The Full Story
Who's Ray anyway?
Who’s Ray?
Ray Hargens Hire is a name, aye — but it’s also a voice. One I created to say what I needed to say without flinching.
I’m a Scottish writer, musician, and former oil rig worker who’s spent years grafting across all sorts — building sites, offshore oil rigs, lorry driving, care work, mental health, psychology, dog walking. I’ve lived it, not just written it. Ray gives me a place to take all that and turn it into stories that actually speak.
I write with working-class roots and working-class rage — but also hope. I don’t believe art belongs to the elites. I believe it belongs to the people. To the lads in the vans. The mums in the shops. The ones who never saw themselves browsing a bookshelf — and never thought they could be on one. I don’t just want folk like me reading — I want them writing, singing, painting, starting bands, acting, telling their stories and jokes. Because the working-class voice isn’t some gimmick for middle class arty farty circles to parade around and call “gritty” — it’s a force of its own, for its own.
I also believe art — real art — can be the spark that changes your life. That gets you thinking. Gets you feeling. Gets you going.
So who’s Ray?
Ray’s me — and maybe, a wee bit, Ray’s you too.
SCOTZO Publishing
SCOTZO Publishing is a working-class publishing house for people with something real to say.
​
We’re starting with the complete works of Ray Hargens Hire — fiction that bites, journalism that boots the door in. But this is just the beginning. Once we’ve got the wheels turning, we’ll open the gates to submissions from other Rays — writers from schemes, small towns, and graft-heavy lives. People with lived experience, sharp minds, and stories that don’t pander to polite society.
We want authentic fiction. Non-fiction with soul. Books that sound like truth and smell like the reality.
​
SCOTZO is also a future record label. A home for real bands, real music, and no algorithmic pish. We don’t care how viral you are, how many followers you’ve bought, or if TikTok thinks you're tidy. We care if your music makes us feel something. If it demands to be played loud as fuck, on repeat! If it sounds like the truth we’re in and we’ll come a see you play!
But first—we publish the books.
SCOTZO: No polish. No pose. Just power.
Q&A
Q1: Why do you write?
Because I can’t not write. I’m an overthinker and an over-observer — always flipping life upside down in my head. I used to pour that into songwriting and still do, but writing stories and articles helps me crystallise ideas. They’re less abstract than a song, more focused. I just really enjoy making things from scratch — characters, plots, situations, moods — that’s what I wake up for every day.
​
Q2: Who were your biggest influences?
In books: Chuck Palahniuk, Cormac McCarthy, Hunter S Thompson, Douglas Stuart, Irvine Welsh. But truthfully, I draw more influence to write from music and film than I do from books — because there’s story in all of it. I’m led by the great creators, especially in music: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bowie, Hendrix. In film: Tarantino, Scorcese and Guy Ritchie — not just for the output, but for the freedom they demanded to be great and make the things they wanted to make. They are proper artists shaped culture with their ideas, each in their own way. In life: My wife and kids, my childhood friends, people I've worked with, nature is a big influence on me, my dogs, all of it is an influence of some kind.
​
Q3: What’s Scotzo Journalism all about?
It’s truth-telling with a bloody nose and a bit of working class flair. The name comes from Hunter S. Thompson’s Gonzo — but this is the Scottish version. Scotzo is rooted in working-class life, shaped more by the psychology, the culture, and the lived experience more than than drugs or spectacle like Hunter. It’s part philosophy, part rant, part self-help for people who’d never touch a self-help book. It's for those of us raised with NEDS and night shifts, not mindfulness and marketing-speak.
​
Q4: What would you say to someone who’s never read a book in their life?
Start now. You don’t need a degree to get it. Reading is just someone talking — but better. Try something you'd enjoy — a football biography, a story about a band you love, something that speaks your language. Then try some fiction — crime, romance, whatever grabs you. Just give it a go and stick with it. Maybe once you start, you won’t want to stop. I’m trying to be one of the voices that helps get you going. So aye, start with An Average Glasgow Hitman.
​
Q5: Top Fives
​
Books: Fiction-wise, I'd go with Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, The Conqueror Series by Conn Iggulden, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, and Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart.
Albums: Abbey Road (The Beatles), Definitely Maybe (Oasis), Urban Hymns (The Verve), Harvest (Neil Young), and The Stone Roses (Stone Roses). And if I could sneak in a sixth, it’d be Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake — everyone should hear that at least once.
Films: Enter The Dragon, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Gladiator, and There Will Be Blood.
​
Q6: Favourite pair of trainers ever owned?
Easy — Adidas Originals Samba OGs with the fold-over tongue. I was obsessed with them as a wee guy in the early 90s. Problem was, they started at size 6 and I was a size 4, so I had to wait it out. The minute I hit a size 5, my ma got me a pair, doubled up on the football socks, and they were magic. Black with the white stripes, gum sole, big white rubber bit on the toe — class. Never out of place still, whether you’re heading to play football, going to a gig, or court.
​
Q7: What’s next for Ray?
Maybe, An Average Scottish Hitmen — the sequel to the first. It’s bigger, darker, madder. Political chaos, underground wars, family drama. Maybe another title I'm working on. And after that? I’ll keep writing, keep publishing, and start helping other voices like mine get heard.
