Matt Sorum says Lars Ulrich helped him become a member of Guns N’ Roses, adding that the Metallica drummer has “always been there” for him.

Marking Ulrich’s 57th birthday on Dec. 26, Sorum posted a picture and discussed some of the highlights of their relationship on his Instagram feed.

“We met when the Cult opened the Justice For All tour and spent many nights on the road together living the life of rock ’n’ roll. 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 added. “Lars was the one that gave Slash my phone number to get in GNR. Of course, the Epic GNR / Metallica stadium tour was legendary. Besides all of the musical accolades, most importantly he has always been there as a friend.”

Sorum joined the Cult as their live drummer in 1989, in time to take part in the tour with Metallica. After Slash saw him perform at one of those shows, Sorum was confirmed as Steven Adler's replacement in Guns N’ Roses in 1990. Earlier this year, Sorum admitted that he'd never even rehearsed with Axl Rose before taking the stage for his first Guns N' Roses show at Rock in Rio.

“I was, like, ‘Hey, does anybody know what the set list is?’” Sorum said. “Slash goes, ‘We don’t use a set list.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ So I got no information about what’s gonna go down! That whole Use Your Illusion tour, there was never a set list. We figured out how to give each other eye signals, or someone took a riff, but we figured it out.”

 

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