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About this concert
Shonen Knife are coming to Face Bar here in Reading May 2025
Hailing from Japan, they started out in 1981.They raised up through the
ranks. They came to the attention of Kurt Cobian and the rest of Nirvana
in the late 80s.Kurt going on record that they were his favourite band.
"When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert," Kurt Cobian
Other bands are huge fans such as Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Red Kross and the Beastie Boys.
Heavily influenced by 1960s girl bands, The Beach Boys, and early punk bands, such as the Ramones, the trio crafts stripped-down songs with simple yet unconventional lyrics sung both in Japanese and English
The trio maintains a distinctly garage rock sound rooted in D.I.Y aesthetics. The band has been credited with making "the international pop underground more international" by "opening it up to bands from Japan"
They have released 22 albums to date.
A must-see live band
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What fans are saying
John
June 12th 2025
Great fun with almost non stop song after song with huge energy. Lass on the drums was really giving it some. She does not need a gym membership!
Manchester, United Kingdom@Night & Day Cafe
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Shonen Knife Biography
When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert.”Kurt Cobain
Shonen Knife are a ground-breaking all-female Japanese, pop-punk rock trio formed in Osaka in 1981, when Naoko first heard late ‘70’s punk-pop particularly The Ramones. Inspired, the band crafted their own idiosyncratic songs, fashioned brightly coloured outfits and DIY albums. In 1985, K Records released ‘Burning Farm’ in the US. Deals with Sub Pop and various Majors followed. 1989 saw the crème of the alt. rock scene (including Sonic Youth, L7 and Redd Kross) covering their favourite Shonen Knife songs on the tribute album ‘Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them’. They toured with Nirvana (on the ‘Nevermind’ tour), The Breeders and as part of Lollapalooza. They recorded sessions for John Peel and appeared on MTV’s ‘Beavis and Butthead’.
The band returned to the UK after a gap of 16 years in 2009 thanks to Damnably, Magic Teapot & The Brixton Windmill and have since played Matt Groening’s curated ATP, Summer Sundae festival, Incubate, Le Guess Who? Handmade Festival, toured the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, China and India. They released the critically acclaimed albums Supergroup, Freetime, Osaka Ramones, Poptune and Overdrive and recorded regular BBC6 Music sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe.
2016 will be the bands 35th year of Rock, during which they will release their 19th studio album “ADVENTURE” and rock their extensive UK & Eire Tour to date with Atsuko (original member & Sister to Naoko) returning on Bass and Risa taking over from Emi on Drums. Naoko shows no signs of slowing down and continues to say: “Let’s Rock!”
Read MoreShonen Knife are a ground-breaking all-female Japanese, pop-punk rock trio formed in Osaka in 1981, when Naoko first heard late ‘70’s punk-pop particularly The Ramones. Inspired, the band crafted their own idiosyncratic songs, fashioned brightly coloured outfits and DIY albums. In 1985, K Records released ‘Burning Farm’ in the US. Deals with Sub Pop and various Majors followed. 1989 saw the crème of the alt. rock scene (including Sonic Youth, L7 and Redd Kross) covering their favourite Shonen Knife songs on the tribute album ‘Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them’. They toured with Nirvana (on the ‘Nevermind’ tour), The Breeders and as part of Lollapalooza. They recorded sessions for John Peel and appeared on MTV’s ‘Beavis and Butthead’.
The band returned to the UK after a gap of 16 years in 2009 thanks to Damnably, Magic Teapot & The Brixton Windmill and have since played Matt Groening’s curated ATP, Summer Sundae festival, Incubate, Le Guess Who? Handmade Festival, toured the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, China and India. They released the critically acclaimed albums Supergroup, Freetime, Osaka Ramones, Poptune and Overdrive and recorded regular BBC6 Music sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe.
2016 will be the bands 35th year of Rock, during which they will release their 19th studio album “ADVENTURE” and rock their extensive UK & Eire Tour to date with Atsuko (original member & Sister to Naoko) returning on Bass and Risa taking over from Emi on Drums. Naoko shows no signs of slowing down and continues to say: “Let’s Rock!”
Punk Rock
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