King of the Road

1992. Seattle was swarming with musicians trying to become the next big thing, Portland hadn't taken the crown as a Mecca for hipsters, and San Francisco hadn't yet succumbed to the ravages of the Silicon Valley. On the fringes of this rapidly changing world was a skateboarding team called the Jak's. The team had originated in the Bay Area in 1979, and quickly spread out across the West Coast and beyond. Many of its early members hopped freight trains and hitchhiked across a burgeoning and littered punk rock landscape seeking excitement. This is William S. Hayes' (AKA Scottie Schmidt) account of his journeys during the summer of '92. "A vivid look at a road trip to a Jak's reunion, from Seattle to San Francisco and back, part Hunter S. Thompson part Kerouac, but a 100% skateboarder tale told with honesty, grit and insight. This second book is establishing Hayes as a genuine and talented storyteller, and spokesman for other punks, skaters and castoffs."
Wez Lundry-Thrasher magazine "There's a rich history of the hobo author, from Jack Black to Jim Tully, and more recently William T. Vollmann. You can now add Hayes to the list. If William S. Burroughs had been a skater, he might've written something like King of the Road. Just as Junkie exposed readers to a hidden aspect of American life, King of the Road exposes readers to the punk rock hobo skater world of the late twentieth century. Great book."
Tom Hansen-author of American Junkie and This Is What We Do "Hayes is a memoirist in the tradition of great American writers like Kerouac, Burroughs and Bukowski, bringing the reader into the world of the casual drifter who floats around like a discarded plastic bag caught in an updraft-seemingly pointless and adrift but you want to keep reading to find out where it's going to land. King of the Road reads like a travel journal I kept in my mind but never got around to writing down."
Buddy Nichols-Six Stair Production Company (Fruit of the Vine, Paranoid Park, Love Letters to Skateboarding) "Part road chronicle, part bildungsroman, King of the Road embodies grit and innocence, romance and squalor in equal measure. Hayes has gifted us an authentic, keenly observed portrait of a specific time and place in which every note rings true."
Jonathon Evison-New York Times bestselling author of Small World "Reading Scottie is as close to living it as you're gonna get. All the grime, all the crime, all the time!"
Sam "Sammytown" McBride-lead singer of Fang "From ollieing on the furniture in my living room, to inviting me to a party while evading an angry after-hours convenience-store manager during a beer heist, the guy partied like a savage. I can believe every crime-ridden story Scottie has ever told me. I've witnessed a bunch of it!"
Jason Freeman-Zeke, Los Hornets, RC5, the Derelicts "This is a great voyage into a Jak's journey. Having known a bunch who are mentioned in this book, I can say this is some spot-on shit. From the 'Fuck it, I'm hittin' the road!' to the parties surrounded by chaotic gremlins, and even the hiding out while frying on LSD and chasing the dragon in a rundown Haight Street apartment. Hayes' telling hits the mark and brought back memories of the City and my brothers-from-another-mother, here and gone. Thanks for the ride."
Scotty Wilkins-Infamous Stiffs, Verbal Abuse, Electric Frankenstein, Hollywood Hate