Non Fiction
Category: Memoir, Non Fiction
Number of pages: 220
ISBN: 9781781727225
Publication date: March 25, 2024
Price: £9.99
‘Six life-changing, raging and inspiring XL shirts – a soundtrack to growing up and living in Wales is more than just the records. A brilliant book.” – Rhys Mwyn
This is no ordinary memoir.
Euron Griffith has lied to David Cassidy, seen his dreams of pop stardom being torn to shreds (quite literally) by the crowds at Glastonbury, and found himself at the wrong end of a shotgun…
An avid music fan from a young age, A Casual Life is centred around six particularly memorable band T-shirts owned by Griffith as he grew older (but not necessarily wiser).
From the disastrous first (and last) gig by his debut band, through to his eventual deal with a major label, from life growing up in pre-internet north Wales (when even pop radio couldn’t make it past the mountains) to the smoky clubs of Soho, this is a story of how music gets into the soul and how it helps us cope with all life throws our way.
You may not have been there.
You may not have the T-shirts.
But now, at least, you can read all about it.
Euron Griffith
Born in Bangor, Euron Griffith has a Creative Writing MA from the University of Glamorgan. Between 2011 and 2016 he published three novels in Welsh – Dyn Pob Un (about a TV researcher who becomes an accidental serial killer), Leni Tiwdor (about a private eye who is also a record collector) and Tri Deg Tri (about a hitman who can talk to animals), and a children’s novel Eilian a’r Eryr. His English language short story collection, The Beatles in Tonypandy appeared in 2017 from Dean Street Press, and in 2020 Seren published his first novel written in English, Miriam, Daniel and Me. His poetry has also been published in The Spectator.
Griffith lives in Cardiff, where he works as a radio and TV producer and plays in a band. His memoir, revolving around t-shirts he has owned at various points in his life, was published by Seren in 2024.
“Essentially and quite wonderfully, this memoir is a homage to not quite making it… Up-tempo when all is exciting, rallentando when dreams begin to evaporate, and with sentences short and percussive as his university life unravels, it is clear we’re in the hands of a musician… Euron weaves stories with garrets and passages that return to the point and delivers a rich trove of observations that like all life’s funniest moments, teeter on the brink of pathos… I can see where this book might go. Radio play, podcasts, Guardian Top Ten, Christmas bestseller, film rights. Of course it also might not, the big time being so elusive. Either way it’s rather brilliant.”
Julie Brominicks, Nation.Cymru
“Laced with wit and… intriguing events, A Casual Life In Six T-Shirts demonstrates Griffith’s natural affinity for storytelling… Euron Griffith reflects humorously and honestly on his not-so-successful attempts at stardom. The six T-shirts of the title anchor the memoir in a mostly linear fashion with odes to musicians aplenty: this book is not only a telling of the author’s life but also a nostalgic tale of British music and culture through the decades.”
Sara Murphy, Buzz Magazine
“(Euron’s) flow is smooth and rhythmic with plenty of scope for philosophical explorations, scenic diversions, random polemics, flights of fancy and dead ends. “
the Afterword
