Crypto Opinion with Mike Ermolaev: Ex-Guns N' Roses Drummer Matt Sorum on NFTs in the Art World

Sthorm, a unit devoted to advancing and disseminating social and environmentally applied sciences using blockchain, recently held the ViralCure Festival in Brazil. The event marked the launch of ViralCure on Web3.

As part of the celebration, there was an exclusive concert featuring rock legends like Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke, Billy Gibbons, and Sebastian Bach.

In the minutes following Matt Sorum's performance at the concert, Mike Ermolaev, Head of PR at ChangeNOW, interviewed the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award winning drummer for Guns N' Roses, Motörhead, Velvet Revolver and The Cult. The conversation covered Matt's plans for his NFT label, his support of other Web3 projects, and his general thoughts about the future of Web3.

Below is the complete interview transcript.

Matt Sorum: Hey Mike!

Mike Ermolaev: Hello Matt, super nice to meet you. My name is Mike, I'm from ChangeNOW. Thanks for your time. I would like to ask you a couple of questions regarding NFTs. Firstly, let me ask about GoodNoise. Could you please tell us how you are going to work with artists and the label, and maybe even reveal a few names of A-list musicians involved? Maybe you have considered inviting some of your own idols like Ringo Starr?

Matt: GoodNoise is an NFT label so all my releases are gonna be for impact to causes. We’re gonna release different items, audio, content, art, collaboration between a lot of my friends and I’ve got a lot of really great people lined up. I don’t wanna give it away at this press time. We’re finishing a pretty big project that’s gonna come out. And I wanna keep it sort of exclusive at the moment. But you know I just got the NASA star songs from Ringo – that was an Artemist movement and we did an NFT there.

Ringo is concerned about the carbon footprint, about cryptocurrency and the effects on the environment. The GoodNoise protocol will probably be Polygon, with little less friction when it comes to carbon footprint. And we’re gonna release all kinds of great things to different causes around the world so it’ll help the good musicians to get out of their record company contracts, different publishing deals, to be able to release music and help other people. And my whole idea for the name “good noise” was that we’re gonna make some good noise. hahaha

Mike: Nice!

Matt: We're gonna make some good noise, make some music and help some people! So, when you buy that NFT, you know, that piece of an NFT for them to have as an asset, they're gonna be giving it back at the same time – you'd be giving it to a good cause. So that’s the plan for GoodNoise. I just finished my recording in studio in Palm Springs – for the same name, Good Noise – and we're gonna metaverse that, we've got a lot of friends that, like, we have an NFT, you're gonna win a Metaverse with me, come to my studio, look around, hang out with the musicians that are there: almost like a virtual Meet-and-Greet. You know, it's not like a ZOOM thing, it's more like hanging out in the environment, that's cool, where I show you around...

Mike: Absolutely.

Matt: And so a lot of really exciting stuff is happening with Sthorm, supporting GoodNoise and I’m a co-founder at Sthorm so I’m in everything.

Mike: Yeah, how have you happened to become the co-founder of such a project? In fact, you achieved over the top success in the music industry. Why did you decide to pursue this completely different field?

Matt: Because it’s creative, exciting, and new. You know, I’ve done pretty much everything there’s to do in music. I’m at the top of the heap – I got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, won a Grammy, and I felt like I needed a creative spark. I needed to do something exciting. To me blockchain, NFTs, Metaverse, Web3, all that stuff is exciting. It's creative, it's like what can I do to build something that’s gonna be successful? And have another sort of different part of my creative psyche that’s gotta get out into the world and do something bigger than I ever did, right? Who can top Guns N’ Roses, right? And yeah, it’s possible, right? I think it’s possible.

Mike: Definitely.

Matt: Do something even more powerful and impactful. That was probably the most impactful thing I’ve done in my lifetime, but I wanted to do something that’s impactful to help people too, you know. What I’m talking about is what can I do to help in a situation in the world where people are struggling, people in need, people are concerned about their welfare? I’m the guy who can do that. I can speak out and I'm talking to the press right now, I’m talking to you. Then I’ve had these last years of my career to turn it around and give it back so that’s what i like to do. It makes me feel good and it makes other people happier in their life. That's cool.

Mike: It is awesome, truly awesome. Tell me please, what can you answer to the people who say that the NFT hype is nothing but just a game of the smartest with the richest?

Matt: Hahaha well I’m gonna make my NFTs accessible to everybody. And you know, everyone can be involved. I’m gonna have different levels of people that can afford things. It’s gonna be about giving back too so we’re gonna build it about getting involved and we’re gonna keep track of them, and make them a community, the GoodNoise community. We’re gonna build it, start a token community, within as well, I mean inside the metaverse. So that’s Web3, that’s what the metaverse is, that’s the token community. That’s all coming. That’s in conversation. You’ve got to remember that there are these kids in the world that are playing games 6-8 hours per day, on average.

Mike: True.

Matt: They’re already doing it. Young kids are already living in the metaverse, they’re living in a virtual world. We know the world’s crazy out there right but we can create these beautiful spaces, destinations where you can go and have experiences in a different way.

Mike: Yeah, absolutely. If I may ask, what will be the difference between GoodNoise and other NFT labels like Snoop Dogg's and French Montana's?

Matt: Like I said, Mike, all my NFTs are gonna be about causes and impact. I'm familiar with the ones that are on Tezos – they are friends of mine. There are different things, you know, but my label is gonna be my brand, my rolodex, my people. The world’s a big place, and I’m not in competition with anybody. I’m just doing my thing.

Mike: So, the last one. For you, what is the most inspiring thing about NFTs and about the Metaverse? And what are the most impressive use cases to demonstrate the viability of this technology to everyone?

Matt: Well, like I said, I’ve been around since, you know… The first person I saw doing things in the blockchain world, music-wise and art-wise and stuff, was Imogen Heap – she’s been doing it for years. And not long after we got Bjork, then Dapper Labs came out, Сryptokitties and NBA top shots. A lot of different NFT stuff that I've seen. You know, it’s all cool, people are interested in a lot of different things in life. And my little niche will be – what can you do to give back? That's gonna be my niche market.

Mike: The last really quick question.

Matt: I’m gonna get back to all of that, we’ve had a big show and got a bunch of naked girls here. (Editor’s note: It seemed like he was kidding.)

Mike: All right, quick one. Imagine you heard the NFT word thirty years ago. What would you think?

Matt: Oh God I don’t know. I was very busy partying with Slash, right? So I’d have said, “NFT? What is that?”

Mike: You'd probably have thought it was the name of some band, right? Ok thank you!

Matt: Yeah talk to you later!

Mike: Thank you for your time.