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Originally Posted by stu666

Shonen Knife - 2016-04-24 - Colchester Arts Centre, Essex, UK

From Magnet:

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Shonen Knife: Pleasant Dreams

After 35 years, Shonen Knife is still playing music to make people happy

Blame the perpetual adolescence of her lifestyle. But after 35 years —much to her amazement— Shonen Knife bandleader Naoko Yamano is still firing on all punk-and-garage-infused six cylinders on the girl trio's new Adventure album, featuring rollicking anthems like "Wasabi," "Dog Fight," "Tasmanian Devil" and the '60s-chiming "Jump Into The New World."

"Actually, I think I've gotten more rock 'n' roll than ever before," says the Osaka native, who was once championed by the late Kurt Cobain. "Shonen Knife had a membership change in recent years, because women have to sometimes do parent care and family things. But I really wanted to continue the band, so I was lucky I could find very good new members. So my energy for rock 'n' roll is allowing me to continue."

On drums, Yamano recruited Risa from the group Brinky. For bass, she convinced her sister Atsuko (the group's founding drummer) to rejoin after five years away. And the singer still plays her two lightweight Daisy guitars onstage, one bright blue, the other shiny silver ("Their design and color are very pop and cute, and their concept is actually guitars for girls," she says), plus her own pink-hued, self-designed Fujigen signature model ("The guitar neck is less thick, with jumbo frets, and the rear pickup is a humbucker, with a switch at the bottom, so it's much easier to play," she says of the limited-run axe, produced by the Japanese company a decade ago and now an auction-site rarity).

Lyrically, Adventure is just as glossy as Yamano's instruments. "If I wanted to say something about political things, I would be a politician," she says. "I just want people to get happy with our music." On the record's blues-scruffy "Rock 'N' Roll T-Shirt," for instance, no introspective analysis is required as Yamano assesses her concert-tee wardrobe with a chirping "I like to wear them everywhere/They are my best clothes." It's a simplicity reminiscent of her longtime idols, the Ramones, which she honored by recording an eponymous album as the Osaka Ramones in 2011. It was produced by Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac, another band booster, who issued it —and several other Shonen Knife discs— on his Good Charamel imprint. "Robby is very punk," she says of her benefactor.

As it did in 2010 at the request of then-curator Matt Groening, Shonen Knife will play this year's All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Britain, under the aegis of comedian Stewart Lee. Yamano only wishes her teenage daughter were more excited by such achievements. "She doesn’t like rock music, it's very weird to her — she likes anime and manga instead," she says. "I think rock music is gradually being forgotten now by young people in Japan."

But Yamano has a personal method for keeping the music's spirit alive. She plays tennis, several times a week, and catches professional opens whenever she can on tour. "Playing is very good for my health," she says. "And after I started to play tennis, I never get tired after a show now. So rock 'n' roll and tennis go very well together — it's a good match for me."

—Tom Lanham

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2016/0...easant-dreams/