Kings Of Chaos – Downtown Magazine

Matt Sorum holds the distinction of being the drummer in “one of the coolest rock bands out there” in three different decades. In the 1980s, Matt drummed for The Cult, which led him to joining Guns N’ Roses in the early 1990s. In the 2000s, Matt formed Velvet Revolver with Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, guitarist Dave Kushner and some of his GNR bandmates. And this does not factor in Matt’s work with Poe or Tori Amos, his touring with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp in The Hollywood Vampires, his work with Motorhead, or his role as leader of Kings Of Chaos.

A true all-star rock band, Kings Of Chaos also features members of ZZ Top, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Cheap Trick, STP and Billy Idol’s band. While the touring lineup of Kings Of Chaos may change from tour to tour — its original run, which took place at soccer stadiums in South America, included Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan and KISS’ Gene Simmons — the fact that KOC plays rock anthems is the constant. This month, KOC will hit the New York area for a trio of pre-Christmas gigs: Dec. 17 at Montclair’s Wellmont Theater, Dec. 18 at Long Island’s The Paramount, and Dec. 21 at Irving Plaza.

Downtown caught up with Matt Sorum by phone to not only talk about Kings Of Chaos, but also where his entrepreneurial spirit comes from. Matt can be followed on Twitter via @MattSorum and visited online at www.mattsorum.tv.

I had the chance to see you at Coney Island do the Hollywood Vampires show last summer. What’s the status of that band?

Matt Sorum: I’ve heard rumblings that some stuff is gonna happen. It’s really quite based on scheduling, you know? We’re waiting on Johnny Depp. I’m not sure what my scene will be until they call me, because they haven’t called me yet, so right now nothing’s on the book.

Some of the members of Kings Of Chaos are the same as Hollywood Vampires. Are any of the same songs performed by both bands?

MS: We started doing “Ace Of Spades” [by Motorhead] and I sing it…I did a month with Motorhead as drummer…So people get to hear that, that’s pretty interesting.

I read that you guys were hoping to put together some EPs that will include some original music, is that something that still might happen.

MS: Oh yeah, I’m definitely pushing it in the direction of having original music that we could play live…and put it on the radio. I definitely want to really invent this into a proper group that records its own material, but I’m kind of organically letting that happen…I’m the leader in the band. I put together all the touring, hotel, airfares and all that stuff…I’d love to record some music next year, get some stuff on the radio and play it out.

You’ve always been at the center of projects at least for the past 20 years, in terms of organizing, putting people together, and you mentioned that you do a lot of managerial work for Kings Of Chaos. Did you ever ponder working in the A&R world?

MS: (laughs) Yeah, I actually have my own record label now. I’m putting out an artist next year. People come up to me and give me CD’s all the time and ask me to listen to their music…I mean, when I hear a great song, I’m like, “That song, it could be a hit.” But then there’s like, “What’s a hit?”…I have been doing some consulting for a couple of tech companies. My life is changing in a way that definitely, it’s more business-oriented. You know I still play music, but I have to put on that business cap, which is okay, I like it, it’s exciting…Then with Kings Of Chaos, I gotta get all these different musicians from Point A to Point B…It’s a lot of challenges theoretically, but when it all comes together, it’s great and everybody has a great time. So yeah, I like that kinda work. I could do that, yeah

When did you first become business-minded, I think most people just think of you as just a touring drummer up until probably Velvet Revolver happened.

MS: I gotta say it probably really kicked in around after Guns N’ Roses in ’96 when I left. I became more of a producer. I had a Top 40 single with an artist, Poe. I started producing music, I started doing music for films, so what happened was I actually diversified because I had to as a survival technique…In ’96, when the band broke up, I actually didn’t know where my career was headed. I was like, “Wow, I was just in the biggest band in the world, now I’m not. What’s going to happen next?” It was a weird time, so I started even thinking how was I going to get to a band again…It was really a survival thing like, “How am I going to make a living? How am I going to continue in music?”…That really kind of moved me up till when I got involved with Velvet Revolver. I really put on one of the leadership cap in that band, I was an equal partner.

