Lifesavers Underground

This is probably Mike Knott's most popular and well known band. Also known as LSU or LS Underground, they have put out a number of albums over the years. While the style may have changed a bit here and there and various players have come and gone, the one mainstay of the band has always been Mike Knott. While LSU has not been an evangelistic christian band, LSU's faith has always remained clearly visible in the 10 years that they have been around. LSU's lyrics have also tended to be on the darker side, with Knott exploring the darkness of his own humanity while never forgetting the grace of God. Knott questioned, answered, critiqued, protested, opinion-ized, loved, and hated through the lyrics and music of LSU. The forthcoming Dogfish Jones album on Flying Tart records will be LSU's eighth album and hopefully there will be many more to come.

Lifesavers

While he has tended to focus on the darker aspects of faith and exsistence with his solo work and his band LSU, Lifesavers have not really tended to focus on anything. Their first album came out in 1986 and was called "A Kiss of Life." That album was mostly about God and it was a pretty pop-y and happy record. However, once Knott started his band LSU, Lifesavers didn't come out with another record until 1991 called "Pop Life." Musically this album was a surf album as well as lyrically. The lyrics were light hearted and fun with song titles such as "Surf With God." In 1995, "Huntington Beach" came out and Knott just basically sang about life in/on Huntigton Beach. This album was also a surf album but it had more of a punk flavor than "Pop Life." If you took Mike Knott's solo work and combined it with his Lifesavers work, you would probably come up with the Aunt Bettys.

Aunt Bettys

The Aunt Bettys are Mike Knott's mainstream/secular band. They released one album on East West/Elektra records before they left the record label. They have not been signed again since. Lyrically the Bettys tend to focus more on the darker side of life and Knott has several songs on the CD about strange people he's met in life. Some of the lyrics on this CD are truly brilliant - especially those on the song "Feel" which is about a guy who has a sex change. But it's not so much the actual story that is brilliant, it's the chorus line - "I could do anything." There are several LSU/Mike Knott remakes on this CD but with different music and lyrics. The newly redone songs are "Double," "Rocket and a Bomb," and Kitty Courtesy." The Aunt Bettys are no more but Mike Knott is currently pursuing a solo career.