Japanese Pop-Punkers Shonen Knife Are in Their ‘Best Place’

When Shonen Knife broke through to an American audience in 1981, the Japanese trio from Osaka had already been together making albums for nearly a decade, bringing their winning approach—wide-eyed, winsome and fun pop songs delivered in an amped-up, power punk style—to audiences at home.

And the all-female group—led by singer, songwriter and guitarist Naoko Yamano—gained worldwide attention when a fan named Kurt Cobain championed them and booked the group as the opening act on Nirvana’s 1991 European tour just as Nevermind was taking off. Shonen Knife comes to The Ritz on Oct. 18.

Yamano was a rock fan long before she started a band. She recalls attending her first shows when she was 15. “My first concert was Aerosmith, and the second one was Kiss; this was around 1977,” she says. A few