2007.08.01 - Rumba Magazine (Finland) - Cocaine and Fishing Stories (Matt)

Cocaine and fishing stories

One prefers the mother, the other the daughter. Velvet Revolver's Matt Sorum wasn't content with having both at the same time during his days in GNR, he wanted the auntie to tag along as well. In this interview conducted at Provinssirock in Seinäjoki, Finland, we also get to find out about singer Scott Weiland's favourite pastime.

Words: Janne Flinkkilä

Matt Sorum, 46, is dressed casually in jeans and a leather jacket. He's also sporting a cap reading "In funk we trust", given to him by fellow band member Duff McKagan. All in all the rock n' roll-millionaire seems very much like an average Joe as he's sitting on the riverside patio behind the main stage of Provinssirock with a cold Fosters in his hand.

Nonetheless, looks can be quite deceiving. About a year ago Rytmi magazine recalled Guns N' Roses' visit to Helsinki in 1991: "Matt Sorum was the biggest pig of them all, a real dirty bastard. One girl definitely wasn't enough for him, he had to have two at the very least".

In this light, it seems appropriate to kick off the interview in a three's company. My good friend Jussi Helttunen introduces himself: "I'm Jussi. It's like Johnny in English. You're like Matti in Finnish." To top it off, he rambles on something incoherent about prime minister Matti Vanhanen. "Matti Sormunen" [a pun in Finnish, sort of a translation of Sorum's name] bursts into laughter. Who said that Finns don't know the first thing about small talk?

Finnish LA-based 80's rock band Havana Black used to have the same manager as Guns N' Roses, Alan Niven. I recount to Matt the story about how Alan tried to rape Havana Black's lead singer Hannu Leidén. "You never know," Matt responds with his squeaky voice and gives a "tell me more"-type of look over his aviator-glasses.

Yeah, he tried to help things along by slipping a few ecstasy pills into Hannu's drink.

"Alan's a real character. He was always trying to steal my drugs. I told him no, you won't get away with taking my dope. 'Gimme all your cocaine!' 'Fuck you!' I told him."

Since we got to the whole GNR-thing so quickly, my colleague has to ask about Matt's view on the band nowadays. The drummer - seemingly in a good mood - refers to his old band as "He", which in itself says a lot of things.

"It's cool. He's doing his own thing and we do ours. I really don't have any bad feelings about it, it's been so fucking long already."

Sometime ago it was rumoured that the old Guns N' Roses was going to reunite?

"Well, I ran into Axl in New York and... you know, you know. There's still a lot of tension between us. Mostly it's just about business, which is a pity. Fuck, Velvet Revolver's a good band. We're happy, we get along with each other, we come around at the time agreed upon and we play rock n' roll."

"On a certain level Guns N' Roses was such a crazy thing, it was so huge. We had our own jet, everybody had their own limousine. People running around you, it was fucking crazy," Matt recalls and quickly adds: "I did get a lot of pussy though, don't get me wrong."

"At some point, though, in the midst of all that, it does get kind of blurry, a real spaced-out blurry rock n' roll-moment."

Like this one. Velvet Revolver's singer, Scott Weiland, comes around literally from the bush. The skinny rocker stares the river at his side with wide eyes. "I wish I had a fishing rod, it'd be nice to go fishing," Weiland says.

"We can fucking sort that shit out," Sorum replies in a boasting manner. My colleague instructs the singer to jump into the river and catch some fish with his bare hands, and Scott asks what kind of fish you'd usually get from around here. We decide to advice him against it, since right now there's probably more piss and shit than fish in the river because of the festival.

"Nah, that's a clear fucking lake," Scott replies.

It's not a lake, it's a river.

"That is a clear fucking lake in the middle of nowhere," he insists and climbs down to the riverbed to take a closer look.

"Now that man loves fishing," Sorum says, and immediately lowers his voice: "Don't ask anymore Guns N' Roses-related questions with him around. He isn't really that keen on them".

Why do you still play Guns N' Roses songs?

"Oh well, yeah, we play a few of them here and there," Matt replies, staying calm.

Yeah, but why?

"Why not? It doesn't matter."

It's not like you don't have any songs of your own...

"Yeah, but some people do want to hear those Guns N' Roses songs also. Let's give the audience what they want. I don't think we'll be playing them next year anymore though, when people come to be more familiar with the songs off the new record, we'll eventually drop the Guns N' Roses tunes."

Scott hobbles back from the riverbed, boasting a about one time catching a "blue marlin" which is sort of like a sword fish. Scott demonstrates how about a ninety-pound stretch catches a several hundred-pound fish. Unfortunately it tastes so bad that Matt thinks, "It's good enough only for the Mexicans". Matt suggests that Scott could host a reality TV show, in which celebrities are taken fishing to "fucking anywhere, to fucking Alaska or something". Scott thinks it'd be great.

On the other bank, some not-alpha-but-beta-male scrambles up from the river flashing his white bare-naked ass. Scott instantly disappears into the same bush that he popped out of in the first place: "Sorry for taking over the interview!" says a voice from the bush.

The early summer sun is reflecting to my eyes from the sparkle in Sorum's mouth. How on earth can a man's teeth be that white?

