Shonen Knife in Print Media: Magazine Articles/Interviews!


Magazine ArticlesHere is a listing of magazines featuring recent articles and interviews with Shonen Knife. Many of these early links have expired, but we'll leave them here, as they provide information & resources from the time in Shonen Knife's career when they were posted.

  • Japan Today ~ Excellent interview/perspective on Shonen Knife, yesterday and today, from Dan Grunebaum... for "Japan Today" online, from December 2004.

  • Smashing Mag ~ Major review of the Shonen Knife 2/22/04 show in Japan - click the link and check the mainpage at Smashing Mag's website for the Shonen Knife feature. Great LIVE photos, reviews and links!

  • Giant Robot Magazine! - Issue #8 featured an interview done on a tennis court with Shonen Knife on February 9th, 1997 - here in L.A. Previously, Issue #6 featured a great interview with the band, done at Farmers Market in L.A. in the Summer of 1996, when they were in town recording "Brand New Knife"! Very cool magazine... you should get a subscription NOW!

  • Big O Online - This is a Singapore-based magazine, and has done excellent coverage of Shonen Knife, their music, and appearances in Singapore. Issue #154, October 1998: Page 15 - Great review of "Happy Hour", covering the concept of the "Wonder World" Series of Tours in Japan, and their Internet interest! Previously, Issue #134, February 1997: This (5) page interview with smashingly good photos is one of the best for their views on their current and future direction.

  • Flipside Magazine - Issue #114 (Sep/Oct '98) - Naoko sent them a Shonen Knife postcard from Japan on 7/23/98 - they print it on page 11 for us to enjoy. Flipside previously printed a Shonen Knife Postcard in Issue #107 (Jul/Aug 97) and did a great interview in Issue #83 (Mar/Apr /93) at the time "Let's Knife" was released - there's a cool photo of Shonen Knife with Rodney of KROQ - the #2 Top 20 request at that time on his show, was Cycling Is Fun! This issue included a Shonen Knife Flexi-disc.

  • Guitar Player - Sept. 1998 issue: - Review of "Happy Hour" focused on Naoko Yamano's guitars and stage gear. Nice feature - full color photo of Shonen Knife, revealing that Naoko used (4) guitars on "Happy Hour": a 1998 Ovation Roundback Collectors edition, Gibson Flying V, Fender Telecaster... and her hands-down favorite: the new Fujigen solid-body custom. She also discusses her "stomp boxes" and amp settings.

  • Bass Player - August 1998 issue: - Review of "Happy Hour" CD from Shonen Knife in the "BP Recommends" section, focuses on Michie Nakatani, and her Fujigen J-style 4-string bass. "This savvy Japanese power-pop trio continues to bolster it's parodic dumb-rock posturing with enough sugary guitar hooks to make your teeth ache. Nakatani's spring-loaded lines and round, rubbery tone further pave the road to air-band nirvana." (Gregory Isola).

  • Bridge USA - No. 223 - Sept. 1st,'98 issue: - L.A. Japanese monthly magazine. Very nice feature interview, in Japanese, of Shonen Knife, and the release of Happy Hour in the U.S. - nice photos!

  • Tower Pulse - July 1998. Review of "Happy Hour" - no photo, by Scott Schinder. "Japan's best-loved indie-pop band sounds as fresh as ever, thanks to small but profound truths inherent in its sweetly naive stance and its continuing habit of writing killer tunes."

  • Edge Ways - Music Artist Magazine. Japan. August 1998. Interview (Koike Kiyohiko) and nice photos (Sato Tetsuro) of the band.
  • LiveWire Magazine - (No URL listing). August 1997 issue. Vol. 7, #8 - Excellent interview (4 pages) and great color photos of Shonen Knife. By Al Muser..

  • Flexible Head - Australian zine. No. 13, Oct. '97. Single-page photo comments from Naoko about Shonen Knife. "Being in an all girl band is very good. When we play at concerts all the boys bands carry our things and set up stage. This is good. I like it very much. In Australia, Shonen Knife audience is very lively. Some know words. Shonen Knife audience singing, jumping and head banging."

