Seattle might not know the Hermans, but the Hermans know Seattle. In fact, the Emerald City is Mecca to the little-known Missoula band. The punk rock quartet’s obligatory pilgrimage was carried out last January and is chronicled in its recent book, Stalking America: The Journal of an Unknown Rock and Roll Band. And a pilgrimage it was, taking them through a snow storm in the Cascades (where a local told them to turn back) to the stage of the Crocodile Café. It was here, Hermans frontman David Jones relates in his band’s road journal, that so many of his heroes had plugged in. And it was here that the band that sounds like the Pixies after a lobotomy performed by Dee Dee Ramone were to play their first out-of-state show.

“This is Grohl country,” writes Jones. “The sweet aroma of welcoming Seattle … I cannot describe.”

David Smith, whose Seattle trio Indonesian Junk shared the bill with the Hermans that night, recalls the visitors beaming with pride throughout their set. “After every song the guitarist, still in his snow hat, drenched with sweat, would say, ‘Thanks everybody. We’re the Hermans, from Montana,’ right up until the handful of people still in the room started yelling, ‘Where are you guys from?’” Smith recalls the Hermans made a snide remark—an empty room cliché—about being “paid to practice,” but adds, “They played the rock stars that night, like they’d sold out Key Arena.”

The Seattle visit is a highlight in the book, a visually-stunning romp through the life of an unknown band constructed from authentic artifacts. In its pages the reader finds the aforementioned journal entries, a handwritten list from which the Hermans chose their name (other options: KFCIA, Suburban Turban, Pope on Strike), and notes used to schedule practice times or vent about a string of crummy shows. It might not sound like much, but this documentation illustrates the humble beginnings of the American rock band.

As the title of the volume suggests, the band has no delusions that they are any different, and while there are some harsh words for other bands they meet on the road, there is also an underlying core of band brotherhood to Stalking America. In the book’s forward, written by Jeff Ament, the Pearl Jam bassist and Missoula resident openly wishes he had a book like this to document his nobody-days. The fact that he sees himself in the Hermans is a testament to the idea that the Hermans’ story is every band’s story. And for the Hermans, it’s a two-way street. Last summer, when the two members of the band who didn’t author the book quit the group, Jones ran into a shirtless Ament on the banks of Missoula’s Black Foot River. The star gave him a pep talk, which helped Jones push forward and find new musicians. Jones recently recalled the event. “It was nice to hear that coming from him,” he said. “To know that everyone on every level has gone through this.”

Running Press, $17.95