Steven Adler revealed who was originally supposed to replace him as drummer of Guns N’ Roses prior to Matt Sorum joining the band in a new interview with Jay Mohr. Alternative Nation transcribed the conversation.
Jay: You know who was the first guy who was supposed to take your place in Guns N’ Roses?
Steven: Who? You?
Jay: Yeah, but I was 19, and I didn’t know how to play drums. You don’t know?
Steven: No.
Jay: But you know it was Sorum eventually.
Steven: Oh! It was the guy from the Pretenders, Martin Chambers. He would fit in, he’s perfect for them.
Jay: You’ll love this story. They loved him, but he had a giant octopuss spider drum kit. They were like, you’re in Guns N’ Roses, here’s your salary, you’ll be a salary guy, Ron Wood style, but you just got to take the kit down. He was like, ‘Fuck you, that’s my thing.’ They were, we’re going to put you in Guns N’ Roses, you’ll be in it in perpetuity, we don’t need lobster clubs between Slash and Axl. He was like, ‘Nope, sorry.’ So they went with Sorum.
Steven: Sorum was great, he fit in really great for that. The band obviously changed when I left, and then when Izzy left. But Sorum is a great drummer, he did a good job. I did all the demo tapes for at least 80% of the songs on Use Your Illusions, and for his style of playing, he came up with some great stuff, because he’s a really great player, really solid. If you want a drummer to come into the recording studio, and all you want is one or two takes, Sorum is the guy to do it.
