November, 1999
(After introductions have been made)
Knott: So, have you been playing some of the music?
DJ: Yeah. I've been playing cuts off of Rocket and a Bomb and Grace Shaker. My format's a little more kind of folk/acoustic and so I'm familiar with your LSU stuff, your Aunt Betty's stuff, but that's not really what I play.
Knott: Right.
DJ: It sounds like this Strung Gurus stuff that you're going to be doing might be something that might fit into my format.
Knott: Yeah, there's definitely some acoustic stuff on that, that's for sure. DJ: Why don't we start with an introduction. If you could introduce yourself for the audience at-large and maybe mention some of the bands that you've played with and I can take more specific questions from there. How does that sound?
Knott: Okay. That sounds fine. My name is Michael Knott. I've been playing. . . .oops. Wait a minute.
(At this point Mike's call waiting kicks in, so there's a break in the interview.)
Knott: Okay.
DJ: We back?
Knott: Yeah, we're back.
DJ: All right!
Knott: Hello, this is Michael Knott, I play with a band called "Lifesavers Underground" or "LSU," "Aunt Betty's Ford," "Strung Gurus," "Cush," and I have my own solo projects. (Laughs.)
DJ: You've been busy!
Knott: That's for sure.
DJ: Now, how long have you been playing music?
Knott: I don't know. Forever, since I was born.
DJ: The first professional band that you put together, what was that called?
Knott: Uhhm . . . . "Sterling Steel," back in Junior High School.
DJ: Wow - you've been at it awhile!
Knott: Yeah.
DJ: But the first band to have any major success what "Lifesavers," is that correct?
Knott: Yeah.
DJ: Let's talk a little bit about that early stuff. I've heard "Waking up the Dead" and "Shaded Pain." Now that has more of a Bauhaus kind of feel to it. Would you say they were an influence?
Knott: Definitely Bauhaus was an influence. The Lifesavers were a kind of pop, three piece, three chord progression group and we moved from that to calling it Lifesavers Underground or LSU and then we kinda went to a darker angle of some of the stuff that we'd been hearing from England. We'd get really theatrical with our performances and things.
DJ: Would you say that was a response to what you were hearing in the Christian market or was that separate in a desire to kind of fit into a more Secular . . .?
Knott: It was a desire to do something that wasn't so trite and poppy and we were just drawn to that kind of music, obviously it was mainly, well, only in the secular market, and we really liked Bauhaus and that kind of thing . . .so we got into it and started doing records like it. Or similar to it.
DJ: I'd like to ask you about a few of the songs on Shaded Pain, the song with the lyrics "Kiss the Cleaver"
Knott: That's called "Kiss the Cleaver," I think. Oh, no - "Time Has Come."
DJ: That's totally, totally different lyrics than we were hearing in the market back then.
Knott: Right.
DJ: Were you afraid, maybe, about how those would be interpreted? Or were you just kinda laying it all on the line at that point?
Knott: Yeah, ee were really worried. Actually, we didn't get another gig for about three years after that. Or two years. That album just killed us completely. And yet, now it's considered one of the top 100 records in the CCM industry since they've had the CCM industry. And it's changed a lot of peoples lives and a lot of people's outlooks on music when it came out. So we were very happy that we did do it. Although we knew we were going to get in trouble in a sense by doing something that dark and that honest.
DJ: That was something I was going to comment on. Lyrically, you tend to do songs that dwell a little more on the darker side of human nature, or maybe some would say a little more realistic side.
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: Especially some of your newer albums . . . I'm thinking about Rocket and a Bomb, some of the Aunt Betty's stuff . . . where you sort of tell stories, but you don't moralize about the stories . . is there a reason that you do that?
Knott: I think everything shouldn't be all of a sudden be tied up in a great big blue bow where it's made all up to be this beautiful present by the end of the song. I like to just take aspects of different people or different things I see and just sing truthfully about them. And there's some really interesting characters out there that deserve to have songs written about them.
DJ: Now I've heard that most of Rocket and a Bomb was based on your experiences in California. People that you observed living in an apartment building down there. Is that right?
Knott: Right. I was living on Sunset and Fairfax in an old rundown apartment complex and those were all people that lived there, in that complex, Jan the weatherman, Kitty Courtesy, John Barrymore Junior.
DJ: Let's talk a little more about Kitty Courtesy.
Knott: All right.
