Courtesy of Good Charamel Records.
When you can count ’90s alternative rock giants like Nirvana and Sonic Youth among your biggest supporters, success should come as no surprise. But when you’re an all-female garage rock trio from Japan, garnering a worldwide following might still seem a little far fetched. And to still have continued success in the United States more than 20 years later is something of which anyone should be proud. Sitting down with Shonen Knife at Anime Weekend Atlanta a few weeks ago, however, I quickly realized this band is still incredibly humble. Having just performed the previous night at East Atlanta 529 rock club, Shonen Knife was preparing for an afternoon performance in front a very different audience of anime lovers. And despite its brevity and broken English, this interview was one of the more interesting ones I’ve done in quite a while. Singer/guitarist Naoko Yamano, the only original member of the band, sat down next to me while bassist Ritsuko Taneda and drummer Emi Morimoto created a semicircle around us. But when I asked questions, the two of them would smile, nod and giggle from time to time while Yamano did all the talking. Currently wrapping up its Overdrive tour of North America (which included the band’s 1,000th show last month), here is the result of Wrestling with Pop Culture‘s sit-down with Shonen Knife at AWA.
You normally perform at rock clubs like the one you performed in last night. Will AWA be your first anime convention performance?
Last year we played at AyaCon, a British one.
How does a rock club performance compare to an anime convention performance for you?
Courtesy of Good Charamel Records.
Mostly they are the same. But this convention is more big; bigger than last year’s Britain one.
What is the biggest difference playing in a smoky bar and playing in a convention ballroom?
I like both. I like to play the very dark and to play at a bar is fine. But playing a very clean huge place is also fine. So I cannot compare.
One of the Goo Goo Dolls produced some of your more recent work. How did such an unlikely collaboration come about?
Our album called Osaka Ramones, the Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby [Takac] produced. It’s all Ramones cover songs and it was released in 2011. He is owner of our American label called Good Charamel. He understood about underground music and he produced our cover songs. Our latest album Overdrive was produced by myself.
Overdrive was just released in April. How would you say it compares to your previous albums?
The new one is inspired by ’70s American rock and British hard rock. Previous ones, Pop Tune and some others, are punk albums or something like that. But I wanted to make something new, something different. Recently I liked to listen to ’70s music and I like that.
When you started gaining interest and attention from other bands and fans in America, was that a goal you were trying to achieve or did Nirvana, Sonic Youth and all these other bands somehow discover your music on their own?
We were playing without conscious. Fortunately many bands became our fans, so it’s very lucky.
Do you know how they originally discovered your music?
Courtesy of Good Charamel Records.
Originally, in the early ’80s, Shonen Knife released vinyl in Japan and an American guy who owns record label called K Records came to Japan and he bought our album. Then he made a contact to me by postal mail and he wanted to release our album in America. So we send master tape to him. It was the start point.
Do you have any new music you’re working on? Do you know when your next album might be released?
I’m always very lazy and I start make songs when I book studios. So if I book studio for the next album I can start writing songs.
How do you decide when you’re going to book a studio to begin working on a new album?
I never look back and am looking just forward. Because I’m lazy, I never make long future plans. I think it makes me very fresh.
What are your plans after this tour concludes in October?
After this tour we have plans to go to India and have shows. It is first time for us. Now we are working on taking visas. Then we have some shows in Japan. Then we go to Australia and New Zealand next January and February.
Do you have a lot of fans in India?
I don’t know. We get to play at music festival in India, so I hope there are many Sonen Knife fans.