Former GUNS N’ ROSES drummer Matt Sorum‘s long-awaited autobiography, “Double Talkin’ Jive: True Rock ‘N’ Roll Stories From The Drummer Of Guns N’ Roses, The Cult, And Velvet Revolver”, will arrive on September 7 via Rare Bird Books after being delayed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Matt Sorum told The Entertainer! Magazine about the book: “The one thing about me is I’ve always been pretty open about my feelings — sometimes to my detriment. I’m an off-the-cuff kind of guy. Some people hold things in and don’t really express themselves.
“My feeling is I’m a bit of a storyteller. I’ve had such a colorful life — especially in rock ‘n’ roll. I’m not going to be this narcissistic guy telling my rock ‘n’ roll adventure.”
Sorum‘s co-authors Leif Erickson and Martin Svensson previously co-wrote Samantha Fox‘s “Forever”.
“We ran down the list of everything from my childhood to now, moving to Palm Springs in the desert,” Sorum recalled. “It’s the ups and downs of the rock ‘n’ roll business, and the trials and tribulations of everything everybody else deals with. It’s just kind of a life story — don’t give up. Keep moving and rocking.”
The 60-year-old Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler in GUNS N’ ROSES, recorded the highly successful albums “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II” (both 1991) and “The Spaghetti Incident” (1994). He also supported the group on the “Use Your Illusion” tour and can be heard on GUNS N’ ROSES‘ “Live Era: ’87-’93” (1999) and “Greatest Hits” (2004).
During an appearance on the “Stop! Drop & Talk” podcast, Sorum stated about “Double Talkin’ Jive”: “I named it after a GUNS N’ ROSES song, ‘Double Talkin’ Jive’. [Then-GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist] Izzy Stradlin wrote that song. We played it together — on the [‘Use Your Illusion I’] album, me and Izzy tracked that in one take. And the premise of the lyric was based around the kind of pitfalls of the music business and success. There’s this undercurrent that’s not pretty. And I talk very truthfully about things that I went through, from my perspective.
“I didn’t wanna come off jaded,” Matt continued. “I have to tell the story the way it went for me, and I hope that people don’t take it as I sound jaded or something. I just wanted to be as truthful and honest as possible, from my perspective, if that makes sense.
“I think there’s a misconception that maybe, as musicians, we’re a bit elitist or privileged, or things are handed to us, and we just automatically appear, and now, all of a sudden, we’re famous. So I just look at it, I’m, like, well, yeah, I have a great job. I’ve got a great life. I’m super grateful for all the things I’ve been able to do. But in the book, you can see that it was a lot of hard work. It was a lot of bruises along the way. And then, as the career goes and you get successful, stuff happens. There’s, of course, the famous drug-and-alcohol shit that is kind of like ‘Behind The Music’ VH1 — I mean, that all happened to me. You know, the pitfalls of rock and roll stardom and all that shit.
“For me, when I was doing it,” referring to the rock-star lifestyle, “and when I was at the height [of GUNS N’ ROSES‘ success], I’m, like, ‘If I don’t do this now, I’ll regret it later.’ So I just tried to live my life as I thought I would wanna live it as a kid dreaming to be in a rock and roll band.”
Sorum has said in the past that a GUNS reunion tour should have included both him and Adler, with each playing the songs they recorded with the group. Sorum was inducted as a member of the band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2012.
