Winner of the Inaugural Max Boyce Literary Prize 2010
Rachel Trezise grew up listening to the rock behemoths of the late 1980s and harbouring an ambition to write a warts 'n' all rockumentary. At a rock gig in a Rhondda pub, she discovered Midasuno; a gaggle of Merthyr kids with a ton of conviction and a penchant for neck breaking guitar riffs. In 2005, she stepped onto the tour bus they call Black Betty and tracked the band as they razed the British toilet circuit. Part reportage, social history and memoir, Dial M For Merthyr tells the story of a band from the wrong side of the tracks trying to stay afloat in an ever changing musical and social climate.