About the Book
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'Eddie was there very early doors. His story is of the many.' Paul Weller
'A total riot! Takes me right back to the 70s. A Superb book' Mani, The Stone Roses
'What a wonderful book. Mod isn't about what decade you lived in, it's about your attitude, and this book has tons of it' Kenney Jones, The Small Faces
'A charismatic storyteller, witty and unpretentious, he is at once an engaging protagonist and an indisputable authority, giving a live-wire, visceral perspective on mod life in that short flash of time. He manages to create a welcoming space in this rather exclusive world while never losing his formidable edge as a narrator' - The Big Issue
'Buy it on sight. You won't be disappointed' - Louder Than War
'Eddie's book is really good!' - Robert Elms
'Akin to being in the company of someone with plenty of entertaining tales to tell.... the comradery and spirit of like-minded souls is inspiring.' - Paul Ritchie, Shindig! Magazine
WITH A FOREWORD BY PAUL WELLER
This is the memoir of a teenage mod from the East End of London.
A journey of discovery for a schoolboy dabbling with punk, funk, record shops, discos and clothes, and then... WHAAAM! An unstoppable wave of like-minded kids fall headlong in love with 60s mod culture, revived and reformatted for the 70s and 80s generation.
Eddie Piller was one such kid. His life was changed forever. Written with humour, passion and attention to detail, CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES is perhaps the ultimate mod memoir, taking us from meeting the Small Faces as a toddler, to the 1979 Mod revival, through the more purist 1980s mod scene and eventually to Acid Jazz.
A born storyteller, Eddie takes us evocatively into a world of scooters, clothes, and music. We run with the crowd to decaying seaside towns, East End backstreet boozers and sweaty teenage gigs, all fizzing with an uncontainable excitement and often exploding into violence.
Once mod touched your soul it changed the way you looked at life, unexpectedly broadening your horizons. In Eddie it awakens a can-do attitude that sees him setting up a fanzine, putting on club nights, hustling jobs in the music industry, and eventually setting up a record label. It even takes him to Ireland at the height of the troubles and to Australia where the local mods take him on a military exercise...
Visceral and always entertaining, CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES is a stand-out memoir that relives the thrill of the 70s and 80s, and the movement that helped make mod the most enduring and successful British youth culture of all time.
About the Author :
Writer, record producer, label owner, broadcaster, and entrepreneur EDDIE PILLER is heavily involved with the mod subculture, an interest which started in 1966 when his mum ran the fan club for East End mod super-stars, The Small Faces.
He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Acid Jazz records which recently celebrated its 35th birthday and remains one of the most successful indie labels of a generation.
In recent years Piller has seen great success with the acclaimed jazz and soul compilation series 'Martin Freeman & Eddie Piller Present...' with the award-winning actor. He is also behind the chart-topping BBC album, 'Eddie Piller presents...The Mod Revival.' A thirty-year career in specialist radio has included successful spells presenting at radio stations such as Jazz FM, BBC Radio London, 6 Music, and Kiss FM. In 2019 he founded specialist internet radio station, Totally Wired Radio (TWR) and is especially well known for his regular Modcast show. Piller has recently written two books for Omnibus on the subject of Fanzines, and has written nine documentaries for Sky, ITV and the BBC as well as two radio documentaries. He has been the headline DJ at Glastonbury and Bestival, and Paul Weller's tour DJ. Currently, Eddie, among other things, manages the actor/musician Matt Berry and can be spotted, if you're eagle-eyed, in the latest series of Toast as a Californian cop.
Review :
If I'd have lived through the mod movement in London in the 60s my heroes would've been Guy Stevens and Pete Meaden - but as a teenage mod in the early 1980's Eddie Piller was that guy. This book is a glorious testament to that.
Eddie Piller's life in music (and elsewhere) is quite a tale. He always strikes me as one of the lucky few who win the lottery by making up their own job description. Deejay, broadcaster, self-taught producer, he's covered many angles in his time. This book is as fun and engaging as the man himself.
A charismatic storyteller, witty and unpretentious, he is at once an engaging protagonist and an indisputable authority, giving a live-wire, visceral perspective on mod life in that short flash of time. He manages to create a welcoming space in this rather exclusive world while never losing his formidable edge as a narrator.
[CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES] never loses its percussive humour or whip-hand sense of style... Piller is one of those inspirational figures (a lot like Creations Alan McGee ) who has always acted like a conduit between creative talent, lighting the blue touch paper for those with musical chops and similar vision. If this book is his legacy, then it's a fantastic one, for his is most certainly a life less ordinary. Buy it on sight. You won't be disappointed.
Eddie's book is really good!
Akin to being in the company of someone with plenty of entertaining tales to tell .... the comradery and spirit of like-minded souls is inspiring.