DJ: One of my favorite cuts off of the album, just because you can listen to it and not really know what you're talking about. But you read the lyrics and kind of look at the song a little more . . . it's an interesting story. How true is that story?
Knott: Well, (Laughs) It's true as far as I know. Her husband disappeared, and she was cooking something and she'd never let us know, and, I mean, it smelled like cooking human remains or something, and eventually she lost her mind and became a street person, and we finally saw her pushing her cart down the street. Well, that's Hollywood for you.
DJ: That is Hollywood. Another song on that album is Rocket and a Bomb. I'd like to talk a little bit about that one. If you could talk about the origins of that one . . . where it came from?
Knott: Hmmm. Just a feeling of . . . you try, you struggle . . . everyone does all these things in their life and they wake up the next day and they have to completely struggle again. Just as hard, and just basically saying that having a rocket and a bomb is about as easy to get as a good job and some bus fare. (Laughs)
DJ: Is there some of your own personal philosophy in that song?
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: Can you talk a little more about that?
Knott: Actually, it has a lot to do with Bill Clinton.
Mr. Bill is there a Mrs. Bill Does she tell you how you should feel Does she let you get away Will Sluggo come and make me pay
Mr. Bank is there a Mrs. Banks Is she the one that turns the crank Is there a Mary Poppins still
It's just kind of a take-off politically and then there's Mr. Life and Mrs. Life / are you really in for life, equating marriage to a commitment or to jail, as a life-term. Are you planning to make a break / Could it be a big mistake / and then I go into Mr. god is there a Mrs. god? Now I'm not saying there is a Mrs. God, it's basically not saying God as far as God the creator, but this person or these people that think they run it all. And umm, So it says Mr. god -- that's a small "g" -- Is there a Mrs. god -- that's a small "g" -- and could she help me find a job/ One that pays enough tto take / which is kind of inferring that women run the world. (Laughs) And I can't think of the first lines of the song . . . oh . . .
Mr. In and Mrs. In Can you please tell me what's in And what is wrong with me I'm never in your company
Mr. Out and Mrs. Out What is this all about Before you know it you've come in
So, all the people that are out come in and all the people that are in come out and it's all I ever really wanted was just a good job and some bus fare. And I was fighting for all this stuff and this is all that I wanted. But besides that what I really wanted was a rocket and a bomb.
DJ: And don't we all want that sometimes?
Knott: Exactly.
DJ: One of the aspects of your songwriting that I really appreciate is that you're not afraid to share that you've had some struggles, maybe that you've had some doubts. Stop me if I'm inferring too much here. You've got a song off of Screaming Brittle Siren called I'm no Christ. Which, you know, "Cross me once and I'll forgive you / Cross me twice and it gets hard /Cross me three times just remember / I'm no Christ." Some of the songs on Grace Shaker - "Double," where you say "How can we keep our marriage alive" - lines like that.
Knott: Right.
DJ: Was that a conscious choice in your songwriting or did that just come out of your style as a lyricist?
Knott: I love showing the human aspect of, I guess, myself, or kind of people, that we're not perfect, and we're gonna make mistakes, and we're gonnaask 'why' a lot, more than people think we should, I guess.
DJ: You've taken some heat in Christian circles for not being Christian enough for the Christian market and too Christian for the secular market.
Knott: Right.
DJ: Would you like to comment on that at all?
Knott: (laughs) Well, the funny thing is . . . this is a perfect example. When we finished the Aunt Betty's Ford record, Christian stores said they'd never ever carry it, and then the head of product at Elektra/Warner Brothers found out what my past was like and she said if they ever find out, and they will, that you were in these bands, then you can kiss your career goodbye! (Laughs) So that's exactly what you just said. Definitely shunned by both sides. (Laughs)
DJ: Which I find so unfortunate! Because, I mean, I first heard "Waking up the Dead" in '90 or 92, maybe. And it was so different, and it was so much what I needed to hear at that moment. Someone else that was a Christian, but was struggling a little bit. I think , what's the song - G.G.G?
Knott: G.G.G., yes.
DJ: The one that talks about "sometimes I'd like to kill the KKK" That's not something that you usually would hear. . .
Knott: Right.
DJ: Say in an Amy Grant or Michael W. Smith Album.
Knott: Right. Right. Well, that's not the kind of music I was doing. Someday I'll be able to get it together and start doing that kind of music andreally make a good living. But it's just hard for me to do the real pop, trite stuff.
