On this episode of The Echo Chamber, Shonen Knife – a story of cultural exchange through the cassette tape.
But also a story of an era in history just before the stronghold of the looming internet drastically changed, among so many other things, the way we consume and discover music. It was a time when culture – as writer Karen Schoemer said – was precious, you really had to fight for it.
A closer look at how cassettes, alongside fanzines and college radio, all worked to create an environment that made possible the seemingly improbable circumstance of an all-girl band from Osaka, Japan eventually opening for Nirvana – one of the biggest musical acts of the 90s, and how these women have retained their status of cultural influence some 40 years after their bands' origin.
This episode features interviews with Shonen Knife; Karen Schoemer, former music critic of the New York Times; and Brooke McCorkle Okazaki, Assistant Professor of Music at Carleton College and author of the forthcoming book, Shonen Knife's Happy Hour: Food, Gender, Rock and Roll
The Osaka Ramones – The International Impact of Shonen Knife
Naoko Yamano (NY): Sheena is a punk rocker [sings The Ramones "Sheena is a Punk Rocker]
NY: I'm Naoko, I play the guitar.
Atsuko Yamano (AY): I'm Atsuko, I play the bass guitar.
Risa Kawano (RK): I'm Risa. I play the drums.
NY: Shonen means boy in Japanese and it's a very old brand name of a pencil knife. And the word 'shonen' has very cute feeling and the knife has a little dangerous feeling, so when cute and dangerous combined together, it's just like our band. So I put that name.
Originally I liked The Beatles a lot when I was a child, and then in the late 70s, punk pop movement was happening and I became a big fan of The Ramones or Buzzcocks. First I listened to their music through radio. There was a radio program in Osaka and they played The Ramones or Buzzcocks. Many punk music...
When I was 15 years old I got an acoustic guitar. The strings were so hard and I hurt my fingers so I couldn’t play the acoustic guitar but after I get an electric guitar a few years after that. I rather like pop melody line punk rock, and inspired by such kinds of bands, I wanted to start my own band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsOGXEwl1Z8
Brooke McCorkle Okazaki (BM): Shonen Knife – they formed in 1981. Naoko decided to form a rock and roll band after she heard some Ramones on the radio. My name is Brooke McCorkle Okazaki. I am an Assistant Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and I am the author of "Shonen Knife's Happy Hour: Food Gender and Rock and Roll". Michie and Naoko were currently working as secretaries and workers in a machinery company in Osaka, and Atsuko was actually still a high school student. She wound up graduating and going to fashion school. They all worked day jobs until 1994 when they went on the big North American tour. And it was then when they decided to quite and become full time musicians. So they were slugging it out for a good 13 years before becoming full time musicians. And they've been full time musicians since then which is just amazing.
NY: The Japanese Minna Tanoshiku means “Let’s have fun together”. We recorded it at our friend’s house and everybody was very DIY. One day a guy who’s record label is called Zero Records came to our show and he offered that he would like to release our record. For that cassette album we copied 40 cassettes and we put our kissmark on each jacket.
First I got postal mail from Calvin Johnson from K Records and then we exchanged letters because there was no internet at that time and of course there was no facsimile too. So Calvin Johnson said he wanted to release our album from his label K Records.
