Music

Guns N' Roses drummer says Foo Fighters lack danger

by Jesse Locke

Despite the fact that the Foo Fighters launched a mysterious clock possibly counting the world down to doomsday (or another season of Sonic Highways – whichever comes first), a grumbly ex-member of Guns N’ Roses feels they’re lacking in the danger category.

In an exclusive interview with the Windsor Star, Matt Sorum (GnR drummer throughout the 1990s) shares his take on the difference between modern day rock stars and debauched dinosaurs like Axl Rose and Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach.

“They’re powerhouses,” said Sorum. “I think it’s a bit of a lost artform. A lot of the bands that are coming out now, you don’t really hear those kinds of powerful voices… You know, I see bands with lead singers who are really nice. Squeaky clean. And I really don’t feel I’m getting that wild, rock ‘n’ roll sensibility I want.”

These quotes from the sentient Jon Wurster character continue with some specific pot shots at Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters.

“I love Dave Grohl, don’t get me wrong. but he’s a drummer who got out in front with a guitar. Is there really any danger in it? Not really. If you go to a Foo Fighters show, you’re gonna see a band play their set, and everything is gonna go down nice, and he’ll thank the crowd, and everyone’s gonna go home and go, ‘Wow, that was a really nice rock ‘n’ roll show. Not everything went perfect in any of the bands I’ve been in, but I know one thing: People on their way home were going, ‘Holy sh*t. What was that?’”

If you share those wild sensibilities, catch Sorum’s current group Kings of Chaos (also known as the Rock N Roll All-Stars) with Bach, his fellow GnR survivors Duff McKagan and Gilby Clarke, Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander, and Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens. Their Friday, Oct. 30 tour stop brings them to the Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario.