Interview by Ali Williams
Forty-five years into SHONEN KNIFE, Naoko Yamano can still describe the band in three words: “pop, fun and punk.” It is remarkably efficient for a group whose history stretches from Osaka’s early-’80s underground to major-label releases, international festivals and enough world touring to make airport carpet a recurring feature of adult life. Australia has occupied a sizeable patch of that history. SHONEN KNIFE first toured here in 1997 and have returned repeatedly since, but their October visit is considerably more ambitious than a quick lap through the eastern capitals. The Lets Knife: Re-Cut Australia/NZ 2026 tour gives Naoko, Atsuko and Risa more than two weeks on Australian roads, two festival appearances, regional dates and several cities the band has never played before.
It also arrives with Let’s Knife Re-Cut freshly released in Australia and New Zealand through Valve Records. The album returns to Let’s Knife, the 1992 record that marked SHONEN KNIFE’s major debut, with the current line-up recording its 15 songs again more than three decades later. The sessions were recorded at GCR Audio in Buffalo, with Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac serving as executive producer. Familiar material including Riding On The Rocket, Twist Barbie, Cycling Is Fun and I Am A Cat has been put back through the band as it exists now, and Naoko confirms those songs will be well represented when they reach Australia.
There is some pleasing symmetry in taking that record back on the road here. SHONEN KNIFE formed in Osaka in December 1981 around Naoko, released debut album Burning Farm in 1983 and had already built an overseas following before Let’s Knife arrived. Forty-five years later, Naoko is still on guitar and vocals, Atsuko handles bass and vocals and Risa takes drums and vocals. The mechanics remain wonderfully direct: three women, three instruments, no ornamental personnel hiding behind the curtain. SHONEN KNIFE remain resolutely self-contained. Naoko writes and arranges the songs as well as playing guitar, while the trio handles the entire live performance themselves.
The Australian tour begins at The Tote in Melbourne on October 14 before moving through Volta in Ballarat and Sooki Lounge in Belgrave. On October 17 they join King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Babe Rainbow and others at The Croxton Block Party, then cross Bass Strait for Altar in Hobart. Perth’s Milk Bar follows on October 21, with The Gov in Adelaide the following night. Then comes Brisbane.
On Saturday October 24, SHONEN KNIFE join 4ZZZ for ZED51, the station’s 51st-birthday celebration at Roma Street Parklands. Last year’s ZED50 proved one anniversary clearly wasn’t enough, so the community broadcaster is returning to the parklands with 13 bands, two stages, no set clashes, market stalls and an all-ages crowd running from midday until 10pm. It is not a timid birthday card either. Mudhoney, BARKAA, Custard, The Mark Of Cain, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, I Heart Hiroshima, Tape/Off, Dem Mob, Mitch, Please, Superhotel, Still Full From Lunch and Baby Cool complete a bill that moves freely between generations and genres without requiring everyone to dress alike for the family photo. For SHONEN KNIFE, the booking also lands among some very established Australian friendships.
Their relationship with Regurgitator has developed across both countries. After playing together in Australia several years ago, SHONEN KNIFE invited Regurgitator to Japan in July, giving Japanese audiences their own introduction to the Brisbane band. Naoko speaks fondly of the exchange and the relationship that has grown between them, something more substantial than bands merely finding themselves on the same poster for an evening. That enthusiasm runs both ways. Australia has remained somewhere Naoko genuinely enjoys visiting, and not merely because somebody has handed her a laminate and pointed towards a stage. She talks about friendly audiences, the different cities she has seen over the years and the food with almost equal enthusiasm. Coffee also receives serious consideration.
This tour should improve her sample size considerably. After ZED51, SHONEN KNIFE head directly to Alice Springs Brewing Co on October 25 before resuming in Canberra at The Baso on October 28. Crowbar in Sydney follows on October 29, then Keystone 1889 in Bathurst, Avalon Beach RSL and finally King Street in Newcastle on November 1. From there, the band continues to New Zealand for another week. It is a substantial run for any international act, particularly one arriving straight from another busy stretch of overseas touring. Before Australia entered the calendar, SHONEN KNIFE had been in the United States supporting Men At Work, alongside Toad The Wet Sprocket. Touring with the Australian veterans appears to have left Naoko with a fresh musical fixation. She singles out Colin Hay’s voice and guitar playing, but it is the songwriting that has really followed her home. “There are melodies running in my brain every day.”
