Lineup Changes and 2000 Onwards
Michie Nakatani left the band in December 1999, with Atsuko Yamano moving to bass. Mana Nishiura took over on drums, but never officially joined the band. Nishiura played her first live show with the band in May 2001; she left in 2004. She died in a New Jersey highway accident November 4, 2005 while touring the U.S. with Japanese alternative rock band DMBQ.
While Mana was on an earlier tour with Japanese alternative rock band DMBQ in 2003, the group used drummer Etsuko "Ettchan" Nakanishi, who was eventually named the official, permanent drummer. On July 8, 2006, bassist Atsuko announced that, due to her marriage and subsequent move to Los Angeles, she had retired from Shonen Knife. However, Atsuko joined in the band's late-2007 tour. In October 2008, Shonen Knife announced that Ritsuko Taneda, who had been the band's touring bass player for two years, had been promoted to full member. Ritsuko was a member of J-pop the group Denki Candy along with her female cousin.
The group had a song called "Buttercup (I'm a Super Girl)" that appeared on the cartoon series Powerpuff Girls soundtrack Heroes and Villains. A Shonen Knife cover of the Carpenters' hit "Top of the World" was used in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, a US television commercial for Microsoft, the credits music for the documentary Double Dare, as the ending song for the movie The Last Supper and in summer 2006 by the BBC in UK TV trailers for a season of nature programmes.
In 2009 Shonen Knife released the CD Super Group and signed in North America to Good Charamel Records, followed by a headline tour of the US and Canada in support of the release, including performances on MTVU and a headline performance at the Fun Fun Fun Festival in Austin TX.
In January 2010, the group released a 10-song album called Free Time, first in Japan and later in the United States and Europe.
The band were chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, England. The band also announced they were embarking on a European and UK tour during the same month, which included 6 UK dates in Bristol, Glasgow, Leicester, Leeds, Brighton and London.
On 2 April 2010, just over a month before the tour was due to start, Etsuko posted on the group's blog to say that she'd left the group. On 9 April Naoko posted about the news on their record company's blog. The group did some recording and played some live shows with new drummer Emi Morimoto (formerly a member of bands Ni Hao!, mamastudio, Ultra Jr & NASCA CAR) before embarking on their European tour in May and a North American tour in September and October 2010.
In 2011 Shonen Knife celebrated their 30th anniversary and released Osaka Ramones - Tribute to The Ramones, the album was recorded between Osaka, Japan and Buffalo, NY and co-produced by Robby Takac of the American rock band The Goo Goo Dolls. The release was followed by a world tour.
In June 2012 the band released Pop Tune, followed by a U.S. tour.
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