Michael Knott interview
by Todd Brown

TB: Let's talk about some of the new material you're working on. I know that there's the acoustic LSU disc in the works, you're still trying to find a home for the Bomb Bay Babies record, and you've got the Strung Gurus going. Let's start with the Gurus.

MK: I'm working with Dennis Dannell from Social Distortion on some stuff and we're still a little ways away from getting that done.

TB: How did that happen?

MK: I met him through a friend and we went to some concerts when they [Social Distortion] were doing their live record and we started working together. We've been working together since October of last year [ed: 1998]. We're just going from there. We've got about seven songs recorded and we're going to record probably another eight in the next thirty days. Then we'll start seeing what's up with doing a deal at that point.

TB: So you're going to shop it? I'd heard you were planning to release it yourselves.

MK: Yeah, we're going to shop it. We have some interest from people right now. We've been recording in the [Social Distortion] studios in Fullerton and it's been great.

TB: Have you been playing out with him at all or is Strung Gurus just a studio thing at this point?

MK: Just a studio thing right now. We will do some live stuff, but not right now.

TB: Anybody else in the band or is it just the two of you?

MK: It's just the two of us. We've got some cello and some other stuff on the new tracks we're doing but it's just mainly two guys at this point.

TB: I've heard this is coming out in a sort of Violent Femmes direction.

MK: Yeah, it's got a lot of mixtures in it. It's got the Violent Femmes, it's got Dylan, early Dylan, even some loops on the drums, some jazz horn parts. It's a little bit eclectic, but it bases itself around pop and lyrics, but not necessarily in that order.

TB: I've heard that Dannell attends a church with your parents. Is that true?

MK: Yeah, that's true. My mom is the music director at a Catholic church in Newport Beach and that's where he attends with his wife and son.

TB: What about the acoustic LSU disc? Has the track listing been chosen yet?

MK: No, we took votes on the website so people could say what they wanted to hear. We're going to give it a little bit more time before we decide on the songs.

TB: What was the thinking behind doing that?

MK: We wanted to do kind of a compilation album, but not really a compilation in that it will all sound the same in the sense of having it all recorded at the same time. We're doing it acoustically so I can put a little more of a twist on the songs, have things a little more up front, a little more concentration on the vocals and the mood. It won't be real rock or anything.

TB: I'm curious what your thoughts are on how the KMG retrospective came together.

MK: We only had a certain amount to choose from, because the rest of the albums I don't own. I was fine with it. I know one thing is a brand new recording and right next to it is a ten year old recording but I think all together the point gets across.

TB: Who owns the rest of the records?

MK: I have no idea. They're just sort of out there. I actually own them all, I just haven't gone to court yet. [laughs]

TB: Isn't it frustrating to have somebody else sitting on your material?

MK: Well, at least people can get some of it, you know? And if they can't find it or get it, they can dupe it off their friend's CD or something. As long as people can find the music somehow, somewhere, and listen to it, at this point I don't have a real problem with other people owning it. When I'm dead and gone that might be a different story.

TB: There's something that struck me in the liner notes to the collection. Right towards the end, the notes comment that you always had a mainstream project on the side because you always took LSU to be a ministry band. I think describing LSU that way will probably surprise a lot of people. What's your take on what it means to be a ministry? What were you trying to accomplish with LSU?

MK: To lead people to Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. To encourage those who may like some strange music to still believe in Christ. To shock the people that are judgmental about some strange styles of music yet still convict them as to the truth of the gospel in the music. That's what LSU's about. It's not that that stuff doesn't feed through my very skin and sweat and blood when I do a secular project, it does, but the focal point of LSU is what I just stated.

TB: Do you think that got heard in the Christian market?

MK: Well, people are coming to my gigs. People are flying me out and buying my pictures and CD's. There are people that care, that got it, and are still getting it. I do think people have seen it and felt it. You're not going to please everybody but I think it did work, ultimately.

TB: Does LSU have a future at the moment or are you striking out on your own?

MK: Actually, I'd like to do some LSU gigs where we do some crazy concerts with white make up and costumes and just some freaked out shows. I really want to do that. I'm hoping to do that.

TB: Between the independent release of your Aunt Bettys material [Ford Supersonic, available through Marathon Records - go, buy, now.] and this LSU disc which will also be independent, much more activity on your website and having your manager active on your email list, it seems like you're taking a more grass roots approach lately. Is that a conscious choice on your part?