DJ: Now, I would say of all your albums, maybe Grace Shaker or Alternative Worship come closest to being able to be fit into that shallow . . . shallow in the sense of compartmentalized . . . Christian view. Was Grace Shaker kind of a conscious choice towards that?
Knott: Yeah, yeah it was. I wanted to. . . well, just the title "Grace Shaker" . . . In a sense I mean . . . take off of a salt shaker and shaking what people believe is grace through being below it and still crying out and receiving it. So yeah, it was a conscious effort, but it wasn't a conscious effort to try and get on contemporary radio or something. Because that's just . . . there's no way they would really let me on now, no matter if I did a whole album that was real commercial.
DJ: Let's talk a little bit more about Grace Shaker. Some of my favorite songs of yours, I think I mentioned, are on that album. . . Double . . .particularly. I like that song. It reminds me, lyrically, of Dylan. It tells a story, but it's pretty universal, and maybe the theme of it is a little vague. Do you want to talk about that one a little more?
Knott: Sure! Actually, that's the one song out of all the Aunt Betty's songs that got me my publishing deal with Rondor. International, yeah. Anyway, it takes place, a guys in a bar, he's just talking about everything going on in the bar, with all these different people. One guys on the juke box, one guy spills his beer, one guy . . . this happens, then all of a sudden the stool he's sitting on falls over and it bumps a mean pool shooter from across the town. The guy misses his shot and it's all on this guy and he basically says, you know, he's only has a couple of bucks left, can I buy you a drink and the guy goes "make it a double." Which means, obviously, the guy can't afford a double and it just kinda goes back to that whole you're reaching to do something and then you can't really do it in a sense. Then he wakes up the next day and he goes to church and feels remorse but you think when you hear the line that he's feeling remorse because he was out drinking but you realize that the pastor is getting a divorce and he has five little kids. The guys wife that's in the church just looks down and says "how are we going to survive if our pastor can't even stay married?" And then it goes back to the chorus where the stool falls over when you sit back down and hits a mean pool shooter from across the town / he misses his shot / it's all on you/ with your last four bucks you know what you'll do . . . La la la . . . make it a double. (Laughs).
DJ: Is that semi-autobiographical or is that . . . ?
Knott: (sighs) Yes and no. Yes and no. I'd rather have people keep guessing on that.
DJ: No problem. Like I said, some of the cuts on this are very very Christian, "Grace," for instance, is a beautiful song.
Knott: Thanks.
DJ: "Christ Saves" . . . the same thing, I think.
Knott: That's blatant, yeah.
DJ: One thing I've learned through all my ways . . .
Knott: Wrong ways.
DJ: That's right. That's right. It's been a while since I listened to that one.
Knott: One thing I've . . . let's see. One thing I've found through my wrong ways, one thing I've learned in my day . . . is Christ saves.
DJ: Is that you sort of looking back on your life and saying "This is the one constant that I've had or maybe . . .
Knott: Yeah, that is the one . . . the one thing that makes sense. That really matters. And encompasses all the other things that you can be enlightened by in life. It starts with that concept.
DJ: Now, you've often had two or three bands going at a time.
Knott: Right.
DJ: Between Lifesavers and Aunt Betty's and your solo stuff, Bomb Bay Babies, some of these other groups, now you've got Strung Guru's, is Lifesavers, or LSU, still sort of your ministry band, so to speak?
Knott: Yes, I'd say yes to that.
DJ: Let's talk about your new project, Strung Gurus. Would you like to explain how that came about a little bit?
Knott: Well, I met Dennis Donnell from Social Distortion and we decided we'd get a band together because Mike Ness is pout doing his solo stuff and so we've been recording since last November and we're just trying to finish up the album. And it's acoustic oriented, but it's a mixture between . . . I don't know if you've ever heard my "Strip Cycle" record?
DJ: Yeah.
Knott: Between that and "Rocket and a Bomb, " I guess. It's a mixture between both those records. And it's been a lot of fun. We're having strings on it, and all kinds of different instruments. So, we're hoping to do something with that.
DJ: Have you found a label for that?
Knott: We haven't even looked yet. We have interest, but we really don't have anything completed that we want to send out and at first I think we're going to just sell it over my web-site before we start giving it or trying to sell it to somebody.
DJ: Like your "Ford Supersonic" Album?
Knott: Right.
DJ: Let's talk about the internet a little bit. You have had some problems in the past with some label-things going on . . . I mean we have Blonde Vinyl, which had some unfortunate circumstances.
