Bored with just an office job, Naoko Yamano (vocal) and Michie Nakatani (bass) decided to start a band as a hobby in 1981. Answering her own sister’s ad for a drummer, Atsuko Yamano readily joined and the line-up was complete.
Months later, in the spring of 1982, Shonen Knife held their first live in their hometown at Studio One in Osaka. Though only 36 people attended, that night marked a milestone, as shortly after the band started playing lives they were approached by the independent label Zero Records, which signed them on quickly.
As their music was being distributed, copies of their albums slowly made their way overseas and into the United States, where they would get a big break. In 1985, the US independent label K was the first to release the band’s CDs overseas. Gaining recognition, another US label, Subversive Records, saw the trio’s potential and released their second album in 1987.
While still small and underground in Japan, Shonen Knife’s popularity had boomed in the US, resulting in their first overseas performance in 1989, where fans called for multiple encores and shouted out song titles; given something they had never encountered before, the band made it a point to keep coming back regularly for their fans. That November, over 30 western musical artists participated in Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them, a compilation tribute album featuring covers of Shonen Knife's songs. In 1991, they caught the attention of the then rising band Nirvana. After opening for Nirvana as they toured through the UK, Shonen Knife went on to headline their own tour throughout the UK before rejoining Nirvana for a tour throughout Japan.
Gaining popularity, they signed their first major contract in the US with Capitol Records before switching labels to Virgin the next year. With the release of their album Rock Animals, the group also released a video for Tomato Head. It ran on American MTV as well as appeared on the station’s hit show Beavis and Butthead. Soon after, major deals from all over the world were coming in and the band finally made what started as a side project, their full-time job. Soon they made their first tour of Europe, made an appearance at New York’s 1992 New Music Seminar and in 1994 appeared on many TV and radio programs within the US, such as The Conan O'Brien Show.
Not only contributing a song to a tribute album for The Carpenters, Shonen Knife has also had their music used as the ending theme for the American movie Last Supper. Their songs were also featured in Microsoft commercials. That wasn’t all they did with Microsoft. In 1998, Shonen Knife went to Microsoft’s head office in the US and held an internet live show that was aired throughout the world over the internet; such a thing hadn't been done before.
A year later, the group had their first lineup change in 18 years when Michie left in December 1999. At this time, Atsuko picked up bass in addition to drums until 2001, when support drummer Mana Nishiura signed on and Atsuko switch over completely to bass. Three years later Mana left as well, and the following year was involved in an unfortunate accident. Mana had been touring with DMBQ through the US and passed away after being involved in a fatal accident in New Jersey. As a tribute to her, both DMBQ and Shonen Knife played a joint show in her honor.
By 2006, their new support drummer, Etsuko, became an official member of the trio, and the band rocked out the rest of the year participating in large event shows, including SUMMER SONIC, ROCK IN JAPAN and FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL. The girls spent the spring of 2007 touring and released their new album, fun! fun! fun! in July. The following year was even busier than the last,with steady touring from winter straight into summer and another album release that November.
The year 2009 was a busy live-performance year for Shonen Knife, participating in Sounds of Spring Festival and Magical Camp 2009. However, by winter they were back in the recording studio, surprising fans with a new album, Free Time, in January of 2010. In March, Etsuko announced she would be leaving the band, and soon replaced by Emi Morimoto. In May, the band flew to Europe and performed at the All Tomorrow's Parties event. Since summer, the band has been very quiet, but with the new year just weeks away, fans eagerly await to see what Shonen Knife is planning next.
