Being a photojournalist I’m exposed to artists I’m unfamiliar with. Flotsam and Jetsam classified in the Thrash Metal genre was founded in 1981 out of Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, I’ll admit it I was into the Hair bands back in the day, I didn’t listen to hard-core Metal. Oh, how times have changed.
As I started doing my research to interview guitarist Michael Gilbert, I put in their self-titled album Flotsam and Jetsam which was released in May of this year. First song on the album, Seventh Seal, a heart pounding, wow factor, killer song… But before I can say that, my first thought was, oh my gaud what did I get myself into, as that quickly passed I liked it! I must have played the album twenty times top to bottom, hearing something different each time I listened to it. You got me, I love the album!!
I had the pleasure of interviewing guitarist Michael Gilbert and frontman Eric ˈAKˈ Knutson before their show at the iconic Whisky a Go Go on Saturday November 5th, discussing the new release and kicking off the U.S. tour.
We’re here at the Iconic Whisky a Go Go, kicking off Flotsam and Jetsam’s U.S. tour, behind the recent release of the self-titled album Flotsam and Jetsam via AFM records. What can the fans expect to see tonight?
Eric: A good mixture of a lot of stuff. We’re going to do some of the old classics that we have to do because people will get angry if we don’t and we’re going to throw in some of the new stuff, some of the favorites of the new record, some of our favorites. We’re just going to play until they quit asking us to do more and then we’ll get hop on the bus and pass out.
It’s been three years since Flotsam has toured the US, has the band ever played at this venue?
Eric: Yeah, many times.
I couldn’t find any information on this. Sorry.
Michael: Oh, yeah. We’ve done a couple of West Coast runs where we always end up at the Whisky in all sort, of it kind of feels — it’s usually the first gig, it’s so close to Phoenix. Hop on the bus, we end up at the Whisky.
Well, I know the House of Blues when it was here.
Michael: I think the last time we were here, we’re at the Roxy though.
Okay.
Michael: Is that right?
Eric: Yeah. I think so.
Just up the street.
Michael: Yeah, right up the street a hop, skip and a jump.
There are two song you always include in the set when playing live, No Place for Disgrace and I Live you Die, what is it about these songs that stand the test of time?
Eric: I Live You Die was one of the very first songs we ever wrote as an original song in the band and people just seem to like it a lot. It’s about old roman times and people killing each other for words and No Place For Disgrace is one of our — really one of the biggest hits we’ve ever had as far as the Metal community. So, if we don’t play that one people just get angry with us.
Michael: [laughs] Yeah, we always play it. It’s the title track of our second record and it’s just weird. The opening guitar riff comes in and people freak out. Usually, it’s the biggest pit of the night too so we always save it. Sometimes we start to set off with it but it’s kind of like, it’s kind of like shooting your wad to soon, you know….
Eric: [laughs]
Michael. So, we put it towards the end of the set because people are waiting for that song and it’s a great ender.
So, I’m going to die down there. Is that what you’re saying? [laughs]
Eric: In there, probably [laughs].
Michael: I will be fun though. It would be a fun death. [laughs]
Flotsam and Jetsam released their self-titled album in May of this year, leaving the fans raving about this album, stating it’s a new beginning for the band. Can you elaborate on this?
Michael: Yes. I can. The exposure that we’ve had in Europe over the last maybe three or four tours over there it seems like the resurgence of metal and the classic metal that from these old 80’s bands. I shouldn’t say the word “old” yet. We might be a little bit old but…
It’s okay, I’m in the same age group [laughs].
Michael: Yeah [laughs]. These guys they want to hear — most of these guys means a fan. They want to hear like the old classic metal. And so, whenever we play some of the newer stuff they’re like, “No, no, no! We want the first 2 records.” So, what we try to do on the self-titled record that’s just been released was kind of go back to our roots in it. We did a lot of listening and we wrote a lot of music for it. We wrote like 18 songs and we pick 12 out of those 18 that kind of sound like some of the older material that we did. We try to get back to our roots on it.
So, that’s kind of a whole concept behind this record. That’s kind of how we gauge everything too is how the fans react in Europe. So, when we play this new song and you see them mouth the words or they’re in the pit and stuff like that, then we know we’re on the right track because we’ve played songs off Ugly Noise and they’re like, “We don’t want to hear that shit! We don’t want to hear it. We want to hear the classic stuff!” So, if they’re not saying we don’t want to hear it we’re on the right track. So, Europe was like a good meter, good view meter for us.
Europe seems to be a consistent topic for me, I see pictures of the scene in Europe and hear the stories. I wish it was like that here.
Michael: Yeah.
This has become a Bucket List thing for me, to experience that atmosphere the music, the fans the Metal scene…
Michael: Yeah. The clubs are geared. They’re geared for music. They have great light shows. They have great sound boards. It’s all great in-house there, the United States you come here, you might show up in the club and it’s just, the PA system is all fucked up and you’re struggling, you’re advancing the shows and you’re not getting any equipment that you need there, but Europe 99.9 percent of the time they want the show to go smooth. The want to see a great show. So, their clubs are geared.
Michael you’ve contributed quite a bit on the writing process of this album, is there a song you’re more passionate about?