Knott: Yeah.
DJ: You've been distributed by Alarma, lot's of different . . Word, I think put one of yours out . . .
Knott: Right.
DJ: Now, with the internet are you finding that maybe you can do this on your own a little more self-produced, self-sold, not having to rely so heavilyon . . .
Knott: Yeah, that's what we want to get to and what we have been doing since we've had the site up. We've done fantastic. You know we not only sell Cd's, cassettes, but we also can promote gigs, sell my paintings and eventually we'll have little trinkets that we can sell.
DJ: Trinkets?
Knott: Keychains, prayer cloths, stuff like that.
DJ: (Laughs) Your own Mike Knott rosary.
Knott: Exactly.
DJ: How interesting! Are you active at all on your mailing list? Or is that mostly Dave that . . .
Knott: You know, that's all Dave. I really stay away because this . . . and there's also a One-list. With about . . . I dunno . . . a hundred-something members. But it's just . . . I stay out of it because occasionally some psycho will get on there and converse with whoever he can and just cause some problems and so I just kinda stay out of it.
DJ: That's probably safest.
Knott: yeah.
DJ: One other album I wanted to talk about a little bit was the Windy Lyre album. It's produced by you, and I think you wrote most, if not all of the music on that one, but it's a little more - shall we say . . . happy? That the stuff you were putting out back then. Were those songs of your that you gave to Windy, or were they songs you had written to her, or . . .
Knott: She kind of wrote them with me.
DJ: Okay.
Knott: It was kind of taking her aspect, or the way that she is as a person and putting that into the songs. Like "Ave," which I thought turned out really good, and some of the other ones, but. . . yeah. So I mean, that's kinda how that worked. I mean I kind of wrote in the aspect of what she's like and then what I'm like. You know?
DJ: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Was that album successful? Commercially?
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: I was just curious.
Knott: Yeah - I mean it was really underground sounding for that time, y'know. I mean it was kind of taking a Cowboy Junkies feel. A couple of yearslater I got a letter from a band - that I wish I didn't throw away - but they told me that they'd been using some of the ideas that I did on the solo on "Field of Flowers" in their song and they said that they'd been getting some airplay in England and I didn't think anything about it and they said that the name of their song was "Breakfast at Tiffany's", you know, and so, you know, I just throw it away, and about a year and a half later or two years later the thing just blows up in the states. I don't even know what the name of the band is but I just thought it was really interesting.
DJ: Yeah! That is interesting.
Knott: And the funny thing is when you listen to that song you can hear the solo that's on "Field of Flowers."
DJ: You just did a tour . . a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago - how did that go for you?
Knott: It went really good. Fantastic, actually. I mean I went out there with 25 paintings, sold them all. A lot of product. People were fantastic. Just played small little things. And sometimes a hundred people, sometimes more. Sometimes less. But you know, every night was a great night.
DJ: That's great. Those were solo acoustic?
Knott: Yeah. Just plug an acoustic into the board and have a microphone.
DJ: Now, you're doing an acoustic album of LSU remakes - is that right?
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: You want to talk about that a little bit?
Knott: Yeah, I'm doing that with Havalina Rail Company. I don't know if you've ever heard of them?
DJ: Yeah.
Knott: They're kind of doing the background stuff. But you gotta. It's just . . it's about 15 LSU songs stripped down to acoustic. And there's about another month to go on that, actually, but there'll be some drums on some of them, but it's mainly going to focus on the acoustic angle.
DJ: Interesting. And that's going to be sold, again, on your web-site?
Knott: Yeah, that'll be sold on the web-site. Yeah.
DJ: One other album I was thinking about was the "Cash for Chaos"
Knott: Cash in Chaos: World Tour. Yeah.
DJ: There's a song on there . . . . she sells shells . . how does that go . . . it's the first cut. . . . she can sell the shells. . . .
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: Do you remember the name of that one? I don't have the disc here.
Knott: I think it's called "The Shell." (Laughs.)
DJ: "The Shell." I think that's right. Do you remember . . ..
Knott: Yeah, that takes place from the era where I wrote "Rocket and a Bomb." When I lived on Sunset and Fairfax. The hookers started dressing up like schoolgirls because they were getting busted and they'd take their Johns behind the Kentucky Fried Chicken which was right across the street and so that's what it's about.
DJ: Interesting. There's another cut on that one - "Radio Satan"
Knott: Right.
