Shonen Knife

Spaceland - September 14, 2010

Live Review by Joe Cortez

With all the clashing egos, strong personalities and conflicting visions that can cause tensions between members, any band that manages to stay together for 30 days is to be commended, but for a combo to weather the storm for 30 years is legend and although they haven't quite been mentioned in the same breath as other stately rock survivors, Japanese power pop trio Shonen Knife can most certainly be called legendary.

Shonen Knife have seen several lineup changes and bouts of tragedy in recent years, but that they're still active, still touring and still kicking ass is something special indeed. The band seems to exist now more or less as frontwoman Naoko Yamano's musical outlet in much the same way as Chrissie Hynde is, for all intents and purposes, The Pretenders but operates as a single, cohesive unit.

The girls, currently on tour in support of their latest CD, "Free Time," stopped by LA's Spaceland last Tuesday night. Coming out holding banners with kanji artfully scribbled across, the girls clearly embraced their outsider status and in turn were welcomed with open arms by the crowd.

There's a kind of early Cheap Trick-esque mania that infused many of the songs played. It's poppy, yes, but not without a certain demented sense of exuberance and whimsy. Most of the songs performed this evening were in Japanese and unintelligible by most at the venue, but you probably wouldn't know it judging by the reaction from the crowd. It was hard not to get a kick out of seeing a mostly Anglo audience pitch Japanese phrases back to the girls between songs, all of it in good fun and keeping with the spirit of cultural exchange which the girls themselves partake in by playing Western music.

Not being steeped in Shonen Knife lore, perhaps the most surprising moment for me came when the band broke out a cover of "Boys," the song made famous of course by The Beatles but originally recorded by The Shirelles, so it was more than a little fitting to see this female trio ostensibly bring the song back to its roots albeit by way of Osaka, Japan.

At the end of the day, or night as it were, Shonen Knife is just an incredibly fun band to watch perform. With infectious tunes ranging in substance from barbecues to cute and cuddly animals and undeniable musicianship wrapped in an infectious package, Shonen Knife still proves, even after all these years, impossible to resist.