That is an occupationally useful problem for somebody who spends so much time writing them herself. Naoko’s own approach is centred heavily on melody. She writes, arranges and keeps chasing pop songs that work cleanly rather than burying them beneath unnecessary machinery. Men At Work have become a recent source of inspiration, not because she suddenly intends to rewrite SHONEN KNIFE in somebody else’s image, but because good melodic construction gets her attention regardless of where it comes from. That openness has always sat comfortably inside the band. Their influences began with Western rock, punk and pop, yet SHONEN KNIFE never became a copy of therecords Naoko loved. Four and a half decades of playing together in various incarnations have given the name its own musical vocabulary, one that can accommodate punk guitars, pop melodies, songs about food, animals and everyday pleasures, and an enthusiasm that has survived considerably longer than many supposedly more serious artistic propositions.
There is also nothing particularly ceremonial about Naoko discussing the band’s longevity. She does not spend the interview polishing 45 years into a monument. There is a record to play, another country to tour, songs still being written and a long Australian itinerary waiting in October. That itinerary is considerably broader than previous visits, and deliberately so. Hobart, Alice Springs, Bathurst and Avalon sit alongside the major capitals, while The Croxton Block Party and ZED51 put the trio into two very different festival environments during the same run. For Australian audiences, that means Let’s Knife Re-Cut will not remain an exercise confined to the record shelf. The songs that helped push SHONEN KNIFE into a much larger international world in 1992 are back in the hands of Naoko, Atsuko and Risa, and they are being taken around the country in person.
For Naoko, there are also new towns to see, old friends to catch and a frightening amount of Australian coffee still left untested. After 45 years, SHONEN KNIFE remain busy. October looks busier.
WED 14 OCT – melbourne THE TOTE plus guests MOLER Doors 7.30pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
THUR 15 OCT – ballarat VOLTA plus guests MOLER Doors 7.00pm https://volta.oztix.com.au
FRI 16 OCT – belgrave SOOKI BAR plus guests MOLER Doors 7.00pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
SAT 17 OCT – melbourne THE CROXTON BLOCK PARTY with KING GIZZARD & THE WIZARD LIZARD, BABE RAINBOW and many more Doors midday https://tickets.oztix.com.au
SUN 18 OCT – hobart ALTAR plus guests Doors 6.00pm https://m.moshtix.com.au
WED 21 OCT perth MILK BAR plus guests TURNSTYLE Doors 7.00pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
THUR 22 OCT Adelaide THE GOV plus guests MOLER Doors 7.30pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
SAT 24 OCT brisbane ZED51 festival with MUDHONEY, CUSTARD, THE MARK OF CAIN, CASH SAVAGE & THE LAST DRINKS and many more Doors midday https://tickets.oztix.com.au
SUN 25 OCT Alice Springs ALICE BREWING CO plus guests Doors 6.00pm
WED 28 OCT Canberra BASO plus guests TURNSTYLE and MEDIA PUZZLE Doors 7.00pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
THUR 29 OCT Sydney CROWBAR guests TURNSTYLE and MEDIA PUZZLE Doors 8.00pm https://tickets.oztix.com.au
FRI 30 OCT Bathurst KEYSTONE 1889 guests TURNSTYLE and MEDIA PUZZLE Doors 7.00pm https://moshtix.com.au
SAT 31 OCT Avalon Beach RSL plus guests TURNSTYLE and MEDIA PUZZLE Doors 8.30pm https://moshtix.com.au
SUN 1 NOV Newcastle KING ST guests TURNSTYLE and MEDIA PUZZLE Doors 6.00pm https://kingstreet.oztix.com.au