MK: Yeah, I think the internet has really changed a lot for me, because it put me immediately in touch with everyone who likes my music and they're able to buy my art and music and converse with people to find out what's going on, and I don't have to spend a thousand dollars and take out an ad in a magazine to do that. I think this whole internet thing is going to, and it has and it will, revolutionize the whole industry. The artist, it's all for the artist and I think that's a plus. It's a positive thing that has come out of this 666 internet thing which will actually take us over and be the antichrist. But until then... [laughs]

TB: Are you going to continue working on a grass roots level?

MK: If we do land something with the Strung Gurus, I'll still have plenty of stuff to put out that I'll be tucking away for the website. We'll have a good two years of new releases. It's all in the hands of God, ultimately.

TB: Are you getting active painting again?

MK: Yes. We just offered the paintings I did for the new thing and they're all sold but two now and then the stuff I did for Dogfish Jones just sold the day we put them up for offer, so I guess I've got to paint some more. I was planning on doing an art show with a friend of mine who's an artist out here and now I don't have any paintings to show. It's better to sell them, I guess.

TB: It seems as though you're starting to get involved in playing church gigs again.

MK: Right.

TB: Was it your choice to be out of that loop for so long?

MK: No, I've always been up to playing wherever and I just apparently wasn't allowed to for so long. Now it seems that I'm allowed to because a lot of the people that have been into my music for years now actually are youth pastors and actually are teachers and higher ups at colleges, professors. That's really helped me out. It helps a lot right now. We've gotten some letters from people who have talked about some of my past projects with professors who are into it and it's just a whole different thing. I'm still around, I'm still doing records - one or two a year. It's not like I'm going away or anything. I just really appreciate being able to play. I don't care, if someone wanted me to play a brothel, I'd play a brothel. If someone wanted me to play a church service, I'd play a church service. It doesn't matter.

TB: Has the reception been good so far?

MK: Excellent.

TB: Do you have any plans to do a tour? Have you ever done a large tour?

MK: Maybe three weeks at a time. I kind of like the fly out thing at this point. We take less money, because they've got to pay for tickets and transportation and a place to stay, but it makes it easier on my family at this point. I still have two jobs, too.

TB: I've heard that you're working at an art gallery.

MK: That's right.

TB: Do you ever get a chance to bring your own work in?

MK: It just concentrates on one artist, which is my mother in law, and you don't want to bring anything else in there. I have in the past, years ago, but she's so superior to anything that I could come up with that I wouldn't dare bring anything in there. Her name is Ruth Mayer. She's a fantastic artist.

TB: I'm guessing that if you're working a pair of day jobs that you're not able to make a living off your music.

MK: No. Definitely not.

TB: Have you ever actually been able to do that?

MK: Yes, I have. When I got the Aunt Bettys deal I was able to do that for about four years.

TB: I'm curious about your thoughts on label politics, how it is that so many artists work so hard for so long and still aren't able to live off of what they do.

MK: Well I think ultimately it has to be a labor of love for everybody. I don't think the bands should let themselves get ripped off, but at the same time there's a bottom line for the label, too. As far as the creative sense, if you really are creative and you really want to put something out and you really are writing songs or your forte is wanting to play drums or what have you, then I think it's something that's in you and you shouldn't stop doing it. When my wife and I were dating my pastor said to me, "Mike, I think maybe you should put your music down for about six months or a year, and see where the Lord leads you." What does that mean? So I don't lift a guitar, I'll be in the shower writing a song. That's how non-sense that is. If God's putting something in you, you can't lay it down and stop doing it, you're just going to do it.

TB: Well thanks. I think that's pretty much it.

MK: Well, what do you really want to know? You as a person? What do you want to say?

TB: [pause] I remember when I first started getting into Christian music, it was you and Michael Pritzl of the Violet Burning who convinced me that there was something worthwhile there. The Violet Burning's Strength album was actually the first Christian market record I ever bought. The thing that struck me was that there was grace there, but there was also the flesh and the struggle between the two. That was something I needed very badly.

MK: If I've done that, if Pritzl's done that, then we've been able to be transparent to you and to anyone else that gets it. The mixture between grace and the flesh is so opposite, but it's so human and it's so God. That's really what it's all about. I would encourage any band in the world to try and do that. I would encourage myself again, and Pritzl to do that constantly, because that's where it all ends. You can have these little fun blessing songs where everyone's all giddy, and that's fine if you want to feel that way; you can have the brooding songs that are all deep and searching, and that's fine too; but unless you can actually mix grace with the human being - which is a sinful nature - unless you can mix those you're not going to really speak to people the way they need to be spoken to.

- Todd Brown

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