Matt Sorum was born on October 19, 1960 in Venice Beach, California. In 1988 he was in the band Y Kant with Tori Reed, together with, Tori Amos. They released an album that didn't do very well and they disbanded quite soon. From February 1989 till the summer of 1990 was he drumming for the Cult. In the summer of 1990 Guns N’ Roses decided to fire Steven Adler due to his drug problems. At first Adam Maples from Sea Hags filled in temporarily, while Martin Chambers from the Pretenders was briefly considered. But they were apparently not good enough.
Slash had been down to the local Universal Amphitheater venue to see the Cult, which Guns a couple of years earlier had opened for, and became very impressed by their drummer, so he putted in a transfer bid. Matt: "They liked me for what I was doing - rock solid drumming."
Axl: "The fact that Matt could play and fit in is what saved us. If we hadn't found somebody it would ultimately have been the demise of the band. Matt's been capable of keeping up with it, if not enhancing it totally, and bringing new stuff to it."
Matt liked GN’R’s way of keeping up the interest for their live-shows. "We don't have a set list. Rather we have a pick list. Sometimes it'll be 30 seconds before we go on-stage when Axl calls out whatever he thinks he can sing first. The second number is set because I go into it - "Mr Brownstone" - I play timpani. I hated this way of working at first, but I love it now 'cos it's fresh, especially when you're on a two-year tour. And we're so at ease with playing on big stages now. So if Axl throws out a song we haven't played for six months it might be a little shaky, but we're not freaking out about it. There's an adrenaline rush every night."
Matt was a member of Slash’s Snakepit during the recordings of their album. Brian Tichy replaced him on tour.
In 1995 he formed Neurotic Outsiders along with Duff, Steve Jones and John Taylor. They did a tour. It’s not clear when Matt ended being a member of Guns, but probably it was during 1997. Matt has produced the movie "Soundman" together with Lanny Cordola. Duff sings on one of the songs on the soundtrack. 1999 saw Matt back with the Cult. He was their drummer on their summer tour in the US. "It's like a feeling of rebirth. It's like growing again as a band. This is about a band getting back together that's not been together in a while and we have to go back out and we have to kick some ass."
The same year he formed a band called Binge.