It was Shonen Knife Day in L.A.! Some good publicity appeared in the local press announcing their show (their first ever at the House of Blues here in Tinseltown...). "Entertainment Today" named this show the "Pick of the Week", and Dan Epstein wrote in the L.A. Weekly: "God Bless Shonen Knife! ...Naoko, Michie and Atsuko have bounced back with "Brand New Knife", a joyous collection of 13 songs (the CD adds seven Japanese-language bonus tracks).... Their giddy live show, which features matching outfits, goofy head-banging, Naoko's wicked fuzz-tone solos, and "devils horns" handsigns flashed as if Satan himself was a Sanrio character - is simply not to be missed!"
I'd received a call from Norio Yamamoto of MCA Victor Japan on Wednesday - to tell me that Shonen Knife were going to be doing an "in-store" appearance at Tower Records on Sunset that Saturday, at 1:00 p.m. - and requesting that I get the news out on the Internet. KROQ was announcing the event as well. I got my 5 hours of sleep, following the trip back to L.A. from the San Diego show, and headed down to Tower. I arrived there at about 1:00, and found several fans 'qeued up' with CDs and LPs of "Brand New Knife" for the girls to sign. There wasn't much advance publicity on this "in-store", but a respectable number of fans came and it went very well. Shonen Knife fan Zack Webber, whom I'd met at the Troubadour show in February, was there, as were SK website moderator Mark Stopfer ("Scientist Mark") and friend Gail Gottfried ("Sensai Gail"). Zack brought the girls a basket of delicious "fruits sans vegetables". 
The video crew from We Got Power Films filmed the event, and did several interviews with fans around the Tower Records store. The band did a little shopping for CDs at Tower, and did some "photo opps" in front of the store.
At 5:00 p.m., the video crew arrived at the House of Blues on Sunset, to do a series of interviews with fans who would like to express their interest and appreciation for Shonen Knife. The people who publish the popular L.A. Rock 'zine "Ben Is Dead" were there, and were interviewed... and showed me some very cool drawings that Shonen Knife had done for them. They expect to feature them in an upcoming special "comics" issue of "Ben Is Dead". Los Angeles reporter for the Tokyo weekly magazine, The Shu-kan Shincho ("The Weekly Shincho"), Yoko Ashkenaze - was also doing interviews with Shonen Knife fans at that time. From there I went to Murakami Restaurant (8730 Santa Monica Blvd.) for dinner before the show. A large group of SK Fans had met there before the Shonen Knife show at the Troubadour in February. A small place with very good food - great service. I took a special promo photo that I had Naoko, Atsuko and Michie sign for Tadashi and Kanako Murakami of "Murakami", for their restaurant - since that is also where SK and I previously had dinner and did the a previous Internet Interview (now offline) on February 9th, 1997.
Showtime! The House of Blues rolled back the big balcony sections and opened up the view of the stage - quite a spectacle in itself. Shonen Knife ate dinner in the restaurant section with their entourage there... and enjoyed watching the opening acts from their perch in the VIP area. Reseda CA-based band Cockeyed Ghost opened the show, and gave their hi-energy best. This trio rocks! Guitarist-lead singer Adam Marsden was power-pogoing across the stage throughout their show, an amazing feat in itself, since Adam was still welded into a leg brace he's been wearing since he dove from a stage at the end of a Los Angeles show, just before the tour, and really damaged his knee! It's that rock n roll music, I tell ya!! The interaction of Adam and Rob Cassell (Bass player) on the vocals is very tight, well-arranged rock n roll. Good songs, and good hooks. James Hazley is a power drummer and a study in fluid motion - he is everywhere at once, and reminds me very much of Billy Cobham's style of drumming when I saw him with the Mahavishnu Orchestra some years ago. Cockeyed Ghost gave a great show this night, and were very well received by the House of Blues crowd.
