As previously reported, guitarist Stevie Salas played a show on November 29th in Toronto, Ontario at the Sound Academy with VELVET REVOLVER drummer Matt Sorum behind the kit. Following is an excerpt from an interview conducted with Sorum by Laurie Lonsdale at Fazer.ca.

Laurie: I wanted to ask about that, because your background coming from THE CULT, and GUNS N' ROSES, and VELVET REVOLVER is so much different than Stevie’s funkier kind of style. So, given your experience, what do you bring to the table that’s different for him, or do you follow his lead?

Matt: "I’ve always been the kind of drummer that takes direction really well and I’ve worked with a lot of big producers. So he cracked the whip on me pretty good in rehearsal and I was cool with it. I think when you work in an environment like that, you need to talk to each other like that and don’t take it personally; not like an ego trip, it’s like I wanna get this right, you know what I mean?"

Laurie: Certainly, it’s a common goal.

Matt: "Exactly, you wanna do the best you can for the song, and I want the songs to sound as close to the record as possible. Even being the guy that stepped into Guns n’ Roses, I tried to stay true to the original vibe of the original drummer, and it was the same in The Cult because I had to do that with a couple of drummers that came before me. I took what I got from those original records and tried to put my own interpretation on them, without making them sound too much different. So it was interesting, but then when Velvet Revolver came along I was able to be completely myself. The songs and the way they went down was everything that I brought to the table, because I didn’t have to be representative of another drummer before me. That was really nice for me finally to be in a group where I was an original member."

Go to this location for the complete interview (scroll down). It is preceeded by an extensive interview with Salas. Sorum plays on his latest album, Be What It Is.