When celebrating the Metallica co-founder's birthday, the former drummer of the Axl Rose-fronted band opens up about how their longtime friendship led to the former giving Slash his phone number.
- Dec 30, 2020
AceShowbiz - Rocker Lars Ulrich is responsible for helping Matt Sorum land his gig as Guns N' Roses' drummer after passing his number on to Slash.
Sorum shared the interesting piece of music history with fans over the weekend (December 26) as he celebrated the Metallica star's birthday with a gushing tribute about their longtime friendship.
"We met when (Sorum's old band) The Cult opened the 'Justice For All' (Metallica) tour and spent many nights on the road together living the life of rock 'n' roll," he wrote of the 1989 trek. "The Cult did close to six months on that tour and the adventures were insane, and are still with me to this day."
"After that we remained close," Sorum continued. "Lars was the one that gave Slash my phone number to get in GNR. Of course, the Epic GNR / Metallica stadium tour (of 1992) was legendary. Besides all of the musical accolades, most importantly he has always been there as a friend."
Sorum joined The Cult in 1989, and replaced drummer Steven Adler in the Guns N' Roses line-up in 1990, until his exit in 1997.
Recalling his first concert as Guns N' Roses drummer which took place in January 1991 at the Rock In Rio festival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Sorum recalled in October of this year, "I've never rehearsed with the guy. We're gonna do it live in front of a hundred and forty thousand people, plus on television. And I'm freaking out before the show. I'm looking around, and I'm, like, 'Hey, does anyone know what the setlist is? I'd like to check out the setlist.' And Slash [Guns N' Roses guitarist] goes, 'We don't use a setlist.' And I'm, like, 'What?' So I got no information about what's gonna go down."
