Author Archives: Knottheads Admin

Retroactive Records to Release Fluid, Grace Shaker, and A Kiss of Life on CD and Vinyl

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Retroactive Records has announced that they are reissuing Michael Knott’s Fluid, L.S.U.’s Grace Shaker, and Lifesavers A Kiss of Life on CD and vinyl. They all come with historical write-ups and and images. The Fluid release will come with a re-imagined version of the “Get Well Jenny May” card that was part of the advertising campaign. The CD version of A Kiss of Life will feature the original artwork for the first time on CD. Check out the full announcement details here, along with links to pre-order.

Michael Knott Appears in Adam Voith’s “Recommended If You Like: Novel”

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Adam Voith has released Recommended If You Like: A Novel. Michael Knott is one of many characters that appear in this book:

“What happens when your taste is real but your world is fake? When your longing is legit but channels for expression have been defanged and sanitized?

RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE is a novel built from the recorded cassette tape monologues of Anderson Humphrey, a music obsessive and aspiring snob known curiously as The Christian Humper in a vast but isolated underground scene in the 1990s. The stories are oral but recall zine culture at its photocopied peak, when music was still a total identity machine.

A chance encounter with a wildly unsuccessful punk band and a newfound zeal for life beyond church camp lead The Humper and his friends on a chase for selfhood, status, and cool inside a world designed to stifle all three.

Andy’s tapes are a vulgar comedy of compromise peppered with micro-economies, status games, moral codes, humiliations, delusions, and little bursts of joy as he and the band attempt to cover up their scarlet letter and avoid paying the Christian Rock tax.

For the three years he records, Andy’s dispatches are conversational, breezy, and funny, but the jokes belie the depth of The Humper’s project as he wrestles with doubt, shame, and embarrassment while seeking adventure, autonomy, and validation.”

A new page has been added to chronicle Books that Knott appears in, so if you know of one I missed, please let me know.

New Artwork and Vinyl Color for The Grape Prophet Vinyl Second Printing

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This is really cool news from Lost in Ohio: “An exciting update on the new Grape Prophet reissue. Thanks to the folks at Us Kids – An Alternative Music Rebellion – A Documentary Film we were able to obtain negative scans from the original album’s photo shoot, restoring this dark imagery back to the album it once adorned. The album is still on track to ship by July, but now in a new Red Stained splatter vinyl!”

Just to confirm: this is a replacement for the reissue on blue vinyl. There will no longer be blue vinyl variant – just this version. If you already pre-ordered a copy, this new version is what you will receive. If you have not ordered a copy, you can still do so on the Lost in Ohio website.

New Add-On for the Rocket and a Bomb Kickstarter

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“With five days left in the campaign, something unexpected has worked its way into the story. I’d hoped to do a stretch goal, but simply couldn’t land on one that gave me the feeling that what I’d be offering was worth the time and effort, and quite frankly, your interest and financial support.

Then in the midst of an altogether different conversation, Todd Zeller showed me some video he’d shot of Mike painting, and mentioned he had the painting on his wall. And then it hit me – I think a lot of fans had wished in his lifetime, they could’ve owned an original GERARD painting. Myself included. So the idea was simple: photograph the piece properly and make a small run of faithful giclée canvas reproductions…nothing cleaned up, nothing “improved,” nothing altered. But give everyone the opportunity to own a copy of one of Mike’s paintings.

Before doing anything, I wanted to make sure it was done the right way. That meant reaching out to Michael’s estate so that his daughter Stormie would be included and properly receive royalties from the prints. That permission and deal is now in place, and I’m grateful I can share the piece while also making sure the family benefits from it.

So for the final stretch of the campaign, we’re adding a limited one-time run of 8” × 10” canvas giclée prints, each hand-stretched on a wooden frame. The same painting Michael once gave to a friend…now reproduced, just once, for the people who helped bring Rocket and a Bomb back into the world.

The painting can be found in the “Add-On” section of the campaign. To add the painting to your existing pledge, follow the directions found at this link.”

The Grape Prophet is Back on Wax

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The Grape Prophet on blue vinyl

“A very limited new pressing of L.S. Underground’s beloved rock opera, on Ellis Blue smash vinyl. Pre-orders are live now, and shipping in July!

