Shonen Knife, Black Box - Wednesday 17th August
Shonen Knife
Black Box, Belfast
17th of August 2011
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When you find out that an all-female Japanese three-piece that describe themselves as an "Oo-oo -ultra-eccentric-super-cult-punk-pop-band" is coming to town, you'd be a fool to miss it and sure enough there’s a certain smugness in the air amongst the attendees at the Black Box. People seem to know they were in for something special with subtle grins on their faces that grow wider as the night goes on.
Openers Continuous Battle of Order clamber on to the stage to politely pound ears with an assault of incredibly tight drums and intricate, fast-paced guitar melodies. Their audience is attentive and appreciative, even if listening to math-rock wouldn't be their usual preference for a Wednesday night. There are some lovely melodies within the powerful compositions, and you can't fault the energy they exude, but it's probably not the ideal choice of support for a headline band that specialize in snappy garage pop songs.
Spangle and glitz is soon brought to proceedings by the Osaka three-piece, who take to the stage with their blindingly glossy hair and matching pink and white dresses. They don't waste any time in opening their set with a belter of a garage rock song entitled 'Konnichiwa' from their 1998 album 'Happy Hour'. As they thrash their heads in controlled unison, the audience are already completely captivated, and it's not surprising considering that many of these fans have probably been waiting a whole thirty years to attend their debut Belfast performance.
Having formed as an all female three-piece in 1981, the female Japanese musicians were something of a rarity in the male-dominated punk rock scene, attracting the attention iof labels like Sub Pop and K Records, as well as celebrity fans like Kurt Cobain.
Regardless of the exotic places they've been and the iconic people they've spent time with, the band couldn't come across any happier to be in Belfast to play to a modest but doting crowd. One of the stand-out tracks of the night has got to be the uber-cute, yet bizarre number 'I am a Cat' which, drummer Emi introduces by saying "The next song is about cute animal cat". Shonen Knife show just how effective such silliness as singing "In a moment I become a sweet little cat And I dance on a flying saucer" can be when combined with guitar instrumentation in the same vein as Sonic Youth - who are also respectful contemporaries of theirs.
Shonen Knife, which in Japanese means 'Boy Knife', take us on a magical musical journey through dirty punk rock into quirky garage pop and even into a song with more of a reggae lilt before waving goodbye with big smiles to the camera-clicking crowd. They return to the stage a couple of minutes later, and totally rock the place with their Ramones renditions that usually feature as part of their side-project the tribute band 'The Osaka Ramones'.
Who knows whether Shonen Knife will return again to these shores - thirty years is an amazing benchmark to have made even if there's only one original member still holding the torch for them. They deserve all of the love they've received tonight, long may Shonen Knife live on.
Harriet Pittard
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