During a recently released May 2024 interview with All Day Vinyl, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum was asked if he was invited to any of the band’s performances since their reunion.
“No, I haven’t got the invite. ‘Hey, come watch the band.’ I’m, like, ‘Eh, I don’t think so.'” the drummer revealed.
Sorum then talked about his part with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ solo band and his own music. “Being in the realm of Billy [Gibbons], I’m, like, I can die and go to heaven. I always look at that, like, well, if I was doing [the Guns N’ Roses reunion], I wouldn’t be able to do this. And this wouldn’t have happened. And this wouldn’t have happened over here. And I wouldn’t have time for my kid.”
He added: “So all those things in my mind are, like, ‘I’m where I’m supposed to be.’ And I say that. People go, ‘It’s bullshit. You need to be in the band.’ I’m, like, well, I’ll be honest in the beginning, it was a little weird. I’m, like, ‘Okay, well, it’s a reunion. Okay, well, make it a reunion.’ But it didn’t go that way. So, I’m much more at peace with it than I was in the very beginning. I’ll be honest.”
Sorum left the band in 1997, and until his departure, he appeared in ‘Use Your Illusion I,’ ‘Use Your Illusion II,’ ‘The Spaghetti Incident?,’ the 1994 cover of The Rolling Stones track ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and the most of ‘Live Era: ’87-’93.’
In a different interview, Sorum discussed his exclusion from the Guns N’ Roses reunion in 2016. “In the beginning, it was a little weird. I was, like, I didn’t even get a call [asking me to be a part of it]. But now I look at it different. I look at it like how I explained before: I’m not supposed to be there. I got a child. I got a beautiful wife. The old me, the old Matt, the old guy, if I got up there, I don’t know what would happen to me. I don’t know,” the drummer said.
Guns N’ Roses recently announced a 2025 tour. The tour will begin with the band’s first-ever performance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 23, followed by a concert in Abu Dhabi.
After the first two shows, the band will be joined by Public Enemy until June 26. Starting on June 29, Rival Sons will take on the special guest role, with Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter performing for two dates in late July.