The Grape Prophet is one of the most distinctive rock operas to emerge from the early ’90s alternative underground. Released in 1992 on Knott’s own Blonde Vinyl Records, the album follows Ellis, an orange picker sent by his boss Colonel Peckesen to rescue his fellow workers from the pull of a charismatic cult leader known as the Grape Prophet, a thinly veiled allegory for  events unfolding in the evangelical movement at the time. Dark, heavy, and almost uncomfortably earnest, it arrived just ahead of the grunge explosion and sounded like nothing else in Knott’s already eclectic catalog.

Lost in Ohio is proud to offer a very limited second pressing of the album, newly cut with clarity by Lex van Coeverden at The Vinyl Room. The artwork has been revised from the previous vinyl pressing to lean deeper into Knott’s stunning original paintings, and the record is pressed on Ellis Blue smash vinyl, a color drawn directly from the visual palette. The LP features the ten original album tracks, and includes a digital download of the full 2021 Deluxe Edition including its bonus acoustic recordings.

Pre-orders are live now, and shipping in July!“

The Aunt Bettys and Lost in Ohio Release “Off the Record”

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“The Aunt Bettys’ Off the Record is out today. When the band reunited to honor their late frontman Michael Knott, something clicked back into place. The result is five reimagined tracks from their 1996 debut, with Seth Roberts, Steve Hindalong, Michele Bunch Palmer, Bill Campbell, Stormie Fraser, and Ryan Lee Mead stepping in to carry Knott’s words, and additional contributions from Matt Slocum and Rick McDonough. Mixed and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Christopher Colbert, with amazing additional work by Yackland Studio. (And don’t forget the artwork, a sketch of the new reissue cover by Steve Cefalo!) “Star Baby” is featured on Apple Music today. Listen or buy on our site, Bandcamp, or wherever you find good music.”

Help Reissue Rocket and a Bomb on Deluxe CD and Vinyl

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From Lo-Fidelity Records: “I’ve been putting records back into the world for a long time now. Some because I was asked to. Some because they were/are favorites of mine. And some because they never really left the people who heard them the first time.

Rocket and a Bomb fits all of these criteria.

This is Michael Knott at his most locked-in as a storyteller. It was not the loud, chaotic, full-band Knott most people expected. This was him writing about the strange, broken, funny, and very real people who surrounded him when he was living in Hollywood. Junkies. Neighbors. Lost souls. Friends. Himself. The whole thing plays like a stack of short films set to music. It’s messy, human, sometimes hilarious, sometimes brutal, and somehow still full of grace.

When this record appeared, it didn’t fit neatly anywhere. It wasn’t CCM. It wasn’t alternative rock in the way people wanted it packaged. It just existed in its own strange little orbit…and over the years it quietly became one of the Knott records people kept coming back to. The one they mentioned in emails. The one they asked about at shows. The one they didn’t forget.

So, let’s bring Rocket and a Bomb back properly.

Not as nostalgia. Not as a quick repress. But as a careful, fully-realized reissue for the people who’ve lived with this album for decades…and for the ones who are just now discovering how deep Michael’s catalog really goes.

If you already know this record, you know why it matters.
If you don’t, you’re about to find out.”

Retroactive Records to Re-Issue Poplife, This is the Healing, and Screaming Brittle Siren on CD and Vinyl

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Retroactive Records announced that they would be launching pre-orders on February 12th for 35th anniversary editions of the Lifesavers – Poplife, L.S. Underground – This is the Healing, and Michael Knott – Screaming Brittle Siren on CD and vinyl. Poplife will have a bonus track (“Nachos”) from the recording session. This is the Healing will be a second pressing with different live photos inside. Retroactive Records will also fulfill all of the Screaming Brittle Siren Kickstarter preorders for CDs, black vinyl, and red vinyl. They will also release a metallic purple vinyl variant for retail only.

Reissue of the Aunt Bettys 1996 Debut Available on CD, Vinyl, and Cassette From Lost in Ohio

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From Lost in Ohio: “All I ever wanted was Aunt Bettys on vinyl. Reissue copies now available for pre-order. Remastered from tape, new artwork, extensive liners. Available on two vinyl variants, plus CD and cassette. Ships Feb 20. And a release celebration on Feb 28.

Lost in Ohio is reissuing Aunt Bettys on vinyl for the first time, with a deluxe package that honors the album’s legacy. The original Tim Okamura paintings are lost, so renowned artist Stephen Cefalo created two brand-new 12×24 oil paintings inspired by the originals. The album has been freshly remastered by Christopher Colbert from the original tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Liner notes by Lara Noel Hill (the band’s A&R rep at Elektra) and never-before-seen photos complete the package. CD and cassette versions are also available, all featuring the same care and detail. This is the version the album deserved in 1996.”