Matt Sorum recently spoke about Velvet Revolver and noted how the band had started by taking a lesson from Aerosmith. He went on to talk about holding regrets that the Guns N’ Roses offshoot wasn’t able to stick to their agreement.

Matt Sorum opens up on stay-clean pact falling through

The group was formed in 2002 by Sorum, Slash, and Duff McKagan, and featured singer Scott Weiland. They secured acclaim quickly but wasn’t able to maintain it.

“When we all got back together our big thing was, ‘We can’t do this if we’re gonna be loaded and everyone is f***ed up,’” the drummer told Sound, Sobriety and Success With Matt Pinfield. “So we made a pact: ‘Everyone get clean. Let’s get cleaned up.’”

The band members got into “really great shape,” he noted, recalling it was nearly as important to them as writing strong material. “We kind of looked at it like the Aerosmith model,” he explained. “‘We can’t go out there like 20-year-old kids. … We’ve got to get our shit together.’ We all got it together, man, and we were on fire. And I remember we were all nervous because it was the first time we’d ever gone out on the road clean.”

Matt Sorum had previously talked about the breakup of Velvet Revolver, the band he formed in 2002 with fellow ex-Guns N’ Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash. Sorum, McKagan, Slash and guitarist Dave Kushner held an exhaustive singer search after Velvet Revolver’s formation that lasted for almost a couple of years, during which they issued an open invitation to the public to send in demos. Eventually, they settled on former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland.