Formation and early years Shonen Knife was formed in December 1981 in
Osaka, Japan, by
Naoko Yamano on guitar and vocals; her college friend
Michie Nakatani on bass, keyboards, and vocals; and Naoko's then 17-year-old sister
Atsuko Yamano on drums. Naoko and Michie had both worked at office jobs; Atsuko had received training as a fashion designer and has created many of the band's stage outfits. The band was named after an old brand of pen knife that had been marketed to Japanese boys. ,
Naoko Yamano,
Atsuko Yamano) They played their first gig in Osaka in March 1982, followed by
Yama-no Attchan in 1984. While the band's early albums were only officially released in Japan, imported copies attracted a cult following among alternative rock fans in the United States. In 1985,
Burning Farm attracted the attention of
K Records in
Olympia, Washington, which re-released the album in America. In 1986 the band released multiple international versions of the album
Pretty Little Baka Guy, with the American version issued by
Sub Pop, and played internationally for the first time at a concert in Los Angeles with organizational support from Sonic Youth and
Redd Kross. The band's cult following among musicians was illustrated by the 1991
tribute album Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them, with cover songs by 23 punk and alternative rock acts.
International recognition The band released the album
712 in 1991. Shonen Knife received significant international recognition later that year when longtime fan
Kurt Cobain invited them to open for
Nirvana during a European tour, shortly before Nirvana gained widespread fame for their album
Nevermind. Shonen Knife signed with
Capitol Records in 1992 and released the album ''
Let's Knife in 1993, featuring re-recorded versions of many of their older songs with new English lyrics. The album Rock Animals was released internationally by Virgin Records in 1994, and the video for the song "Tomato Head" was featured on the American TV series Beavis & Butthead. In the late 1990s, Shonen Knife lost their international record contract and their albums were only available as imports from Japan. followed by Happy Hour'' in 1998.
Line-up changes and early 21st century Shonen Knife suffered its first lineup change in 1999, when Michie Nakatani left the band and retired from music. She was replaced by new full-time drummer Etsuko Nakanishi. In the following years, Atsuko would occasionally play with the band during tours outside of Japan, at which time Taneda would switch to rhythm guitar; Atsuko did not play on the band's studio albums during this period. The lineup of Naoko Yamano, Ritsuko Taneda, and Etsuko Nakanishi released the albums
Super Group (2008) and
Free Time (2010). In 2009 Shonen Knife signed with
Damnably in the United Kingdom, and with Good Charamel in the United States at the invitation of label owner
Robby Takac. In 2011 Shonen Knife released the Ramones tribute album
Osaka Ramones. This was followed by the original albums
Pop Tune in 2012 and
Overdrive in 2014. During this period they made another appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. In mid-2016, Taneda returned from maternity leave but did so on rhythm guitar, allowing Ishizuka to remain as the band's bassist. This briefly made Shonen Knife's official lineup a quartet for the first time. However, a short time later, founding member Atsuko Yamano rejoined the band as bassist and the band was again reduced to a trio consisting of the Yamano sisters and Risa Kawano. Taneda and Ishizuka would make occasional guest appearances on the band's next two albums. and the live album and video
Alive! In Osaka the following year.
Sweet Candy Power was released in 2019 ==Members==