Onstage hellcats, offstage pussycats: Japan's pop-punk trio hits the town

Shonen Knife has covered a lot of ground in the last 30 years but has never gotten the chance to play in Beijing. That changed last Friday when they hit their first show in the city.

And judging from the crowd's reaction, the band's presence in China's capital has been long overdue. Concertgoers crowd-surfed and moshed to the band's two-hour set as if the Mao Livehouse has always been a regular stop for the all-girl Japanese punk band.

"Xiexie! Dmo arigat! Thank you!" Lead singer Naoko Yamano said in between singing to a cheering audience. Yamano and bassist Ritsuko Taneda bounced around on stage as if they were made of perpetual energy while drummer Emi Morimoto pounded her snare and cymbals relentlessly throughout the entire set.

Meeting Shonen Knife offstage though is a completely different experience. Introverted and completely devoid of their rock star persona, the band members are surprisingly approachable. Yamano spoke softly while her band mates giggled nervously when asked about their impressive career.

"I hope to play until the day I die," said Yamano. "I play tennis once a week to stay in shape."

The band has quite a bit to brag about and has been admired by predominate rock stars. Nirvana and Sonic Youth are just a few of the fans Shonen Knife has accumulated over the years.

"We opened up for Nirvana in 1991 UK tour. Kurt Cobain was a very pure guy with deep blue eyes. He wanted to play our song Twist Barbie but I told him he didn't have the right guitar for it."

Despite their influence, the band hasn't played much in China besides Hong Kong and Shanghai. They hope that Beijing will become a staple city as their tours in China grow over the next few years.

Shonen Knife sees the emerging concerts within the country as an opportunity to learn more about the culture and experience new food.

"It's good that China is opening up. Music is very good material for character exchange. We all like Chinese dishes. They are delicious. I even wrote a song about dumplings."

Food may not be usual topics for punk bands to sing about but Yamano belts out her love of eating in songs like Banana Chips and BBQ Party.

"Music should be a fun thing. My hope is that people feel good listening to our music. I put ironic things into my lyrics and write from interesting things in my daily life."

Yamano admits she doesn't know much about Chinese rock, even though she's enthusiastic about playing more shows around the country. Even concert enthusiasts who attend shows regularly in Beijing aren't sure what to make of the fans and rock bands.

"The scene is developing," said Dorian Liddtke from Germany. "The concerts here are fun and they have a different audience. There's usually a predictable scene at concerts. But in Beijing it's more of a mix - it's more open, and just different. There's a few good local bands around too like The Beijing Hellcats, Brain Failure and Hang on the Boss."

Marrion Cousin, from England, who is a huge fan of Shonen Knife, doesn't know how Beijing and the rest of China will react to Japanese punk rock.

"I saw them play in their hometown Osaka, Japan and the audience was filled with diehard fans," she said. "I'm excited to see them here though. I think it will be different. I want to see regular people who aren't fans hear them."

And experience them Cousin did. She spent the entire show moshing and singing every word in the middle of the audience with her boyfriend.

After playing through all of their songs, the audience chanted for an encore. There were agonizing minutes of silence, then the band reemerged and dedicated their remake of The Carpenter's On Top of the World to the crowd.

"Good Night! We Love you!" shouted Yamano. "We hope to come back to Beijing!"

The crowd agreed by spending the last of their energy moving to the rhythm of the song. Hopefully it won't take another 30 years for the band to come back. Given the generous reception, fans can expect the band to etch Beijing into the long list of cities they rock out in.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/25/2010)