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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jun 11, 2017 3:31:27 GMT -5
Interesting pic, because it shows her looking as in the wonder of a child, in a magic fantasy land, even after all these years.
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jun 11, 2017 3:35:45 GMT -5
I wonder if Naoko still sees herself as that girl, who started an amateur weekend punk band, just to cut the boredom of temp office lady work, who just got lucky enough to win World-wide attention; or as a full-fledged professional?
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Post by tangerinesun on Jun 11, 2017 14:15:45 GMT -5
I wonder if Naoko still sees herself as that girl, who started an amateur weekend punk band, just to cut the boredom of temp office lady work, who just got lucky enough to win World-wide attention; or as a full-fledged professional? Good question. Surely both. Like she says, she's been at this a long time, way past the point of "I guess I know what I'm doing after all." J-bands that can match statistics with Shonen Knife overseas are few: • Name recognition? Probably #1 in rock, at least for over-30s • Career continuity? I don't know who else comes close • Breadth of appeal? That's tricky to know, but my hunch is, #1
At home, SK is somewhere high up on a (tiny) rock pyramid: • 1990s-phenomenon bands still very active nationwide • Bands that can drop a full album every 12-24 months • Bands everyone is either proud of or jealous of
OTOH, like everyone who succeeds in the business, she's had unbelievable luck: • Non-musical family produces two talented offspring • They do as they like, and people love it • Naoko prefers English, most of the world can use English • Western tsunami of J-pop coolness rises up right under their feet • Global Internet changes fan contact from painful to unlimited
All along, there have been major disappointments and setbacks. Name any aspect of being a pro musician, and there are tons of people who are arguably better at it than Naoko. And anyway, being good is not enough to succeed.
SK have never filled a stadium, and they never will. They don't move people in a way that supports a dome tour. They're like a bar band that can fill any bar on earth.
Their most popular songs are covers of questionable originals. Their oldest work is more daring and unusual than their newest work. Income from sales must have peaked a while back. The band's audience is aging right along with it.
If SK were starting out today with the same plan, they'd have a hard time getting anywhere at all. Nobody even likes rock music, and if you want attention for being strange... that's different now.
Naoko knows all this better than anyone.
She's a fantastic success in a limited field, kind of like a kangaroo. Who could predict it without actually seeing it?
Naoko's very rational-minded but if there's any argument for karma, it's her. Her career has always been about people falling in love with what she's doing and the way she simply is.
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jun 12, 2017 4:33:16 GMT -5
and there are tons of people who are arguably better at it than Naoko<< I think her main talent is taking amateur talent and turning them into World-class pro musicians (Look at the early SK work of Atsuko, Michie, Etsuko and Emi...none of them were World-class when they joined, they all were, by the time they left! It's ironic that the World's most {arguably} amateurish lead guitar player [of a World-known band], manages to turn her people into true pros, time and again!)
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Post by tangerinesun on Jun 12, 2017 15:29:11 GMT -5
and there are tons of people who are arguably better at it than Naoko<< I think her main talent is taking amateur talent and turning them into World-class pro musicians (Look at the early SK work of Atsuko, Michie, Etsuko and Emi...none of them were World-class when they joined, they all were, by the time they left! It's ironic that the World's most {arguably} amateurish lead guitar player [of a World-known band], manages to turn her people into true pros, time and again!) Naoko's the bandleader and she decides what Shonen Knife looks and sounds like, but there's something off about the idea that she's running a School of Rock. She and Atsuko are unbelievably relaxed about technical proficiency, at least for voice and instruments. Good enough is good enough, what's for lunch? When Michie and Atsuko joined, Naoko barely knew about guitar. She was in no shape to teach anybody about bass or drums. Etsuko was a total pro when they found her — band, live support, sessions — and she learned from Toru Seoul, who's like unto a god. She taught Naoko about rock drumming. Emi and Ritsuko, but especially Emi, were so motivated to excel that nothing on earth could have stopped them from improving in every way...
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jun 12, 2017 17:11:26 GMT -5
I'm not saying that Naoko TAUGHT them anything, only that she has that instinctive ability to bring out the very best from her people...My Mom, who can't draw a decent stick figure, has the same ability, she can look at anything I drew, for 2 seconds and pick out all the things that need to be fixed!
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Post by tangerinesun on Jun 12, 2017 22:07:10 GMT -5
I'm not saying that Naoko TAUGHT them anything, only that she has that instinctive ability to bring out the very best from her people...My Mom, who can't draw a decent stick figure, has the same ability, she can look at anything I drew, for 2 seconds and pick out all the things that need to be fixed! All respect to your Mom and everyone's.
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Post by lazybone712 on Sept 4, 2017 11:54:23 GMT -5
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Post by tangerinesun on Sept 4, 2017 15:09:05 GMT -5
Crop from the eternal Tim Mosenfelder photo taken on August 28th 1994, on the lawn behind the stage at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. SK were touring the US with the traveling Lollapalooza festival. Incredibly, the Boredoms and Stereolab were on the tour, along with Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Guided by Voices, The Breeders… George Clinton… heaven help us, the Beastie Boys... I'd be a little surprised if one band in five from that tour still exists in any form. 〜〜〜〜〜 Rolling Stone picked the photo up from Getty Images for the web edition of this older intro and interview of SK after their 1993 show at the Roxy in LA, where they met Lemmy Kilmister and got him to autograph the peg-heads of their guitars... shonenknife.proboards.com/post/19327/thread
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Post by lazybone712 on Sept 22, 2017 11:43:15 GMT -5
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Post by lazybone712 on Sept 24, 2017 14:43:18 GMT -5
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Post by lazybone712 on Sept 25, 2017 18:38:06 GMT -5
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Post by tangerinesun on Sept 25, 2017 22:26:03 GMT -5
OMG PADDLE NAOKO you can't afford to wipe out on solid granite!!!
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Sept 30, 2017 3:11:00 GMT -5
Some kind of ancient waterfall, I take it?
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Post by lazybone712 on Oct 3, 2017 23:08:28 GMT -5
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