I said this in my last interview. I said people ask me, “Why aren’t you in Guns N’ Roses?” I said, “Well, I wasn’t a partner in the group, I was a member of the group”…Partners own the name and they own the brand and the band. As a member you get paid separately, so I was a partner in Velvet Revolver and owned the company…I realized, “Well, I could help steer this vehicle,” when we made decisions we made them together, and sure I like the way that felt and we had success. We won a Grammy, we looked certain ways in the videos we had done, I was very involved in all of that, so I’m always a forward thinker. I like to think forward, I don’t like to go back, I like to move…I want to stay current, and obviously this band that I have is a mixture of classic heritage and a current band…It’s like being rejuvenated, it’s like a different feel, so that’s kind of my thing when it comes to music, business, the environment, fashion, everything, I’m always moving.

Does all the focus on Kings Of Chaos mean that there won’t be a follow-up to your last solo album Stratosphere anytime soon?

MS: No, I will do it. I have my own studio. It’s a kind of tough thing to do, it’s about writing a song and I started dabbling with songs. I put a lot of stuff in my iPhone and I’ve got to be careful not to lose it like Kirk Hammett (laughs), but I’ve got tons of ideas in there. Then what happens is I gotta sit down and figure out where am I going to go write the music, because last when I wrote Stratosphere, I took off for like two weeks by myself…I sat by myself and wrote songs and there was no one around. And then I went to the beach for about a week and I came out of that with an album, and I had all the words written and I really focused and…I went to the studio and produced it. I’ve got to take that time period again and to be alone and write the music.

There was a time and place for it but everything sounds great for you now. So in closing, Matt, any last words for the kids?

MS: Well hey, I just want them to come out and see our rock and roll show, because you’re going to dig it. It’s non-stop hits…It’s going to be a good time, great people on-stage and hope you come check it out. Go to www.kingsofchaosband.com, you can get tickets on there or go to Ticketmaster. Come rock with us, it’s a celebration. It’s right before Christmas, so what better way to go ho-ho-ho? It’s a Christmas present for your holiday season.

As a successful musician for decades, Steve Stevens has a lot of claims to fame. As Billy Idol’s long-time guitarist, he co-wrote most of the Idol anthems still regularly heard around the world. He won a Grammy for his work on the “Top Gun Anthem” from the hit Tom Cruise movie. He has played on recordings by Michael Jackson, P!nk, Diana Ross, Joni Mitchell and Robert Palmer, to name a few key artists. Steve was also featured on the E! reality show Married To Rock as his wife Josie was one of its stars. In turn, it is not surprising that Steve has his own signature guitar via Knaggs Guitars, a signature amplifier via Friedman Amps, and signature guitar pickups via Bare Knuckles.

In 2016, Steve is still at it with Billy Idol; a new album, Kings & Queens On The Underground was released in October 2014. Notably, Steve also hits the road often as a guitarist in Kings Of Chaos. An all-star band featuring members of Guns N’ Roses, ZZ Top, Linkin Park, Slipknot and Stone Temple Pilots, Kings Of Chaos has gigs in the area this month. KOC can be seen at Montclair’s Wellmont Theater on Dec. 17, the following night at Long Island’s The Paramount, and a few days later at Irving Plaza on Dec. 21. In addition, Steve has a new solo album in the works.

Downtown caught up with Steve — a native New Yorker who lived downtown for years — for an interview via phone. More info on Steve and his upcoming shows with Kings Of Chaos can be found at www.kingsofchaosband.com.

I know that you were born in Brooklyn. Where in Brooklyn did you grow up?

Steve Stevens: I was born in Brooklyn, but my parents moved just to Far Rockaway by the time I was one and a half, two, so I grew up in Rockaway.

And you lived there until you moved to Manhattan?

SS: Yeah, pretty much so. By the time I was 16…I was in a cover band so I kind of moved out…The band was based in Ozone Park, Queens, so I’ve kind of lived in every borough of New York.

You and Billy first met in Manhattan?

