Strip Cycle

Description

Strip Cycle is an album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Knott of Lifesavers Underground fame, released on Tooth & Nail Records in 1995. This is a mostly acoustic album by Michael, with a twist. Michael went in to record this album, and found that his daugther had been playing with the tuning keys of his guitar. He liked the sound that this new tuning produced, so he dubbed it “Twisted Toddler Tuning” and recorded the whole album with that sound.

Another of his albums full of naked honesty. Many personal subjects rise to the surface. Most importantly his undying struggle with alcohol. Drawing the picture in obvious fashion with the lyric “I feel free with God and a bottle in me.” Like most of his albums Strip Cycle is littered with fury and intensity. Which is impressive considering not a single electric instrument shows it’s face through out the album.

Michael Knott’s first predominately acoustic record was Rocket and a Bomb, a Nashville Skyline-esque collection of mid-tempo stories and songs. It was a bold shift in direction and one that he mastered ably and easily. Strip Cycle, Knott’s next acoustic outing, was a sharp 360-degree turn from Rocket and a Bomb’s welcoming tone. Marrying Knott’s skewed songwriting sensibility with his newfound appreciation for being unplugged, Strip Cycle reads like a Roky Erickson record. He sings about junkie rock stars and deranged girlfriends in a direct, plainspoken manner that belies the lunacy of his subject matter. An entire track is built around the repeated phrase “I’m on fire/ I’m burnin’ on fire,” and «Tattoo», the record’s strongest song, seems to tell of a prostitution ring gone awry. Adding to the overall aura of insanity is the fact that Knott’s guitar was purloined and de-tuned by his daughter, Stormie Lane, hours before the recording was to begin. Knott liked the new tunings so much that he retained them for the record. As a result, notes are unnaturally bent and the sound of loose strings snapping against the fretboard causes the guitar itself to serve as another percussion instrument. Strip Cycle also finds Knott speaking candidly about two intensely personal subjects: his dire financial straits and his constant battle with alcoholism. The former is the subject of «Bad Check». Against a weeping cello and warped acoustic strum, Knott sighs, “Sometimes I wish those shiny red lights on cop cars were just big bright cherries/ I wanna bowl/ I wanna knock down some pins.” It is a moment of naked honesty that ranks among Knott’s finest moments. Also stirring — but for entirely different reasons — is the album-ending «Denial». Its chorus is grim and unrepentant: “I feel free with God and a bottle in me.” That the song ends abruptly with a piercing scream is itself a sort of commentary. Though there isn’t a single electric instrument on the record, Strip Cycle burns with all the fury and intensity of Screaming Brittle Siren and Shaded Pain. [J. Edward Keyes, AMG]

PROMO
Lost In Ohio 2023 Reissue

In the early ’90s, Mike Knott was a creative whirlwind. His bands L.S. Underground and Bomb Bay Babies had become staples of the Southern California rock scene. Through his indie label Blonde Vinyl, he released more than 20 albums, helping define a generation of underground alternative music. His band Aunt Bettys was signed to Elektra Records after a label bidding war and poised for a breakout moment.

Amid all of this, Knott also released three solo albums, each one stylistically distinct – pulling influence from Bauhaus, Tom Petty, Dinosaur Jr., and beyond. But while preparing for Aunt Bettys’ major label debut, he quietly wrote a very different kind of record: Strip Cycle.

Strip Cycle is an album unlike anything Knott had released before – or since.

While some lyrics echo the deranged, confessional style of Rocket and a Bomb, Strip Cycle takes a sharply personal turn, diving into fatherhood, addiction, and raw self-reflection. Musically, it’s stripped-down and striking, with a vibe reminiscent of early Violent Femmes – entirely acoustic, yet full of rhythmic grit and emotional punch.

One of the record’s quirks became its defining feature: “Twisted Toddler Tuning.” Knott’s daughter Stormie, a toddler at the time, messed with the tuning pegs of his acoustic guitar. Knott liked the warped sound and kept it. The loose strings slap against the fretboard throughout the album, adding a spontaneous, percussive texture that’s utterly unique.

The sessions were as raw as the songs. Knott collaborators Brian Doidge and Chuck Cummings (Aunt Bettys) and drummer Ed Benrock (Starflyer 59) contributed to the record, but Knott also took an unpolished DIY approach. He played drums – poorly – on “Super Girl,” and one track abruptly cuts off mid-chorus amidst screaming. The result is a spontaneous, unfiltered document of a man at a creative crossroads.

Released in 1995 by a young label called Tooth & Nail (which carried the torch after Blonde Vinyl folded), Strip Cycle was as visually gritty as it was sonically. Photographer and musician Matt Wignall provided the grainy, high-contrast images, paired with a scrawled, handwritten layout that matched the record’s raw intensity.

Lost in Ohio’s limited vinyl reissue of Strip Cycle is a labor of love, built to preserve the original’s DIY aesthetic, complete with:

* All black-and-white packaging, true to the original’s design
* Freshly restored artwork, using Wignall’s original photo negatives, including never-before-seen images from the original shoot
* Lacquers cut by hand at The Vinyl Room in the Netherlands, and plated in Italy by Pacri Group
* Vinyl pressed by Precision Record Pressing in Toronto, limited to just 300 copies

For longtime fans, it’s an overdue tribute to one of Knott’s most revealing works. For new listeners, it’s a raw, honest snapshot of a true underground legend.

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/strip-cycle/716137899)

CD tracklist:

01. Sugar Mama – 3:16
02. Tattoo – 3:22
03. Rock Stars On H – 3:07
04. Transister Sister – 1:43
05. Light My Fuse – 3:19
06. Burnin’ On Fire – 4:28
07. Bad Check – 2:39
08. Milk & Peas – 4:18
09. Super Girl – 3:07
10. Everything – 4:09
11. Am I Winnin Somethin – 1:59
12. Too Long – 4:44
13. Denial – 3:28

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Tooth & Nail Records. Re-issued as a Limited Edition 12-inch vinyl LP in 2023 by Lost In Ohio, in co-operation with Tooth & Nail Records.

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Strip Cycle, Remastered and pressed on Vinyl, Lost in Ohio 2023.

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“Tattoo” (MUSIC VIDEO)