I'm not a big fan of rock memoirs they're the most predictable, name-droppy, sub-literature experiences. 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.
What the 62-year-old does detail well in this memoir are his harrowing struggles with heroin and the loneliness he long battled because of his sexuality. Bottum shares some genuinely perturbing stories of sexual encounters he experienced with adult men while underage, growing up in Southern California. His journey to coming out in the pages of The Advocate is a fraught and sometimes frightening one. That interview he gave to Lance Loud, he reveals, was sold to the British rock press without his consent.
We played a bunch of reunion tours, and I think we did what we kind of set out to do. So I don't think anyone's upset about it or anything. But I mean, for sure, getting back together would mean a big paycheck, but I think all of us are pretty good with what we did, sort of just, like, artistically with the band and committing to ourselves and playing with each other.