Canadian-based Power-Pop band Pluto came on next. This band is signed to Virgin records, and is "very big" in Canada! They did a rather long set of their material - and certainly tried to give it their best. The singer-guitarist was appropriately "punked-out" in his short orange hair, and the lead guitar guy came across as the "nonaffected" member of the band - he just stands there and plays... very much like Clark Kent playing to the crowd at the office. But, not every guitar player "does the moves" and he played well - leaving the lead singer and bass player to do the "strike a pose" chores. The crowd was getting "antsy" at the end, however, in anticipation of seeing Shonen Knife and Pluto didn't seem to have the same favor with the crowd that Cockeyed Ghost affected. At a show in Texas, the band made a comment about how great it was to "play for you yanks"... and a Texan wrote on the Newsgroup, i.e., "What!? Don't these guys know that you don't call a Texan a "Yank"? But, the Texan also noted that he'd been in Canada with some friends and they were doing the Bob & Doug McKenzie bit about Beer and Bacon, Eh? - so it was probably an even score! However, Pluto worked hard at this show, had good sound, and were well applauded throughout their set.
I heard from someone close to the group, that a special lighting person was called in from San Francisco to "do the lights" for this Shonen Knife performance - the last show of the 1997 Tour - and it took quite a bit of time to position things following Pluto's set. But, when the "Good Morning Shonen Knife Freaks" theme came thundering out of the speakers... all was forgiven and the crowd became immediately animated and vocal. The curtains pulled back, Shonen Knife came on waving to everyone. They were wearing the brand new stage outfits that super-drummer, and fashion designer, Atsuko Yamano designed for this tour: Beautiful Blue, Pink and Silver *sparkle* pants-suits - which very effectively accent their stage movement. Naoko shouted, "Are you ready to rock??!!" Oh, You bet! They launched in to "Riding On the Rocket", and that was the beginning of what I can honestly say was the best show I've ever seen. There is just something about Shonen Knife Live that defies comparison with any other band - male, female or indifferent. I heard from two different fans along the Tour route, that they "felt like 13 year old girls at a Beatle's concert". What was that line from the Eagles' "Hotel California"?: "We haven't had that vintage here since 1969.....". They ran through their show, making comments about the songs, and having fun with the crowd throughout.
The new songs from "Brand New Knife" are perfect for live performances. They come off much more powerfully on stage, than on the album itself - and this is a great album! It lends itself well to live performance by this amazing trio of punk/pop veterans! Old favorite songs by Shonen Knife never fail to please, either: The lighting on "Devil House" was terrific - very dark, spooky and mysterious - totally in synch with the song itself. One important fact about a Shonen Knife show: Everyone seems to know all the lyrics - and the crowd just can't resist singing along on the songs!! "Hello, Hello!" Our dear friend at the Shonen Knife Word Fans Page (and #1 Shonen Knife Fan in Japan), Kappa-chan Mamiko Nakagawa commented last year on a show they did there, as "one of those rare moments when the artists and audience melt together as one". That was the experience on this night: Between Shonen Knife and the melodic power in their extraordinary punk/pop songs - and the love, respect and awe of the crowds who come to see them - there is a rapport that pushes the energy levels to a "high" - just like riding on the "loop-di-loop". The crowd moves with every nuance. Naoko was joking with the crowd about "guessing the name of the next song" at one point... and the guy in front of me shouted "E.S.P." - and she laughed "Ohh, you have E.S.P.! You are a genius!" - and they went right into the song.
Drummer Atsuko Yamano (all-around Miracle Woman & crowd pleaser at their shows) - had great lighting on her drums throughout the show - and was in good view at center stage on the drum riser there. Atsuko was her usual blissful, vital self: the most joyful rock drummer in the world, and she sang "Fruits and Vegetables" to great favor with this crowd! Another great favorite with the crowd was Michie's anthem to phobias... "Frogphobia"! Michie and Naoko change places on the stage in this song, and get right up front with the crowd throughout... great stuff. They received many stuffed "froggie" dolls and toys on this tour, from fans, I learned! Michie gets so "into" her bass playing, that you wonder if she's still physically in her body, and among us during some of the songs! Yet, when she speaks to the crowd between tunes, Michie is very soft spoken and gracious - as though she were about to pour you another cup of that "Wonder Wine" which Naoko sings about! Naoko? Naoko is a fireball on the set: pouncing about the stage like a kitten playing with a mouse... or is it, a mouse taunting the cat?? No matter - she has boundless energy, and when she does the "rock star posing" that makes so many rockers just look silly - because they look just like every band that's come through town before them "doin' the same moves".... Naoko makes it look like it's more goofy fun than playing the "twister game"! And, boy, she is playing the guitar well! One fan along the route wrote on the Newsgroup that he felt she was as good as Jimi Hendrix! She has great control, and hones her sound and feedback effects with great feeling. The special Charvel guitar that Naoko is playing, for the most part in the shows - is light-weight, and was given to her by the company when she told them she admired it. The same with Michie's Yamaha Bass, as I understand it. They ended the show with "Buddha's Face" - the most "mysterious" song on the "Brand New Knife" album, and one that just grabs you with the ponderous power of the guitar lines in the verse and shakes out your cobwebs in the chorus!