  • Cover - the Underground National (magazine - No URL listing). - Single-page commentary on an interview with Shonen Knife done in February 1997 in NYC. Uses the "Big Deal" promo photo. Some funny quotes from Naoko.

  • BB Gun - Issue #3. (1) page Shonen Knife Interview by BB Gun from February 1997, NYC - w/facing full page b/w photo, and small photo of SK reading BB Gun in the front of the magazine. Interesting comments from Shonen Knife. Fun!

  • LA Weekly - 5/16/97. "Scoring the Clubs" section. Review by Dan Epstein. "Shonen Knife, Cockeyed Ghost at House of Blues" (Sat. 5/17/97). "God Bless Shonen Knife. It's been years since their initial hipster fan base (in the U.S., at least) abandoned them in favor of more exotic novelties, and yet the three hip chicks from Osaka continue to create big-hearted bubblegum for unrepentent lovers of pop everywhere... their giddy live show, which features matching outfits, goofy head-banging, Naoko's wicked fuzztone solos and "devils horns" hand signs flashed as if Satan himself was A Sanrio character, is simply not to be missed."

  • Thrasher - Shonen Knife are interviewed in the August 1997 issue. Nationally distributed skateboarding 'zine.

  • Ben Is Dead - (cartoon special issue) - Issue #29. (June 1998). Ben is Dead is well established in the L.A. area and they interviewed Shonen Knife at the House of Blues the afternoon of the show on 5/17/97. Cute interview, with drawings by Naoko, Atsuko and Michie. The photo is of them seated in a big rad red "New Orleans"-style chair in their HOB Dressing Room.

  • Skratch - May 1997, Issue #15. Free 'zine - distributed at Southern California record stores. Shonen Knife interview by Leslie Kolhi, at the "free show" at Cal State Fullerton on 4/9/97 - when they began their North American Tour. Very informative (1) page interview, 2 b/w photos with a facing page done in Kanji.

  • Snack Cake! - June/July 1997, Vol. 2/Issue 2. $2.95 - available at Tower Records. Shonen Knife interview by Steve Fruhwirth. One page, but good comments from the band. Uses b/w cameo's from U.S. Tour promo photo. Snack Cake EMail: tims@snackcake.com - See their website at the: Snack Cake Home Page.

  • Crossbeat - Issue #9, Sept. 1996. Japanese Pop Music magazine. Nice pre-Australian Tour interview with Shonen Knife featuring photos, CD review and also, full-page ad for Brand New Knife.

  • Action Girl - Issue #8. Action Girl is a top-rate comic with a positive message featuring female artists and interests. Issue #8 features a great illustrated story, "A Safe Night", by Elizabeth Watasin - where "Action Girl" goes to Japan, buys a bad Bento box lunch on the bullet train, and gets very ill! Shonen Knife appear as (3) mini-angels to guide and comfort her... and she survives the experience! Very cool comic book. Also, a Fashion paper-doll, with a Shonen Knife dress of Atsuko's design, was featured in a previous issue, #6.

  • The Absolute Sound - Vol. 20, Issue #104: "The Cutting Edge". A High-end Stereophile users magazine - it features the best in Audio equipment and recordings. Many early reviews of Shonen Knife commented that they were "not very good players", but improving! This review is one of the most charming. The writer, and resident "wit" for the magazine, Frank Zoid, gives "The Zoid's 25 Favorite Recording of All Time", in an article titled, "And the Bass Player Goes Donk, Donk, Donk." Here it is: "Shonen Knife - Gasatanka/Giant GRI-6047-2 (CD): "Ah, my darling favorite three cute Japanese women singing in their native language songs about Barbie dolls, corpulent fish, cuddly animals, sunny walks in the park, and other of life's essentials. A lousy, uneven recording. The girls can barely play, especially the drummer, who nevertheless possesses the singular talent of being able to play behind the beat and ahead of the beat at the same time. (They've become much better players in recent albums, and are a *killer* live act.) The guitarist uses a cheesy fuzz sound one step away from the sound of a ground loop. And the bass player goes donk, donk, donk. Not only doesn't this detract from the enjoyment of the wonderfully off the wall music, it only adds to the charm of their giddy, irresistible melodies. Once heard, the music orbits in your head, velcroed to the jukebox of the mind. I cannot get enough of this disk!" He also reviews Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Roy Orbison, Lou Reed, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Blue Oyster Cult and many others, besides the equally great Shonen Knife!