DJ: I do a . . . Sometimes I guest in on other people's shows, and I . . .
Knott: That's gonna be on the Unplugged record.
DJ: Really?
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: Interesting! What's the story behind that one, if you don't mind me asking? It's a little tough to understand what you're saying in that one.
Knott: Actually, it's about a Christian rock radio disk jockey that caused me some problems. (Laughs.) And, you know . . . Radio Satan / Radio Lies / You're wearing your halo's way up high / You're praying to Jesus to save my life / Radio Satan / Radio Lies / And it's the kiss that leads to murder / And it's the kiss that makes the martyr / Radio Satan / Radio Lies / lend me some wool/ spun by your hand from your spinning spool / cover my transgressions cover tonight / radio satan / radio lies . . .It's just strictly mocking this person who thinks that they're the hand of god in a sense. And judging me and I'm joking around and calling him Satan. So it's tongue in cheek.
DJ: Do feel that . . . this is a bit of an off-the-wall question but I'll ask it anyway . . . Do you put a lot of humor into your songs? I get the feeling sometimes that your music - people take it seriously but you're kind of messing around with people?
Knott: Oh yeah. Completely. I mean, when you take
And all I ever wanted Was a good job and some bus fare And a rocket and a bomb
I mean that a joke. That's funny. But it doesn't sound funny in that context. (Laughs) So that's kind of . . . dark humor, I guess.
DJ: Let's talk just a little more about your place in the Christian market. Maybe where you feel you stand in the Christian market. Like I said, there's been a lot of misunderstanding where you've been, maybe, ostracized, maybe a little bit from the market as a whole in the past, but now there's a whole, huge, sort of underground Christian scene that seems to be embracing you . . . Again. (Laughs)
Knott: Right.
DJ: How does that make you feel?
Knott: So happy. I mean, I've never been happier than when I got back from the last tour. I mean, it's just a great feeling. Youth pastors that grew up listening to my music bringing the kids from their youth groups. You know, people that are older, and early twenties, and then teenagers and younger, you know? Coming to your show and just . . . they may only have one CD but they just had to come see it. And then they'll walk out of there with ten more.
DJ: Right.
Knott: So . . . it's a great feeling.
DJ: That's great. Maybe one or two more questions, if that's cool.
Knott: Yeah.
DJ: Your new album, Dogfish Jones, I haven't heard. I haven't been able to get a copy of it, actually.
Knott: Yeah . . . it's going into the collectors file, that one.
DJ: What's the deal with that? Were there some troubles with the label, or . . .
Knott: They were kinda going under before they took it on. So they put it out, and they just don't have any money. They sold every one they had.
DJ: So if we can find it, grab it, huh?
Knott: Uh-huh.
DJ: Any plans to . . . What about your back catalog? You have how many albums now? Fifteen? Something like that? Is there a chance of those being re-released anytime soon, or . . .
Knott: The one's I own I can release them. The one's I don't own, it's not really up to me. And I think there's over twenty-five, altogether.
DJ: Wow, I'm missing bunch. (Laughs.) I thought I was doing good with fifteen! (Laughs)
Knott: So did I! (Laughs.)
DJ: Let's talk a little bit more about that ownership issue. There's certain albums you don't have the rights to? Is that . . .
Knott: Yeah. Because I would have sold them to a label, or what have you. You know, I would have sometimes . . . like "Fluid" for instance, that was sold to Frontline. And, but since they got bought we did get all their remaining copies so we do have that available right now. And just different things like that, you know?
DJ: Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to talk with us. We greatly appreciate it.
Knott: Sure. I just want to say one thing more. Lately I've also been recording with a band called "Cush" It's C-U-S-H and it's all the members of The Prayer Chain minus Tim Taber. And we're going to have a record out in January, as well.
DJ: What label is that going to be on, do you know?
Knott: Uhhh . . .I do, but I can't remember the name right now. It's an indie label owned by Eric Campuzano, which is the bass player. And so Wayne Everett will be on it, and Andy Prickett, and Eric. It's a real different sounding thing for me. It's uhh . . . I dunno . . . something very European sounding and yet kind of Doors-ish at the same time.
DJ: Are you doing vocals on that then?
Knott: Yeah, I'm doing vocals. Real melodic. So, that's coming out.
DJ: I'll definitely have to look for that one.
Knott: Okay.
DJ: Can I talk you into doing some promo's for the show?
Knott: No problem.
(He Does.)
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