt says in the book about the events that led to his firing from the band and about Paul Huge/Tobias is the same with what he had said in interviews previously. But there are a few new details and an inconsistency.

Matt says he was going to the rehearsals drunk, which pissed Axl off. One time when Axl wasn't there, Matt "bullied" Paul to make him leave. Paul was scared off and left the studio, but then told Axl what happened. Axl reprimanded Matt for being drunk and told him that from then on alcohol was prohibited in the studio. Matt kept getting frustrated with the rehearsals and one day, on purpose, he brought tequila and beer in the studio and started drinking.

Just goes to show what an arrogant and entitled douche Matt is. Why brag that you disrespected the wishes to not show up drunk for rehearsals?? Why even get there drunk in the first place?

As for the inconsistency. It's not that serious. Just an elaboration. Maybe both things happened.

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On 6/16/2020 at 10:04 AM, loke212 said:

I agree.

But about the last sentence- what stuff about the early/HR days do you suspect Axl had problems with? It's been quite some time since I read Slash's book, so I'm probably foegetting something, but off the top of my head I don't remember anything too terrible about him described in there when Slash talks about that time period.

It's not necessarily stuff that sounds too "terrible" at first glance, but stories that are partly altered, so they may not be accurate.

For example, the story about why Izzy left Hollywood Rose when Slash joined. Slash gave different versions in old interviews and in his book:

97.7 HTZ FM, January 1994:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t620-1994-01-dd-97-7-htz_fm-interview-with-slash

Quote

Slash: And so when Tracii had a falling out with Axl, they called me up and I came down and that's where Hollywood Rose started. Then Izzy quit, because... That whole guitar player syndrome, you know, like... I don't wanna have to... Izzy is the kinda guy that don't want somebody else making his decisions for him. And so when I came around... I'm sort of like a power-freak too, I guess. You know, I'm sorta like: "this is what we should do here". You know, and so we got into conflict. So he quit. Me and Axl carried the band on for a while. And then Axl and I had falling outs, until the point where we separated for a bit. And the Guns N' Roses started. And... It's a long story. [laughs]

Slash's book:

Quote

As I said, Hollywood Rose (like L.A. Guns) was a revolving-door band whose players all knew one another and were always coming or going. Bass player Steve Darrow worked with Izzy delivering the L.A. Weekly during the afternoon, so they were tight, but Axl didn’t seem to like guitar player Chris Webber for whatever reason. Axl apparently up and fired Chris without telling anyone else and somehow Steven heard that they were holding auditions for guitar players the next day.

[...]

I started rehearsing with them and it was going fine—until Izzy took off during the second song. Now I know that bolting is Izzy’s defense mechanism when he thinks things aren’t quite right: he never makes a show of it, he just slips out and won’t look back. Apparently Izzy had no idea what I was doing there that day and understandably didn’t like it that Axl had fired Chris Webber without consulting, or even informing, him.

Eventually, a while later after we’d become good friends, I asked Izzy about it. Izzy always maintained an aura of cool; he was never ruffled, he never let that guard down. But when I asked him about this, he leveled a deathly serious gaze at me, so I had no doubt that he was sincere.

“It’s pretty fucking simple,” he said. “I just don’t like being dictated to under any circumstances.”

Slash confuses the Hollywood Rose guitarists (Tracii Guns or Chris Weber) in the two versions, but he apparently refers to the same event (him joining Hollywood Rose and Izzy quitting).

The common thing in both versions is that Izzy left because he didn't like to be dictated/others making decisions for him. However, in the 1994 interview the one Izzy didn't like being dictated by was Slash who was "bossy"; whereas in the book it was entirely Axl's fault because he had fired Weber without telling Izzy (btw there aren't any other sources confirming that Weber was fired).

Axl has claimed that there was rivalry between Slash and Izzy - and there seems to be some truth to that, based on some events and what they, Slash especially, said in old interviews. But in Slash's book, which was affected by his point of view and feelings after the breakup of the band, his relationship with Izzy is rather glossed over, and the pattern is that from the beginning it was just Axl on one side and the rest of the band together on the other.

