Now in paperback, a founder of the iconic band Faith No More shares his coming-of-age and out-of-the-closet story in pre–tech boom San Francisco 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. The book 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. "An alt-rock sideman recalls navigating queerness, heroin, and a now-vanished San Francisco bohemia . . . Bottum’s candor is refreshing, and the book serves as a vibrant snapshot of a time when San Francisco was better known as a creative haven than a tech-bro bunkhouse. A melancholy tribute to punky, grassroots community-building." ― Kirkus Reviews "A dark, candid, well-written memoir of gay life as a punk musician with tales of drugs, a stint in rehab, camaraderie among friends, and, hanging over it all, the pallor of inevitable death and decay" ― Booklist "As much a love letter to a San Francisco that no longer exists as a reflection on his own life, Bottum’s memoir is bound to elicit nostalgia among fans . . . Accounts of Bottum’s time with the band [Faith No More], his coming into his own identity as a gay man during the height of the AIDS crisis, and his struggles with and eventual recovery from addiction form the bulk of a narrative marked by chaos and loss, but also a great deal of sweetness . . . Affecting, reflective, and unflinching." ― Library Journal "Bottum's new The Royal We autobiography is achingly honest and forthcoming, sparing little detail from his troubled youth in San Francisco through Faith No More’s roughshod early days when no one quite knew what to make of them. It's a fascinating, highly recommended page-turner that displays Bottum's depth as a writer and also someone with little to hide." ― Blabbermouth " The Royal We shines when Bottum vividly takes the reader back to pre-tech San Francisco: the grime, the venues, the underground bands, the bike messengers, the ‘anything goes’ of it all . . . [A] compelling read. It’s a swift 252 pages full of youthful folly, alternative culture, unchecked rebellious instincts and an undercurrent of oddly formed faith that things will work out the way that they’re supposed to . . . While this memoir doesn’t always adhere to the rules of the format, that is in many ways a fitting reflection of the way Bottum has lived his life. If he ever writes a follow-up to fill in the gaps, it will surely be worth reading, just as The Royal We ." ― KQED "Faith No More keyboardist Bottum recalls coming-of-age as a gay punk rocker in San Francisco in his punchy debut . . . Bottum’s account toggles between wild-eyed memories of his adolescent antics, including drinking, smoking, and stealing the family car for joyrides, and graver adult dalliances with hard drugs alongside prefame Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Meanwhile, Bottum reflects on his formative sexual experiences with older men, provides gossipy backstage anecdotes about touring with Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, and sweetly lionizes his sisters . . . Far from a milquetoast music bio―one of the most memorable scenes features Bottum and his friends vomiting pea soup―this lively self-portrait has spirit to spare. It’s a riot." ― Publishers Weekly "Bottum, the co-founder of the band Faith No More, offers up an elegy to a lost time and place: pre-tech bro San Francisco in the 1980s, when cultural ferment was in the air. Bottum’s touching memoir is a story of a gay man finding himself in a time of great exuberance and upheaval as the AIDS epidemic wiped out so many of the creatives that made that efflorescence possible." ― LA Times " The Royal We certainly isn’t name-droppy―Bottum doesn’t even use the surnames of his bandmates. And while he outlines the group’s origins and early development, this takes a back seat to his ‘youth escapades’ in San Francisco, ‘before the internet, before that city got ruined.’ Much of the focus is on his sexual awakening, and how the related s