Shonen Knife – Brand New Knife – Interview

Shonen Knife

Brand New Knife (Big Deal)
An interview with bassist Michie Nakatani
by Nik Rainey

You’d have to be a pretty cold-hearted bastard not to love Shonen Knife. In the ever-popular tradition of Japanese (mis)interpretations of Western culture bouncing back at us like one big game of Cultural Telephone, the three-piece from Osaka has been taken to heart by the West indie culture club since their formation in 1982, gaining rabid cult acceptance for their sweet-as-sake blend of three-chord pop and tickled, girlish lyrics and a mutual admiration society that includes Sonic Youth and Redd Kross (both of whom contributed to the high-keen tribute album, Every Band Has a Shonen Knife That Loves Them, a few years back). In recent years, some have feared that maturity had taken the bloom off the cherry blossom – their last album, Rock Animals (Virgin, 1995) was more conventional sounding and didn’t have quite the giddy tug of their earlier stuff – but Brand New Knife (Big Deal!), chock full of nifty tunes about amusement parks (“Loop De Loop”), action figures (“Magic Joe”), and fruits and vegetables (“Fruits and Vegetables”), sounds like innocence regained to me. Michie Nakatani (bass/vocals) took a few minutes to gabba-gabba with me, and here’s some of what she said.

How do you think Brand New Knife differs from your previous records?
It’s different because it’s the first time we recorded outside of Japan. We did this album in Los Angeles with the Robb Brothers, Bruce, Joe & Dee, and each of them brought something different to every song.

What about musically? “Buddha’s Face” seems like a bit of a stretch – a little Black Sabbath-y, maybe?
Yes, I think Naoko (Yamano, guitar/vocals) was very influenced by Black Sabbath. We usually play one heavy song at the end of our show and we thought that would be a good one to do for that.

I was surprised to read that you’re not nearly as popular in Japan as you are everywhere else. Is that true?
We have a very big fan base in Japan, but America still found Shonen Knife first. I would sometimes ask American musicians why they started to listen to Shonen Knife, and the person said “You are very different than others, very unique.” But I find that when we talk about music, we have similar tastes. We usually listened to the same stuff when we were younger.

Stuff like the Ramones…
… the Beatles, AC/DC, the Jam, the Buzzcocks, the Kinks… We love the great pop bands very much.

What about current bands?
I like Weezer, the Presidents of the United States of America… recently we toured Australia and we saw this band called You Am I, and I liked it. They’re a pop band and they have the essence of the sixties.

Can’t go wrong with that, can you?
(giggles)

What’s the music scene like at home these days? What’s popular in Japan?
What’s popular in Japan is very different than here. There is one big mainstream music scene – it’s either a female singer with a backing band or just… um… pop-singing boys (giggles). You know, pretty boys! And there are a few producers and they are, I don’t know, welcomed by a lot of people – their songs are very suited to be sung at karaoke bars (laughs). That kind of music is very, very popular and sells lots and lots of CDs but I’m not interested in that. Not at all.

So there’s no Shonen Knife night at the karaoke bars?
No, but you can come to Japan and sing Shonen Knife songs there if you want (laughs).

That’s what I do here, anyway. I’ll go and, no matter what song is playing, I’ll just scream “I like choco bars!” over and over again. It goes down huge. I’ve been banned from every karaoke bar in Massachusetts.
(wisely ignoring me) The reason Shonen Knife stays in Osaka, we don’t want to move to Tokyo because we like to be independent and we like to be away from that major scene.

You’ve been together for fifteen years now – what were your happiest moments as a band in all that time?
Since Shonen Knife is a big fan of the Ramones, two years ago when they came to Japan and we opened for them in Osaka it was so ooooh! We were just smiling all the time! And we covered one of their songs and after the show Joey Ramone came up to us and said (in a New York accent whose humor is utterly lost in print) “Your cover was pretty good.” That meant something to me.

You must be pretty depressed that they broke up.
Yeah, yeah, it’s so sad. I thought they’d be around forever, playing the same song a thousand more times.

Are you still in touch with Sonic Youth?
Oh, yes. Thurston Moore played on our last album and we’ve played with them many times. They are very good people and I respect the way they approach music and their support of other bands. When we come back to Japan we like to mention the American bands we like, to promote them in Japan just like Sonic Youth does for us in America.

They’ve also given a big push to the Japanese noise bands, like Masonna, Merzbow, etc. What do you think of them?
I (laughing) usually don’t think of them. I don’t listen to noise music that much, so I don’t have much comment, but to be able to come and play in America is good. I’m glad for them. I think strange music is good. We’re strange, too, but we’re Shonen Knife strange. What magazine did you say you write for?

Actually, you should like this – it’s called Lollipop.
Oh! That’s very sweet.