Shonen Knife Issue #28

The Japanese duo celebrates a quarter of a century with its latest album, Genki Shock!

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

The band famous for its odes to banana chips and Barbie dolls celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. For two and a half decades, Shonen Knife has offered up a sweet and often bizarre blend of bubblegum punk pop that’s won them a legion of fans, including Kurt Cobain and Thurston Moore.

The band, which hails from Osaka, Japan, spent most of its career as a trio, but after drummer Mana Nishiura died in a New Jersey traffic accident while touring with DMBQ in 2005, Shonen Knife is now a duo composed of sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano. Despite one less member, there is no shortage of spirit or energy on Shonen Knife’s latest album, Genki Shock!, which mixes emphatic vocals with steady, garage-rock riffs.

Singer-guitarist Naoko has led Shonen Knife from its inception. She was weaned on American bands like the Ramones, Kiss, and Cheap Trick — which was a bit of an anomaly in her homeland. “There’s a huge music market in Japan, but the scene is very domestic,” she says. “Japanese people don’t know the name of American million-selling musicians. Japanese young people only listen to Japanese bands or musicians. I like American and British music.”

Naoko’s lyrics also are influenced by the American experience. For instance, the inspiration for Genki Shock!’s skulky “Broccoli Man” came when Naoko “found that it is a typical, popular vegetable to American people.” Shonen Knife has always had a penchant for personifying food and they do it again on the new album. When Naoko repeats, “I like him to eat, I like him to eat, I like to eat him, I like to eat him,” you don’t even bat an eye. However, the duo doesn’t limit itself to just singing about food. The song “S*P*A*M” is actually not about the canned pork product, but rather a rocking rant about those annoying e-mails that flood your inbox. The lyrics go, “Many trash e-mails, some are sent to me every day … I’m not ready for so many evil spam e-mails.”

Despite Shonen Knife’s fan base and critical adulation, Naoko remains modest about the band’s success. “Twenty-five years ago, the number of bands were not many like nowadays,” she says. “That’s why the trash bands could release albums on record companies. We were lucky. I always feel like everything about Shonen Knife is fresh. I’ve never felt that 25 years have passed since I started the band. We have always had good supporters around us who made us continue so long.”

When Naoko talks about the music she’s listening to recently, she says heavy metal and hip-hop are in heavy rotation, including Black Sabbath and Public Enemy. “I don’t know most of the musicians’ names, but I like to listen through cable broadcasting,” she says. “Heavy metal makes me high. I like hyper, happy, groovy music.”

But don’t expect Shone Knife to ditch their regular format. “I would try to make such music, but I can’t play the guitar part of heavy metal and I can’t memorize the long lyrics of a rap song,” Naoko says. “Shonen Knife is Shonen Knife.” And thank goodness for that.