“1976年の新宿ロフト,” a Seikaisha Shinsho book by Loft founder 平野悠, will be published by 星海社 on Tuesday, January 23.


In this sweeping chronicle, the founder of Loft looks back on the early struggles before Japanese rock music truly won mainstream acceptance.


During the 1970s, Japan’s rock scene grew explosively in just a few years, eventually becoming a major force across the entire domestic music industry. Loft was the live music venue that kept pace with the pioneering musicians at the forefront of that excitement.


Centering on episodes surrounding the now-legendary Shinjuku Loft of 1976, the founder of a venue that nurtured superstars of Japanese rock and folk reveals the long, winding history of Japanese rock through artists’ unguarded personalities and the raw realities of the industry. It is a book through which readers can follow rock’s emergence as an accepted counterculture to kayōkyoku.



The book substantially expands the Nikkan Gendai serial “「ロフト」創業者が見たライブハウス50年.” It also includes a newly recorded conversation with music producer 牧村憲一, who participated in the Loft label in the 1970s, and rare materials relating to Shinjuku Loft’s opening ceremony in October 1976. It offers a sense of the energy and excitement of the era when live music venues emerged as a new culture.


“As the 1980s began, an unprecedented band boom arrived. From Hokoten to Ikaten, Japanese rock gained immense support from young people and reached its peak. Shinjuku Loft played a major role as a point of ignition. The process leading to its opening is also important, and we must look further back to reexamine the outdated state of Japan’s music industry in the late 1960s and the historical circumstances in which Karasuyama Loft was born in March 1971 to challenge it.” — From the prologue


A talk event, “創業者自ら語るライブハウス「ロフト」の半世紀,” celebrating the publication of 平野悠’s “1976年の新宿ロフト” (Seikaisha Shinsho), is scheduled for Wednesday, February 7 at Loft/Plus One in Shinjuku Kabukicho.


AUTHOR



Profile: 平野悠

Born in Tokyo on August 10, 1944. Founder of Loft, also known as “ロフト席亭.” During the 1970s, opened Loft live music venues in Karasuyama, Nishi-Ogikubo, Ogikubo, Shimokitazawa and Shinjuku in succession. After backpacking abroad and founding a Japanese restaurant and trading company in the Dominican Republic, returned to Japan in the early 1990s. In 1995, opened Loft/Plus One, the world’s first talk-event venue, establishing talk-event culture in Japan. Books include “旅人の唄を聞いてくれ！ 〜ライブハウス親父の世界84ヵ国放浪記〜” (1999, Loft Books), “ニッポン放浪宿ガイド200〜人生を変える旅、運命を変える宿〜” (2005, 山と渓谷社), “ライブハウス『ロフト』青春記” (2012, 講談社), and the romance novel “セルロイドの海” (2020, 世界書院).



BOOK

Seikaisha Shinsho “1976年の新宿ロフト”

Author: 平野悠

Supervised by: 牧村憲一

Price: ¥1,400 before tax / ¥1,540 including tax

ISBN：978-4-06-534787-4

Release Date: January 23, 2024 (Tue.)

(The release date varies by region.)

Format: Shinsho paperback

Publisher: 星海社

https://www.seikaisha.co.jp/information/2023/12/25-post-283.html

Amazon URLhttps://www.amazon.co.jp/o/ASIN/4065347874/seikaisha-22

https://www.amazon.co.jp/o/ASIN/4065347874/seikaisha-22



EVENT

Half a Century of Loft Live Music Venues, as Told by the Founder

A talk event celebrating the publication of 平野悠’s “1976年の新宿ロフト” (Seikaisha Shinsho)


Featuring: 平野悠 (founder of Loft), 牧村憲一 (music producer), and others

February 7, 2024 (Wed.) — Loft/Plus One, Shinjuku Kabukicho

OPEN 18:30 / START 19:30

Details: https://www.loft-prj.co.jp/schedule/plusone/274201



In-Person Tickets

Advance: ¥1,000 / Advance with book: ¥2,540

At the door: ¥1,500 / At the door with book: ¥3,040

Food and drinks charged separately for all tickets. A minimum order of ¥600 is required.

Advance tickets go on sale through LivePocket at 12:00 on Monday, January 15.

https://t.livepocket.jp/e/g83qp

Tickets are available with or without the book. Please take care to choose the correct option. Books will be handed over at the venue on the day.