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6 hours ago, loke212 said:

I agree.

But about the last sentence- what stuff about the early/HR days do you suspect Axl had problems with? It's been quite some time since I read Slash's book, so I'm probably foegetting something, but off the top of my head I don't remember anything too terrible about him described in there when Slash talks about that time period.

Is their a reason why axl would have had issues with slashs story of the HR lineup?. It was a brief and non successful period. They were just finding there way during the HR period.....

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2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

It's not necessarily stuff that sounds too "terrible" at first glance, but stories that are partly altered, so they may not be accurate.

For example, the story about why Izzy left Hollywood Rose when Slash joined. Slash gave different versions in old interviews and in his book:

97.7 HTZ FM, January 1994:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t620-1994-01-dd-97-7-htz_fm-interview-with-slash

Slash's book:

Slash confuses the Hollywood Rose guitarists (Tracii Guns or Chris Weber), in the two versions, but he apparently refers to the same event (him joining Hollywood Rose and Izzy quitting).

The common thing in both versions is that Izzy left because he didn't like to be dictated/others making decisions for him. However, in the 1994 interview the one Izzy didn't like being dictated by was Slash who was "bossy"; whereas in the book it was Axl's fault because he had fired Weber without telling Izzy (btw there aren't any other sources confirming that Weber was fired).

Axl has claimed that there was rivalry between Slash and Izzy - and there seems to be some truth to that, based on some events and what they, Slash especially, said in old interviews. But in Slash's book, which was affected by his point of view and feelings after the breakup of the band, his relationship with Izzy is rather glossed over, and the pattern is that from the beginning it was just Axl on one side and the rest of the band together on the other.

I have read Slash own words, he was leary working with another guitarist. ..except Izzy.Slash ideas of himself being an only guitarist.  I have read he did not want to be with Izzy in a band at first. He did not know what he wanted or needed.He was just one of a bunch of wanna be's in bands, nothing special. ( I will wait for someone to correct on that). L.A. Guns, Hollywood Roses, and all the dozen bands GnR guys were in would have no where. ( I will wait for someone to correct here again).   Fate and luck knew. FACT--- GnR AFD, FACT that they know and we all for the good, bad, ugly, it brought them to the life of riches in career as real musicans and in  living wonderful , financially secure lives beyond their then wildest dreams. They 5 simply were the right mix.together. Regarding Matts book. This key fact and his own talent ,of course, got him by Slash saying so ,in GnR which was at its peak with UIY almost ready to roll. 

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4 hours ago, loke212 said:

That's interesting, great catch! 

I totally see what you mean now. That kind of thing - subtly twisting the truth to make himself look better while making Axl look bad, like a dictator in this case - is exactly the kind of thing that I imagine would piss Axl off. 

And it's something most people (like me) won't even notice, because it's not a direct criticism or insult, but it still helps to propagate a certain negative image of Axl in people's minds.

I feel like there are quite a few examples of Slash doing this kind of thing (and like I used to know a couple of them), but the only one I can think of at the moment is the famous one about signing over the name of the band, which Axl denied happened the way Slash (and Duff) described it. I'm heavily inclined to believe Axl on this one as well, as Axl's explanation of why it couldn't have gone down like that made sense to me and Slash and Duff probably were embarassed about having done something so dumb and wanted to save face (and iirc Doug Goldstein was involved in this mess too, which might have further muddied the waters of communication).

Yeah, but to Axl's it's probably yet another instance of Slash "lying to make himself look cool" (as Marc Canter I think put it), while making Axl look worse than he is. I can see how that would be aggravating to him, if it keeps happening...

And now it's Matt lying to make himself look cool.

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5 hours ago, loke212 said:

That's interesting, great catch! 

I totally see what you mean now. That kind of thing - subtly twisting the truth to make himself look better while making Axl look bad, like a dictator in this case - is exactly the kind of thing that I imagine would piss Axl off. 

