Sunday Star-Times

Cute & sugary punk

Kurt Cobain was the band’s No 1 fan: meet the Japanese rockers who sing about robots, riding bikes, icecream and their favourite pets. reports.

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Grant Smithies

How complicate­d does pop music really need to be? Three pogo-friendly punk chords, a hefty beat and some guff about cats? Wrap it up; I’ll take it!

If you can eat it, stroke it, ride it or take it for a walk, there’s a high chance Japanese pop-punk band Shonen Knife has written a brilliantl­y simple song about it. Actually, make that several songs. The band known as the ‘‘Osaka Ramones’’ has written multiple ditties about cats, and a scattering of others featuring dogs, bison, parrots, oysters and those freaky giant South American guinea pigs called capybara.

It also has brisk, no-frills songs about tennis, robots, collecting insects, riding bikes and catching rockets into space. And food. So much food.

Open up the band’s musical larder and you’ll find several dozen Shonen Knife songs about tucker of all kinds. Some pose questions that have vexed philosophe­rs down the ages, like ‘‘Which style of noodle is best? And ‘‘Wasabi! Why is it so hot?’’

‘‘Many other bands write songs about love, but I’m ashamed to sing about love by myself,’’ says singer/ guitarist Naoko Yamano, who has led the band for the past 36 years, mostly alongside her bassist sister Atsuko, who also designs their rad outfits. Clattering out the beat behind the siblings is their new drummer, Risa Kiwano.

‘‘Singing about love – this is too private. So I decide to pick up some different topics, and my favourite thing is food, so I write about that. Also, animals. So, now I write many food songs and many animal songs.’’

I Wanna Eat Cookies. Ramen Rock. Sushi Bar. Banana Chips. Strawberry Cream Puff. I Wanna Eat Choco-Bars. Ice Cream City. Shonen Knife’s set list is crammed with high-calorie tunes. When the band plays two New Zealand gigs in early October, you can bet the set list will ensure all food groups are represente­d.

‘‘Yes, this is true. Mainly, I write many sweet songs, because I have sweet teeth. Is that how you say it? I love sweet things, so I write about hot chocolate and cake, but I write too many sweet songs, so I moved on to some spicy and salty food, you know?’’

Named after a pencil sharpener, Shonen Knife (literally ‘‘Boy Knife’’) formed in Osaka in 1981. There were few all-female bands in Japan at the time, and certainly no other punkinspir­ed family groups who called their musical genre ‘‘oo-oo-ultra-eccentrics­uper-cult-punk-pop-band-shonenknif­e!’’.

‘‘When I start Shonen Knife, I was inspired by late-70s punk, especially Buzzcocks and the Ramones,’’ says Yamano, who last played here in 2015. She speaks slowly, carefully, pausing often to find the correct English word.

‘‘We added pop melody to this, because we also love Beatles and Motown, so our sound became punkpop. More recently, I am inspired by 70s hard rock, so our latest album Adventure has sound of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Deep Purple and Rainbow.’’

Fame came after a song from the band’s third album, Pretty Little Baka Guy, ended up on a 1986 compilatio­n released by Seattle undergroun­d label, Sub Pop.

Influentia­l BBC DJ John Peel began thrashing Shonen Knife’s records in the UK, while heavyweigh­t US bands Sonic Youth, Redd Kross, Mudhoney and Nirvana all declared themselves fans.

After years of praising the records, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain went to see the band play in Los Angeles. He told Rolling Stone magazine: ‘‘When I finally got to see them live, I was transforme­d into a hysterical 9-yearold girl at a Beatles concert.’’

Cobain hired Shonen Knife as support act for Nirvana’s first UK tour, playing nine shows together just before the release of Nirvana’s breakthrou­gh album, Nevermind.

‘‘This was very strange for us. When we got the offer to tour with them, we had no idea who Nirvana was. I saw their photograph and they look very wild, and I was scared! But once we met, they were very kind gentlemen.

‘‘The tour went very well and they helped us a lot, to get better known. It was our first long tour overseas, and many, many people saw us.’’

Still a breathless fan-boy, Cobain would watch them perform each night from the side of the stage. ‘‘I was an emotional sap the whole time,’’ he told MTV. ‘‘I cried every night.’’

Cobain approached Yamano to teach him a Shonen Knife song.

‘‘Yes, Kurt wanted to learn our song Twist Barbie for a secret gig they were doing, and I taught him the chords. He was very smart and learned these chords really quickly.’’

Cobain’s patronage of the band helped jump-start a career that now spans 19 albums and umpteen world tours. Shonen Knife first played New Zealand at the 1997 Big Day Out, and the upcoming tour will be the band’s fourth visit.

Now 56, Yamano still loves touring, but misses Osaka terribly when she’s away.

‘‘Osaka is Japan’s second largest city, and the culture is very different. Some people think everything good is in Tokyo, but people in Osaka are more independen­t and friendly, and the food is more delicious. People in Tokyo are more formal and polite, where people in Osaka are more cheerful. I love to live in Osaka.’’

What makes Shonen Knife so interestin­g, in many ways, is the culture clash inherent in the band’s

 ??  ?? Shonen Knife, from left, Naoko Yamano, Risa Kawano and Atsuko Yamano.
Shonen Knife, from left, Naoko Yamano, Risa Kawano and Atsuko Yamano.
 ??  ?? Shonen Knife’s Naoko Yamano says the band wears ‘‘cute matching clothes because our audience are usually more fashionabl­e than the members of Shonen Knife, so if we wear regular clothes, they would be disappoint­ed. These clothes help us be confident’’.
Shonen Knife’s Naoko Yamano says the band wears ‘‘cute matching clothes because our audience are usually more fashionabl­e than the members of Shonen Knife, so if we wear regular clothes, they would be disappoint­ed. These clothes help us be confident’’.

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