A singer’s voice, distinctive and immediately recognizable, is the key to their success.

It’s what earns them a devoted following of fans who will stick with them through thick and thin. In recent years, a handful of memoirs by musicians, including “The Harder I Fight The More I Love” by Neko Case, “I’ll Never Write My Memoirs” by Grace Jones, “Boys Keep Swinging” by Jake Shears, “Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile, and “Trans Electric” by Cidny Bullens,” have succeeded in capturing those voices in prose form. The same can be said for gay musician Roddy Bottum’s memoir “The Royal We” (Akashic, 2025). Known by many for his membership in the bands Faith No More, Imperial Teen, and Man on Man, Bottum’s story, told without hesitation, is one of survival and resilience. Bottum was gracious enough to make time for an interview shortly after the publication of the book. 

Roddy Bottum reads from his memoir at the Miami Book Fair on Nov. 23 at 3:30 pm.

Roddy, why was now the time to write your memoir?

During the first Trump presidency, as COVID hit, the noise of the right was getting painfully loud. It felt like lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. It infuriated me that people were just spouting off whatever they wanted to say, regardless of how their words landed. In that context, I wanted my voice to be heard and to shout back, to combat the hate-speak with my truth. It was also COVID times in which I was scrambling to stay sane and busy. I started doing “morning pages” every morning, and it became a book.

In chapter 31, you wrote, “I need to look up years. I have no idea what happened when, I’ve never known the year it was…” In chapter 33, it says, “I continue to write things down, but I still can’t remember them.” Does that mean you weren’t a journal keeper and relied on memory for the details in the book?

I don’t remember dates; I make no effort to. In a similar way, I lose everything. I kept journals throughout my life and wrote things down, but they’re all lost. I have a hard time holding on to things. I relied on memory for the details. I remember specifics, mostly in the throes of tragedy or extremely odd situations.

You are a Los Angeles native who eventually found his musical community in San Francisco. Did you ever consider becoming part of the L.A. punk scene alongside X, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, the Go-Go’s, and others?

I grew up seeing bands in L.A., so, yeah, I would see X and the Go-Go’s and a million other punk bands, but I was pretty young. I didn’t think about making music until I moved to San Francisco. I was so ornery when I left L.A., I wanted out. Even the punk scene felt superficial and kind of “made up” to me as a kid. Like, the Go-Go’s, though I love them, were so squeaky clean and poppy and cartoony. San Francisco felt more real.

Very early in the memoir, in the second chapter, you write about your experiences with alcohol as a teen, behaving “like we’d seen our parents do at their cocktail parties.” This was the beginning of your years of substance abuse, which later included drugs such as heroin. As a sober person, what was it like revisiting that part of your life?

I tend to glorify my drug years, and it feels weird. Undeniably, there are exciting peaks, stories, and tales that buzz really loudly, know what I mean? The drama of what I went through doing drugs was exciting. There’s also a lot of pain, and the way that my drug use affected others that I’m aware of.  I tried to not get too caught up in the guilt of what I’d done in my past as I wrote. It was complicated for sure. There were tears.

Speaking of parents, it isn’t until chapter 11 that readers see you fully interacting with your parents, and they continue to appear throughout the book after that. How do you think your late parents would react to the way they are portrayed?

My parents were really open-minded. I think they’d be put off for sure by my “overshare.” Like, “Roddy, do you really need to say all that?” And I’d be like, “Yeah, Mom. I do.” My dad was encouraging. I think in the best sense, my parents were open to learning from their kids.

How have your sisters responded?

Great question. It was the one thing that made me nervous. Divulging where I went as a kid, particularly as a young boy, up into cruising zones, having sex with older men in bushes and in bathroom stalls…that felt like a lot to drop on my sisters, who basically know everything about me. But that was a secret that I hadn’t shared. They were surprised, but the takeaway was that they were supportive. Amongst themselves, I’m sure there were conversations. To me, they were just sweet and embracing. They’re so cool, my sisters. Like, the best.

Being gay is one of the central elements of the memoir, beginning with the fourth chapter in which you wrote about realizing you were queer from an early age and that, as you mentioned, your “sexual partners were adults.” Are you prepared for the various responses that will elicit from readers?

I’m hoping to push buttons, to provoke and prickle, if you will. I’ve always been one to push the envelope and challenge mindsets. Like I mentioned, it’s a truly ripe time to speak truths that are going to disturb and incite. I’m looking to start conversations and broaden the spectrum of what’s acceptable and not. Believe me, I’m aware of the reaction I’m sure to get and I’m living for it, yeah.

There are some wonderful queer moments in the book, including drinking “together in a small-town gay bar” with Robert Plant in chapter 26, and that Kurt Cobain “loved” that you were gay in chapter 27. Also, the time you kissed Kurt “goodbye on the lips and he said, ‘Mmmmmm, you kiss me like a man, boy.’” 

I kept a lot of the details and scenarios in the book to times in my life that resonated in a loud way to myself, things that changed me and opened me up. The queer moments that come up, particularly queer moments that happen alongside straight avenues, those are moments that got me through life. Pushing the envelope in worlds that may be initially resistant to accepting me for who I am. These are my victories.

Courtney Love also figures prominently in the memoir, and she even blurbed the book jacket. Would it be fair to say that she is comfortable with the way she is portrayed, and do you know if she has written or plans to write about you? 

Courtney read a really early draft of the book and loved it. She told me it was the best memoir she’d read. I took that as a “go” in terms of how she felt comfortable being represented. She was so inspiring to write about. Who could be better? She’s writing her own memoir, I can only hope I’ll be front and center.

In chapter 23, regarding the “combat between what I knew I should stand for and what I settled on,” you mention “casting myself in a movie of it.” If there were a movie adaptation of “The Royal We,” who would you want to play you?

I was in a movie (“Tyrel”) a couple of years ago with Caleb Landry (Jones), and he was such a unique and wild spirit. Let’s cast him.

Finally, because you are best known as a musician, are there plans for new albums by Imperial Teen and/or Man On Man?

Imperial Teen just finished recording our new record before I came out on this press tour. Hoping it’s finished and out by summer. Man On Man is going to write and record over the winter. Crickets, too, my other band, I’m in with JD Samson and Michael O’Neill.