THE ROYAL WE is a poetic survey of a time set in a magical city that once was and is no more. It is a memoir written by Roddy Bottum, a musician and artist, that documents his coming of age and out of the closet in 1980s San Francisco, a charged era of bicycle messengers, punk rock, street witches, wheatgrass, and rebellion. The book follows his travels from Los Angeles, growing up gay with no role models, to San Francisco, where he formed Faith No More and went on to tour the world relentlessly, surviving heroin addiction and the plight of AIDS, to become a queer icon.

It is an elevated wallop of tongue and insight, much more than a tell-all. There are personal encounters with public figures like Kurt and Courtney and Guns N’ Roses, and recaps of gold records and arena rock—but it’s the testimonies of tragedy and addiction and preposterous life-spins that make this work so unique and intriguing. Bottum writes about his dark and harrowing past in a clear-eyed voice that is utterly devoid of self-pity, and his emboldened and confident pronouncements of achievement and unorthodox heroism flow in an unstoppable train that’s both captivating and inspirational.

Available from Penguin Random House

RODDY BOTTUM is a musician, writer, creator, and actor based in New York City. He started the band Faith No More in San Francisco in the early 1980s and toured the world, selling millions of records. In 1992, he came out of the closet and blew open the spectrum of what being gay in the world of rock music meant. That same year he also formed the critically acclaimed band Imperial Teen, cited as the original pioneers of alternative queer rock. Bottum moved to New York City in 2010 and has performed and created records with Crickets, Nastie Band, and Man on Man, a band with his partner, Joey Holman. He is developing his Sasquatch opera project into a musical in New York City, where he continues to live.

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist based in Toronto with a focus on tourism, lifestyle, entertainment and community issues. He has written several travel articles and has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He’s willing to take on any assignments of interest, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, and travel the world in search of the great unknown. He’s eager to discover the new, remember the past, and look into the future.