  • Girl Frenzy - Issue #4. (from AK Press, UK - Aug. 1993). "I Wanna Eat Choco Bars" - At last, a non-patronizing interview with Shonen Knife!

  • US Magazine - April 1993 Issue. Half-page article w/photo on (Santa Monica Beach?) with parasols in their colorful "Rocket Grrl" stage outfits designed by Atsuko. Michie comments that the group was formed in Osaka in 1982 when "Naoko and I were very bored at our jobs... we always asked, "Is there anything fun?"" The article reveals that they recruited (Atsuko) to play the drums, but only one obstacle remained: No one knew how to play! Nice article from Jancee Dunn in the Spotlight section. They are sharing the page with an 18 year old Leonardo DiCaprio, who recently starred in a film about a big ship that sank, back before Shonen Knife learned to play. US Magazine - February 1994. Featured a photo of a winter-dressed Shonen Knife, as they arrived in New York following a Mid-western tour with Nirvana covering 7 cities in as many days. This was at the time of the release of "Rock Animals", and in this feature, Shonen Knife are shopping in Soho with the interviewer, Juliann Garey. Atsuko buys brown/orange suede platform saddle shoes. Naoko gloms onto lug-soled oxfords with curly white-leather racing stripes. Michie says "I can't sleep if I don't buy anything today..." - they enter "Na Na" a purple-carpeted shoppe with baroque gold-framed mirrors that sells Catholic-schoolgirl skirts no Catholic school girl could ever wear. Michie spots *it* - hanging on a rack, crocheted, psychedelic, punk yet retro, alternative yet whimsical. It's a sweater, it's a throw rug, it's a dessert topping. It's perfect. And she buys it - for a song."

  • Mondo 2000 - Issue #10 (1993)- Great feature interview with Shonen Knife from an ultra-trendy cyberzine based in Berkeley, CA. "Subculture Shock: Confusion and Horror with Shonen Knife".

  • Entertainment Weekly - March 12, 1993. "Noise - Made In Japan". Feature article w/color photos of Shonen Knife and the Boredoms. Good general article by David Browne on their roots, influences, and current views on Japanese rock bands achieving popularity in the west.

  • Pop Culture Press - (1991 - Issue # unavail). Feature: "Shonen Knife - USA 1991 Tour Diary" by Michie Nakatani". Great photo of the band outside CBGB's in New York (where they played for "Live for Sell-out Crowd"!), a photo of them at the time of the "Redd Kross" Video, with "Video God Dave Markey" (who later filmed the 1997 "Blast Off!" US Tour Video for the band...). Also, cool photo of them in Rodney Bingenheimer's car in L.A., captioned: "Here's a pic of us right before stealing Rodney's Rod"! Later: Issue #42, 1997 Shonen Knife - in-depth interview on the Japanese Music Scene, Shonen Knife on the Net, current recording work!

  • MF Indie Supplement - UK magazine interview by Eugene Scribes. 1992. "Knife People". Done at the time of their first UK Tours/Reading Festival - at the time of their release of "Let's Knife" on Creation (UK). The Interviewer commented, "They barely reached my waist! Immediately, you feel like you/re supposed to be looking after them." He concludes, "...off they go, bowing in a huddled little group. They look like the unlikeliest rock stars in the world. They sing about the strangest things. "Let's Knife" proves a hard edge to their candy-coated exterior. They are the absolute queens of pop."

  • OP Japan - Indie Music Magazine. The "X" Issue July-Aug. 1984. Shonen Knife reviewed by Calvin Johnson for their recordings on Zero Records.. "Burning Farm" and the Zero collaboration with Kagerou Records for the release of (3) Shonen Knife songs on the "Aura Music" anthology release.


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