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In a culture that seems to be progressively becoming more and more pop oriented, it's rare to find someone making a statement. Michael Knott and company (better known as the progressive-alternative band L.S.U.) have been making a habit of "saying something" since the band's inception. The release of Shaded Pain, their debut on Frontline Records, was heralded by critics as one of the most important albums of all time.
Wakin' Up the Dead and This is the Healing followed on Knott's own Blonde Vinyl label, as the band continued to produce the cutting-edge music their fans had come to expect. With the release of The Grape Prophet, L.S.U veers slightly off course, creating a conceptual album dealing fictitiously with a real life event, one with a decidely Kansas City focus.
Knott, joined by bandmates Chuck Cummings (formerly of Common Bond), Brian Doidge (who played on Shaded Pain) and Mike Sauerbrey (formerly with the Choir), tells the story of Ellis, an orange picker whose fellow workers are wooed away from the grove by the Grape Prophet. In a recent phone interview Knott described the album's storyline:
"[The story] consists of a couple of different players; one being Ellis, who is an orange picker in the groves of Southern California. Ellis is in charge of all the other hired hands and they all work for Colonel Peckesen, who is the orchard boss" tells Knott.
As the story progresses, the other pickers leave the orange grove to follow "The Grape Prophet," who has called them to work on the grape vines to the North. Driven by curiosity and a need to understand what has happened, Ellis follows. "Ellis decides to leave the orchard and find out who the Grape Prophet is, and to try to coax the people into coming back before the oranges spoil." explains Knott.
At this point Ellis is greeted by a woman, representing the wandering pickers, who asks him to "come into the fold for your future is ours and your mind, in time. Spin the callous wheel, don't let the coil spoil." Knott explains the importance of this passage as "they're saying to Ellis, 'Come work in the grape fields, the vineyards. Follow the Grape Prophet.'"
At this point, Ellis attends a meeting led by the Grape Prophet, who prophesies that "this body of believers will be lifted up above all others." As Knott explains, however, he does so in quite an unusual manner. "The Grape Prophet speaks in English, but through an English interpreter. Even though he's speaking English, it's so much in parables and poems that it must be interpreted for the masses to understand." The prophet then claims to have sat down with Jesus, in full bodily form, and discussed "secrets which I can't tell".
Not happy with what he's seen, Ellis meets with some of the "lessor prophets" - those who travel with the mighty Grape Prophet. As Knott explains, Ellis learns of their origin. "They start speaking to him, trying to get him to come with them to Kansas City, which is where they are from. They want him to learn how to be a prophet." Ellis rejects the offer and loses most of his picker friends because of his unwillingness to follow.
The final confrontation between Ellis and the woman who represents the pickers ends the album. "[Ellis] can't understand why she is listening to the lies of the prophets. She states that she's ready for the prophets to 'take my body, I'm ready to be born. I'm ready to be crushed.' It's as if she's a grape, and the prophets can actually mold her into what they want her to be." The story concludes with Ellis being unable to coax the pickers back. They leave Ellis alone and go the way of the Grape Prophet.
So, aside from the prophets being from Kansas City, how is the story related to the area, and what does it have to do with reality? Knott explains, "About two years ago a group led by Bob Jones, an older gentleman from Kansas City, came out and visited the Vineyard Churches in Anaheim. I was leading a Bible study, and it was doing pretty well. We had a lot of young bands, and a lot of young people, so we basically worshipped for thirty minutes and then had about a thirty minute study.
One night the people in the group suggested we go see Bob Jones at the Vineyard. According to what they had heard, he was a prophet of God with some great things to say." It's not hard at this pint to mesh the story and reality. Knott is represented by Ellis, the Bible study the pickers and, according to Knott, Bob Jones is the Grape Prophet.
Knott continues. "I was pretty reluctant about it. I wasn't promoting it, but I decided to go and see what happened. Anyway, Jones comes up and starts to prophesy about how he had predicted what would happen to Jimmy Swaggart, and claimed that this was proof his prophecies were valid. He did so like the song says, through an interpreter."
"[Jones] also claimed that he had eaten with Jesus, and Jesus had told him they were the chosen fellowship, just like in the story." Amazed by what he had heard, and even more amazed at the crowd of nearly four thousand that seemed to be eating it up, Knott left the meeting. He learned later that over half of the Bible study decided to leave in order to attend the Vineyard, to follow the Grape Prophet. "Of course, they didn't call him the 'Grape Prophet,'" explains Knott. "That was just part of the story. They referred to him as the K.C. Prophet."
The album also tells the story of a girl prophesied over by one of the lessor prophets. According to Knott, the girl depicted in the story was a friend of his and his wife; it's a true story. "They started telling her what she would have been if she hadn't come to Jesus. They told her that she would have been a hooker and in porn films. They didn't even know her, yet they were telling her this stuff. Once we come to Christ there is no past or future without Him. We are called and chosen. It's not about what would have been."
Knott says that the album is not a vindictive statement against the Vineyards or any associated Kansas City churches, but rather, a warning. "I don't know if Bob Jones is still associated with the Vineyard. I didn't do this to rag on the Vineyard or VMI (Vineyard Ministry International)."
"The purpose of the allegory of Ellis and the orchard is to make people aware of the heresy going on in quite a few churches. It's not just the Vineyard," says Knott. The Vineyard may not be allowing this to go on anymore. I mean, I always respected John Wimber (the Vineyard's founder), and that's why I was so surprised when this was going on. It highly affected my life and lives around me."
"Furthermore, it could happen anywhere. Unless people stand up and say "Charismatic is fine. Gifts of the spirit are fine ... but some policing needs to be done." [Abuses] like this will continue to happen. When I saw people looking at Bob Jones as if he were Jesus, which probably wasn't his intent, it just scared me. I don't want to have to see that again."
Michael Knott has ceased being just another Christian rock-n-roller. He's a caring individual worrying about the very field he currently stands in. He cares about today's impressionable youth, and about the churches of the future. He cares about what's right and what's wrong. "I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and savior. That's where it's at," states Knott.
I asked Knott if he holds any grudges about what has happened and he answers with a swift "no." I ask whether he would be willing to work things out with Jones, and just as quickly, Knott responds, "Any time."
Ellis never does regain the friendships he lost. In the greater scope of things, he still comes out ahead. Life is experience. Because of Ellis' experience, others may live more freely, and with a greater knowledge of whose life it really is.