Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ)

I fell in love with Shonen Knife in the early 90s, with Let's Knife. And although my first (and favorite) Knife song is "Riding the Rocket", the lyrics may sound outdated due to the fact that Pluto was de-planetized: "Riding the rocket, I wanna go to Pluto.". They were further popularized when the band was asked to open up for Nirvana (who was supernova-ing with Nevermind).

I remember in an early interview with Kurt Cobain, he talked about how Shonen Knife was able to turn a cold audience to massive fans by the end of their set. In some ways, Cobain admit to being a little jealous of the power of Shonen Knife's music.

Since then, Shonen Knife had some minor hits with their '94 album, Rock Animals, with "Tomato Head", and "Brown Mushrooms" (which actually sounds like they're singing "musha-rooms"). KROQ, The Edge, and MTV's 120 Minutes were all playing those songs. It was a great year for them.

Of course, I tried to track down their early albums, with less than spectacular results. Most of their pre-Let's Knife albums were only available in Japan, and import cost was out of the question.... although one day I did find 712 in the clearance bin at Amoeba Records, which made me quite happy.

So, I will attempt to explain why Shonen Knife is one of my favorite bands: they are adorable (like so many things from Japan), they sound like the Ramones (but with broken Engrish), and they seem to really enjoy food (most of their songs are about food). If that doesn't grab you, I know what what else I can tell you.

I'll be perfectly honest with you that I have not kept up with Shonen Knife since Happy Hour ("Banana Chips" is awesome!), and be sure to track down the US version of Brand New Knife which comes with bonus Japanese tracks (they had re-recorded all their songs in English for us!).

So last year, the band released Super Group and announced their new bassist Ritsuko Taneda, who stepped in to replace drummer-turned-bassist Atsuko Yamano (who was married and moved to Los Angeles).

See the cute/clumsy/shy announcement of the new bassist:

Super Group comes out in the US, courtesy of Good Charmamel Records on August 25^th. While this is by no means a full review, I did get a chance to listen to the forth-coming album and from what I've heard, it's classic Shonen Knife. My favorite is "Slug", a grinding cute song about feeling like a slug.

There is one cover song on the album, "Jet", originally from Paul McCartney's Wings' album, Band on the Run. Shonen Knife's version brought a much-needed pop-punk sound to the song.

Some songs sounds too metal for me ("Muddy Bubble Hell"), but catchy songs like "Evil Birds" will more than make up for the heavier songs. I don't know why Naoko Yamano is afraid of birds, but apparently she's afraid of the evil ones. Too cute.

There are no tours announcement yet, but I reckon they won't be far behind when the album is officially released in the US. If they are going out on tour, for sure, I'll be there. So be on the lookout for Super Group in late August. In the meantime, I would suggest checking out Rock Animals and Brand New Knife to tie you over.