SS: The band I was in before Billy Idol was managed by Bill Aucoin, who was the manager of KISS. And he had just brought Billy over from London. So I was still living actually, by then I was living in Kew Gardens, where my parents had moved to, so when I met Billy I was living there.

And where in Manhattan did you live over the years?

SS: My first place was on Jane Street over between West and Washington, so I was like right in the middle of Greenwich Village. And then I moved to Bleecker and Broadway, and I lived there until I moved to Los Angeles.

And when was it in your career that you moved to Los Angeles?

SS: I came out to do reunite with Billy, he had moved to L.A. And this is 1992, I believe…Different plan, let’s get together and do a record and I came out. Originally I was in a hotel, and I went into a residential hotel and got my first apartment, but I decided to live in L.A. officially like 20 years ago.

What was it that made you move out there? Was it just work or had you gotten tired of the weather here?

SS: Weather was never a factor, but a lot of musicians had moved out to L.A. and had started to…People would call to work with them, let’s say like Duff McKagan or someone, and everyone had a home studio and I thought, “Well that’s really cool, I want an environment at home that I could work in.” It seemed like a really hard thing to do in Manhattan, you always had to put money in the pockets of somebody else who had a recording studio, and I thought, “Well, I’d rather invest in it myself.”

And the environment, there just seemed to be a lot of musicians that I knew from New York that moved out here by then. New York is such a night city and stuff, and I’d made the decision to get sober as well, and I thought, “Well this is probably going to be so much easier, I can get In too much trouble in New York.” (laughs)

Sure. Do you remember the first venue that you ever played in Manhattan.

SS: Here in Manhattan we played Great Gildersleeve, which was the club right down the street from CBGB.

And then what was the first New York venue that you played with Billy?

SS: Max’s Kansas City. We played unannounced. We had found out it was closing and Billy had some friends who were [playing]…and we arranged to play unannounced. Because it was really important to us to play Max’s before it closed, so that was the very first Billy Idol gig.

So you have these East Coast dates with Kings Of Chaos. I understand that Billy Idol and you have some dates coming up in Vegas. What’s the next like six to twelve months looking like for you?

SS: Idol and I, we did our Vegas residency this year at the House Of Blues, which was just fantastic…We pulled out a lot of more obscure tunes off our records and when you’re in one venue for that long, you really gets to hone your show down. You get your lights exactly the way you want them. So we return to Vegas in March next year and I’m going to start recording another solo record…That kind of got put on the backburner for 2016, so that’s one of my priorities and I’m planning on doing a solo tour in Europe in April, and we’re just getting the dates together for that.

Do you have any hobbies when you’re not doing music?

SS: Hobbies…I don’t know, I do all the kind of same things that people like to do, I love films and all that kind of stuff, and my wife and I are a year overdue on a vacation, so we’re just now trying to find out where we’re going to go on vacation and kind of recharge our batteries.

Well, thinking about that for a second. You know a lot of people would go to Vegas for a vacation but that’s more of a working city for you and then you’re from New York and you live in Los Angeles. So you’re the kinds of people that would look to go somewhere remote?

SS: Yeah, absolutely. We try to get off the grid as much as possible.

Is there anything that you miss about New York and not having lived there for 20-something years?

SS: Yeah, I mean, the energy of the city is amazing and when I go to New York now I do all the things I used to make fun of tourists for doing, like going to Broadway plays. I guess growing up in New York, I went to High School Of The Performing Arts in Manhattan. So I kind of overlooked a lot of the things that Manhattan has to offer. So now when I go back, I make it a point to like hit up new restaurants and catch plays and things like that.

I think what I miss most is New Yorkers’ personalities because people will tell you exactly how they feel, and there’s not as much backstabbing. If somebody is pissed off at you, they’re going to tell you and you’ll either work it out or part ways or whatever. But I like the directness of New Yorkers…There’s an energy about New York that nowhere else has.

So finally, Steve, any last words for the kids?

SS: For the kids, yeah. People, come out and see Kings Of Chaos…Primarily we do it for the fun and just the catalog is just incredible and some of the players. And come on, just seeing Billy Gibbons and myself onstage, trading off solos and stuff. It’s a once-in-a lifetime experience.