"Oh, these? You like 'em?"

Yeah! Are they real?

"No! I've done too much cocaine, fuck, my teeth fell off! You really never should rub cocaine here (scrubs his gums underneath the upper lip with his index finger). It really fucks up your teeth!"

Have you ever been to rehab?

"Oh yeah! Twice. One time we were in together with Scott, as roommates! He was trying to kick his heroin habit and with me it was coke, this was all back in 1998. I'd ran into Scott earlier, but that was the time that we really got to know one another." Sorum recalls and pauses to think for a second: "I don't think we ever did any drugs together, though."

When Scott joined Velvet Revolver, the other band members were clean, but he was, according to Matt, "fucked up". Still, none of them can afford being judgemental.

"We've all been fucked up at some point. We've been really supportive of each other, even though someone might have a relapse. We'll just be like 'Hey man, take care of yourself'".

Have you ever OD'd?

"Probably! I had to go to a hospital a few times, yeah. During the Guns N' Roses period I did too many drugs, dehydrating myself," Matt recalls and uses the phrase "dehydrating myself" as easily as a an average Joe might grumble about his sandwich dropping on to the floor.

So what exactly happened? I mean - "sploosh"?

"Yeah! They had to hook me up with some Potassium. So maybe that was an OD. I never got into heroin that much, mainly I just did cocaine, booze and some pills occasionally. These days I try to keep things reasonable. It's really not that good being all fucked up on stage."

Matt takes out a card from his breast-pocket, on one side of the card are numbers from one through four, on the other side it reads "all sex maniacs pick three". Let's give it a try. In the table next to us Sami Peura of Sam Agency-promotions is sitting with his escort. One of them picks two, the other one four. Clearly they are not sex maniacs, at least there's no proof. Matt, maybe you didn't do as many drugs as the other members of Guns N' Roses, but they say that you were the worst pig when it came to women?

"Well, we were all pigs you know."

What was the nastiest and dirtiest thing you did?

"I was with two pairs of twins. I made them go down on each other, which is kind of gross," Matt chuckles.

"Oh, and another one would be a mother, a daughter and an aunt, all at the same time."

At this point even my colleague says that it sounds disgusting.

"Well, the aunt was a bit big, but the mother and the daughter were pretty hot. I've had pretty many mother & daughter-pairs. Great times. A bit weird though... hahaha!"

Do you have any contact with reality? When was the last time you did your own laundry?

"Nah. I don't do my own laundry. I got a servant-boy who does it for me."

Well, do you buy your groceries yourself?

"Yeah, I like buying groceries," Matt replies, and quickly adds: "But I really like liquor stores! All those nice bottles and wines! But yeah, do I buy my own groceries, honestly no. I got an assistant at home for that."

Can you walk down the street without being recognised?

"In LA yeah, nobody really gives a shit. Now and then somebody might recognise me but when you think about Slash, for example, everybody knows him. I'm a bit more incognito."

Matt adds that it is easier for him to get a table at a restaurant because of his fame. And he has to share with me another perk as well.

"I still fuck girls that are too young for me, I don't know why. Maybe it's got something to do with me being in the band."

Matt Sorum has never had a proper job. His short-lived career at a gas station when he was young came to a halt when he continuously kept "filling up tanks for free for all the pretty girls". When talking about his own means of transportation, he says that he owns a 460-horsepowered Mercedes Benz which looks strikingly similar to an ordinary Sedan "but is fast as shit" and a '63 Red Corvette. He's planning on getting an Aston Martin DB9 and a a Ferrari F430.

When talking about driving in Hollywood these days, Paris Hilton easily comes up. Matt has naturally known her since she was 16.

"We live on the same street, and I see her out every once in a while. She's a nice girl, I like her. A lot of people hate her, but you know what: if you were fucking rich and wanted to party all night long, well, fuck it! I'd party every night myself. And I do!"

Matt thinks that Paris Hilton's sentence was a cautionary example because Paris is a role model, and there's a serious drinking and driving-problem in the US.

"Paris lives only about four or five minutes from the place where she usually parties. She must've thought that she can drive such a short distance. But most accidents happen five minutes away from home, that's a fact. She ought to have a driver!"

"I know what it's like. I've driven home drunk, but I'm not gonna do it again. If I'm drunk and heading home from a bar, I'll just call someone and tell them that there's a hundred bucks in it for them if they drive me home. You think you can go out and grab a few but I know that I can't stop at a few. I want fucking ten!"

That's quite a Finnish mentality.

"Yeah, I know! When I was in Helsinki, there were people throwing up in the streets."

My colleague suggests that maybe Sorum should stay behind and acquaint himself with the Finnish drinking culture.

"Haha! It'd be cool to find some nice girl though. I really liked the last interviewer, she was cute."

Let it be known that Sorum was talking about Sonja Kailassaari, known for her TV work [in Finland]. I ask Matt if he'd like to have her cell phone number. Matt mumbles something and the only thing that can be made out is "banging in the woods".

I think it's time for the final question: When was the last time you got any?

"A few days ago, in London. A Hungarian girl. Perfect body. Just perfect."