Shonen Knife makes its point with positive punk

Theoretically, any band that writes songs with lyrics such as ''Banana chips for you!/Banana chips for me!/ In the afternoon, banana chips and tea" should have a life span no longer than that of a grasshopper. But something oddly spellbinding occurs when deceivingly silly lyrics are sandwiched between a buoyant guitar and a rapid-fire, pop-punk drum kit. Which perhaps explains why the Japanese female rock duo Shonen Knife is still singing songs about cookies, sushi, jelly beans, and, of course, banana chips, nearly 25 years after its inception.

Even if Shonen Knife had never become a worldwide underground sensation and buddies with bands such as Nirvana and Sonic Youth, it's clear that lead singer and guitarist Naoko Yamano would still be writing songs about Barbie dolls and hot chocolate.

''For me, Shonen Knife is my life," she says in halting English on the phone from her home in Japan. ''I've never thought that I could quit Shonen Knife. I like rock music a lot. I like people coming to our shows and getting happy. That's my favorite thing."

Since Shonen Knife debuted in 1981, Yamano has become Tokyo's answer to Joey Ramone, only happier and obsessed with food and cute, small animals. Never wavering from the same formula, the band has been writing mini pop-punk masterpieces with a questionable, but charming, grasp of English. Unlike the well-tempered songs of the J-pop movement, Shonen Knife's are true rock songs, pulsing with restless energy. But while the original purpose of punk was rebellion, Shonen Knife's punk is family friendly and cuddlier than Hello Kitty's good friend Deery Lou.

''I'm a positive-thinking person," Yamano says. ''If people are listening to a sad song, they can become sad. So I'd rather have people listening to a happy song."

She listens to acts ranging from ABBA to Iron Maiden, but Yamano says the band's greatest influences are the Beatles and the Ramones. She admits to borrowing from American and British punk but adding plenty of Japanese influence to the sound. There's also a healthy dose of girl-group history in the band's music, from the Crystals to the Go-Go's.

This pastiche is combined with the band's lyrical celebration of the mundane, to which Yamano acknowledges, ''Sweets make me happy, and I like to eat, so I write songs about food." She also writes about food, she confesses, because she's too shy to write love songs.

Beneath the surface, however, Shonen Knife's contribution to Japanese music is far greater than penning sweet punk songs with twee lyrics. The band is also credited with turning Western ears on to rock from Japan.

''They actually made the international pop underground more international," said Martin Wong, co-editor of Giant Robot, a magazine that covers Asian and Asian-American pop culture. ''They're pretty important. Without them, it would have been all bands from Europe. Shonen Knife opened it up to bands from Japan."

Shonen Knife celebrates its groundbreaking beginnings this year by rereleasing its first four albums, beginning with 1983's ''Burning Farm." The albums, which have been long out of print, have been remastered and given bonus songs. There's also a tour, which brings Shonen Knife to the Middle East in Cambridge tonight.

The band began in Osaka when sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano, along with Michie Nakatani, began playing instruments to emulate their American and British rock heroes and to alleviate the boredom of their office jobs. Naming themselves after a brand of Japanese pocket knives, the trio quickly found success playing their pert arrangements in Japanese rock clubs.

''We were very popular from the beginning because an all-female band was rare at that time," Naoko Yamano says. ''The only person who didn't like it was my father. He didn't like me carrying around a giant guitar case because the neighbors could see me and he was embarrassed. But later he admitted that he liked Shonen Knife."

While Yamano's father may have initially objected, a large number of prominent American and British musicians fell in love with Shonen Knife's music, and in turn introduced the band to Western audiences. In 1989, bands such as Redd Kross, White Flag, and L7 covered Shonen Knife's songs for a tribute album called ''Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them." In 1991, a then little-known Nirvana asked Shonen Knife to open for them on a British tour.

''At that time, I didn't know who Nirvana were," Yamano says. ''So I went to the record store, bought their CD, and listened to their music. The music was very, very hard, and their photograph was a little bit scary. So I thought they were scary people before the tour. But after I met them, they were very kind and they were gentlemen."

Attention from the Nirvana tour, along with high-profile collaborations with Sonic Youth, led to a deal with Capitol Records and a spot on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour. But perhaps their greatest achievement that year was landing a spot on a Carpenters tribute album called ''If I Were a Carpenter," covering the song ''Top of the World." Here was a Japanese band that made a career of filtering American music, performing an inherently American song, but interpreting it from a punk-Japanese perspective. It was the kind of musical hall of mirrors that could even make Michel Gondry's head spin.

As the alternative rock and grunge scene gave way to sleeker pop, Shonen Knife found itself traveling from major labels to small, independent labels. Its 2000 album, ''Strawberry Sounds," never saw a release outside of Japan. It suffered another blow when bass player Nakatani left the band, leaving the Yamano sisters to go it alone (Atsuko now plays bass, and the band uses a temporary drummer on tour). But none of this has seemed to slow down Naoko, who recently finished recording songs with her sister for a new Shonen Knife album.

''I wrote a song about spam e-mail, and I wrote a song about anime," she says. ''So you see, I can write about more than food."

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.

Shonen Knife plays the Middle East Upstairs tonight at 9:30. Tickets are $12. 617-931-2000.