Ex-GUNS N' ROSES Drummer MATT SORUM: 'I've Been Really Blessed And Fortunate To Play With My Heroes'

Meltdown of the WRIF radio station in Detroit, Michigan recently conducted an interview with former GUNS N' ROSES and current HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES drummer Matt Sorum. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his role in the various bands that he has been in, a list that also includes THE CULT and VELVET REVOLVER:

Sorum: "I've always been a little bit more of an outspoken kind of guy in a band, and maybe that's why I move around so much. [Laughs]

"I'm so lucky to be able to meet all these characters through my career, and I love that part of my life. Obviously, there's bands of mine that I've been playing with over the years that are out on the road doing different things. And people go, 'Hey, man, don't you wish you were doing that?' And I'm, like, 'Well, no, I actually like what I… I like what the next thing brings.'

"I've been really blessed and fortunate to play with my heroes and then my peers at the highest level of rock and roll. So what more could a guy ask for that grew up listening to rock and roll and then came to Hollywood in the late '70s. And at this stage of my career, I'm not a young guy anymore, but I'm still keeping it together pretty good. I'm out there and I'm playing and people are coming."

On having had the opportunity to play in so many different bands and with so many other musicians over the years:

Sorum: "I feel like in any walk of life — and I've said this before; it sounds a bit like the Matt Sorum sermon, but… [laughs] I came to Hollywood thinking, 'I'm gonna have a little bit of a career. It would be cool if I could just make a living playing music.' That's what anybody dreams of doing, right? And one thing turned into another, and what I realized was, if you just trust in it and believe it, and knowing that it's always gonna work out, it always does. And that's just having faith, right?

"Don't ever get, like, 'Oh, I got left out of that,' or, 'I got left out of this.' The idea is gratitude.

"I heard Hillary Clinton talk about this the other day. They were asking her about her faith, and she said she studies gratitude every day. And I thought, well, if we have a president that's pushing a sermon of gratitude, that sounds pretty good to me. Because we're always kind of, like, naysaying on everything in life, right? But we seem to forget about what we have. And I always reflect on what I've been given. You don't get it for free — you've gotta go out and work for it, and you've gotta have a certain talent, and I don't take my talent for granted. So when I go into a situation, I come in there ready, professional, with the best attitude possible. I've been blessed. And then I go, 'I'm grateful.' And that's not always been me, I've gotta be honest. But as you get a little older in life, I think you go, 'Oh! Wow! Life's pretty good.' Some guy could be making more money or out doing something… You see some guy drive by in a fancy car, and you go, 'I want that,', 'He's a rock star, and I'm not.' But the one thing is, what's going on in your life? Take a look around. That's where I'm at."

In addition to Sorum, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES features Alice Cooper on vocals, Joe Perry (AEROSMITH) on guitar, actor Johnny Depp on guitar, Robert DeLeo (STONE TEMPLE PILOTS) on bass, Tommy Henriksen (ALICE COOPER) on guitar, and Bruce Witkin (THE KIDS) on piano, percussion and guitar.

Sorum said back in April that he wasn't participating in GUNS N' ROSES' comeback shows because he wasn't asked to take part in the reunion.

Sorum has said in the past that a GUNS reunion tour should have included both him and Steven 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.

Interview (audio):