Isaac is drifting through Australia when he wakes up next to a corpse and a small pile of money. Fleeing the scene, he’s soon on a plane to Japan where he finds work in a rock club. More interested in laying low than in ever finding out what really happened in Melbourne, he slowly re-establishes his identity by joining a band. But even as rock fame begins to pull him out his protective shell and into the future, a new series of murders draws him back to an unpleasant past.
Music Start is a 100,000 word novel about love, death, and Japanese indie music. It is set in Japan, where the author lived for six years as a freelance writer and English teacher. Non-fiction books about rock and roll like Japrock Sampler, I’m With The Band and Our Band Could Be Your Life are legendary, and new titles about the Beatles, Guns n’ Roses are still very hot. There are even books about Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain coming out nearly 15 years after his death; despite the interest in books of music reporting and biography, high interest in rock films and reality shows and smash hit guitar video games, there is a dearth of good fiction in a musical setting—rock ‘n’ roll fantasy—and I believe Music Start can speak to those interested in good music, a good story and the escapism of exotic locales along the lines of the successful film Almost Famous. It has also become apparent in Japan itself, where “Detroit Metal City” has become a major manga and anime hit, and the upcoming feature film shows promise.
Read seven chapters from the book here.
Find out more about the cast of characters here.
Read a synopsis and see the table of contents here.
See videos of bands featured in Music Start here and here.
The video clip below is from the climax of the Ultra Fuckers historic April 18, 2003 show in Osaka Namba Bears. The bans has a prominent role in Music Start.