As they waved and left the stage, the crowd immediately went into "the chant": "Sho-nen KNIFE!" "Sho-nen KNIFE!" "Sho-nen KNIFE!" and romped until the girls came back for their encore. They went into "Wonder Wine" and Naoko and Michie got in some of their cool synchronized "headbanging" up front! On the lead work - they each move to front and center for the "dueling solos" between the Bass and Guitar - which is taken from the "non-album" version of the song that was released (only in Japan) on the "Wonder Wine" single there - it works great on stage!! They then performed what may be the "most played" of all Shonen Knife recordings - their fabulously innovative version of the Carpenter's song, "Top of the World". This song is a total crowd pleaser, and they pull it off with such joy and skill that everyone is "right on top of the world" with them. A fan along the Tour route commented on the Shonen Knife Newsgroup: "They OWN this song now! The Carpenters should pay *them* the royalties!" Well, it inspires that kind of happy enthusiasm. Naoko sings this song like she was just having the greatest day of her life! Final song for the encore was "Cobra vs. Mongoose". I remember the first time they played it here in L.A. at the Roxy. It blew everyone away that night, and it is still one of the ultimate Shonen Knife moshing songs! But then, at the Roxy - they were even "moshing" to "Butterfly Boy" that night!
This crowd refused to let them go. As in San Diego the night before - two sets were just not enough. After all - this is Shonen Knife on stage, the most famous band in the world from Japan. The group that broke the East to West Cultural Doors down and made it possible for so many other bands from the East to find acceptance, fans and favor here in the West. There is simply no one else like them on this earth. How many other bands can we name that had a "tribute album" of cover versions of their songs performed by many Western rock groups - in the stores before their own first album was even released in the U.S.? This is an incredibly creative, versatile band - from totally unusual "roots" for a "rock group"... and the diverse spectrum of styles that they have drawn on in their recordings over the past 15 years - is unparalleled except for the work of The Beatles, themselves. They have been compared to The Beatles - for very valid reasons. At the end of their encore at the Hollywood House of Blues this night - the crowd called out for more... and they got it - as Shonen Knife closed this final show of the 1997 North American Tour with Naoko's frantic recounting of her ideal "dream week" - the romping final song of "Brand New Knife": "One Week".
At the end of the night, after the crowd had fairly gone... Naoko, Michie and Atsuko were in the club, saying "farewell" to their many pro music friends, who had come to their show that night... including the Robb Brothers and their families (who recorded and produced "Brand New Knife" in L.A. last summer with Shonen Knife). Quietly standing there at the side with her new Shonen Knife T-shirt and a ball-point pen, was a young Japanese girl & her friend. She waited hopefully and courteously, while all the VIPs and friends congratulated the band on a great show, and a great tour. Then, Mr. Shibata, their manager - reached out and invited the young lady to come into the circle where Naoko, Michie & Atsuko happily received her in their midst, talked with her - while each signed her T-shirt for her. Then - goodbye to all, and they left the club! For me - watching this patient & hopeful young woman "shining" after getting "her moment" with Shonen Knife was the perfect ending to a great night - great performance by a band which, in the opinion of *this* musician and life-long observer of the Rock music scene - is the now the greatest rock band in the world. For all the right reasons. "God Bless Shonen Knife", indeed.
1997, 2000 -George Ojisan Handlon/Knife Collectors, N. America - all rights reserved.
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