And it's something most people (like me) won't even notice, because it's not a direct criticism or insult, but it still helps to propagate a certain negative image of Axl in people's minds.

I feel like there are quite a few examples of Slash doing this kind of thing (and like I used to know a couple of them), but the only one I can think of at the moment is the famous one about signing over the name of the band, which Axl denied happened the way Slash (and Duff) described it. I'm heavily inclined to believe Axl on this one as well, as Axl's explanation of why it couldn't have gone down like that made sense to me and Slash and Duff probably were embarassed about having done something so dumb and wanted to save face (and iirc Doug Goldstein was involved in this mess too, which might have further muddied the waters of communication).

Yeah, but to Axl's it's probably yet another instance of Slash "lying to make himself look cool" (as Marc Canter I think put it), while making Axl look worse than he is. I can see how that would be aggravating to him, if it keeps happening...

Is there any interview with axl discussing the signing over the name?.

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53 minutes ago, Sydney Fan said:

Is there any interview with axl discussing the signing over the name?.

I think it might have been brought up in the Axl Chats

http://www.mygnrforum.com/forum/190-axl-rose-chats-amp-open-letters/

There's also this thread where it's discussed with Marc Canter

Several years back I think someone paid for a copy of the legal documentation thus disproving that the signing took place whilst the band were on tour as was previously claimed by Slash (and maybe Duff). Now this doesn't discount completely the notion that threats were levied against going on stage but the whole we had to sign over the name there and then before Axl would perform appear not to be true.

We must have an old thread on this when it happened but I can't find it (probably not using right keywords).

My memory is a bit hazy so if anyone wants to correct any of that go ahead but that's roughly what I remember from the documents that were gained.

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1 hour ago, alfierose said:

I think it might have been brought up in the Axl Chats

http://www.mygnrforum.com/forum/190-axl-rose-chats-amp-open-letters/

There's also this thread where it's discussed with Marc Canter

Several years back I think someone paid for a copy of the legal documentation thus disproving that the signing took place whilst the band were on tour as was previously claimed by Slash (and maybe Duff). Now this doesn't discount completely the notion that threats were levied against going on stage but the whole we had to sign over the name there and then before Axl would perform appear not to be true.

We must have an old thread on this when it happened but I can't find it (probably not using right keywords).

My memory is a bit hazy so if anyone wants to correct any of that go ahead but that's roughly what I remember from the documents that were gained.

I don't wanna say who's right or wrong, and Slash and Duff were definitely on some heavy drink and drug use, but who's to say that there wasn't a previous agreement signed during the tour, and then another one confirming the previous one when the tour had already ended. Sometimes things like that happen. Doesn't mean it's the case here of course.

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5 hours ago, alfierose said:

I think it might have been brought up in the Axl Chats

http://www.mygnrforum.com/forum/190-axl-rose-chats-amp-open-letters/

There's also this thread where it's discussed with Marc Canter

Several years back I think someone paid for a copy of the legal documentation thus disproving that the signing took place whilst the band were on tour as was previously claimed by Slash (and maybe Duff). Now this doesn't discount completely the notion that threats were levied against going on stage but the whole we had to sign over the name there and then before Axl would perform appear not to be true.

We must have an old thread on this when it happened but I can't find it (probably not using right keywords).

My memory is a bit hazy so if anyone wants to correct any of that go ahead but that's roughly what I remember from the documents that were gained.

The supposed contract(s) were posted here (Tinypic being gone, so the documents too):

http://www.gnrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=13024

And were discussed here on this forum:

 

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2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

In my opinion, Axl obviously wanted the rights to the name, and probably insisted on it and put some pressure, but I doubt the story of the blackmail before a show happened. I think Slash and Duff, in the state they were at the time, agreed to sign it over not thinking it might have any serious repercussions (and according to Tom Zutaut, the label and the lawyers themselves who drew up that contract didn't believe it would have serious repercussions either). But I wasn't there, of course, so who knows.

Also, I'm pretty sure blackmailing to sign a contract would be very easily considered as a crime and could be legally contested. 

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