Michael: Verge of Tragedy is like part of my favorite one because I did a lot of the engineering on it too. So, I recorded his vocals, A.K.’s vocals and when he was doing the vocals on that song, it was given me the chills. It’s like he’s in the next room over and I’m listening to it just going holy fuck this guy 30 years, I’ve known him for 30 years plus. Great singer then even better now like he and I’m not trying to like suck his dick tonight or anything like that [laughs] but he’s a fucking phenomenal singer and the end of it yet I’m always, the way I write music is I try to create the tension so that it builds and builds and builds and at the end of the song it leaves you, just cuts you off so you want to listen to it again. In his performance on that that’s what he did. The vocal performance is stellar.
Eric you’ve been Flotsam and Jetsam for thirty-five years, now celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the first release Doomsday for the Deceiver. What has kept you motivated, with personal changes, and the changes in the music industry?
Eric: Well, I think our biggest thing that keeps us going and our biggest downfall sometime is that we actually like our music. You know what I mean? We write the stuff and I listen Flotsam stuff all day in my truck. They’re good songs and however we do it, we stumble across the good songs all the time when we’re writing it. Mike gives me a lot of room to sing vocal melodies and I must do go through 35 different melodies before I find the right one, you know. It takes me forever to write stuff because there’s so much room to sing and you know catchy riffs to sing over and this is just a really fun band to be in musically. The hour and a half or so we spent on stage with 2 hours on whatever it is each night is worth all the other crap that you must go through to be in this business that playing those songs in front of people who just love those songs just really does something to you.
Michael: There was guy today that we met on the street that was — he saw us in Dusseldorf 30 years ago, it was our first concert. So, he came down from Seattle to come to tonight show so he can see it.
Wow!
Michael: So, that was pretty cool.
I’ve posted a couple of your songs promoting tonight’s show, and that I’m covering it for the magazine and there have been some of your fans who’ve commented, one played a gig with you in the 90’s, another saw you on the King Diamond tour at the Ballard Firehouse, also a fan that didn’t know you released a new album when I posted the song Seventh Seal on Facebook. So, it’s quite interesting to see other people respond to your music.
Michael: Yeah, definitely.
I’ve noticed the lyrics in the songs have a deeper meaning, the first song on the album Seventh Seal is a phrase in the book of Revelation, as the video tells that story. What does this song mean to you, and the message it’s conveying?
Eric: You know, we are rarely in our lyrics pro or con anything. They’re usually just stories whether they’re factual or made up. They’re just stories that tell about something and they’re rarely have a pro or con. That one — I was like, “I don’t know what to write for this, what do I write, give me a topic.” Somebody said, “Okay. Seventh Seal.” and I’m like, “Alright, cool.” So, I looked it up on the internet, started reading through stuff and by the time I read through 4-5 stories about it and different prints about it, I had the song written. So, it was really just some research and what the song felt like and sounded like as far as lyrics go.
Iron Maiden, I’m sure most fans thought it was a tribute to the band Iron Maiden. Eric you’ve done a fantastic job on the lyrics about the Medieval torture device of the 14th century. I believe this was the first song recorded for this album. Tell us a little bit about the song?
Eric: I don’t mind of people saying it that they think it’s a tribute to Iron Maiden.
Okay.
Eric: We love Iron Maiden. It was one of the first bands we ever started playing when we became a band and I don’t mind doing a tribute to them. It’s great. And musically and melody line wise, it is kind of tribute-ish to them. But I didn’t want the lyrics to be about the band or about, you know. So, once again I hop on the internet to look up Iron Maiden the first thing it came up was like casket with the blades in it. It was like, “Alright. That’s what it’s about.” So, bunch of research later and we have that song done.
I was quite interested and when I look it up to write this question I’m like, “Really?” That’s scary.
Eric: Yeah.
Even though they said it wasn’t – it was make believe but who knows.
Eric: Supposedly, if you said something that a Priest or King didn’t like they would be, “Oh, you’ve got the demon in you. You got to go in there and Iron Maiden get bled out.” and then they let you recover and get new blood I guess.
I must ask you about the song The Incantation, this is an instrumental piece on the album. Is this an intro to Monkey Wrench?
Michael: Steve wrote that song and the other guitar player and he just presented it to us, “Hey, what do you think about this?” and we’re like, “Oh, shit!” that’s intro written all over it. It’s not like a preface to Monkey Wrench. It’s just kind of — we just all agree that it was just something cool and then probably had to be on the record. But then, it’s placement we didn’t really — wherever it sounded cool is where it ended up.
Eric: Yeah. We tried it in front of a couple of other songs, the song that came behind didn’t sound right with it or where it ended up was the best place it fit on the record and we had to put it in some place. It was just too cool to leave out.
Michael: Yeah. He did a lot of crying about it.
We’re all laughing, so you had to put it in there!!!
Michael: We had to put it on the album.
Forbidden Territories is the last song on the album, the name of this U.S. tour is Forbidden Territories of the World, what’s the connection between the two, or is there one?
Michael: We’re hitting all the territories we can.
[laughs]
Eric: [laughs]
Michael: It’s very convenient for the name of the song, you know. It’s just fucking metal “Forbidden Territories”. You can’t come here but we’re going to go there because, you know, we’re going to do what we’re going to do. No, it just sound cool and work out great. That was the name of the song back in 1988, ’87 when we wrote it and it re-emerge this year or last year whenever we recorded it, one of Michael Spencer’s songs and sound like a great tour name too.
Is there anything else you would like to say to the fans?
Eric: We’re going to keep touring until they quit paying us to do it. So, you know, come see us some place. Come check us out.
You’re touring the U.S. for about a month, correct?
Eric: Yeah. A month, 5 weeks, something like that.
Michael: We’re month now then we’re going to take our vacations and stuff for Christmas, and there’re plans in the making, then we’re back over in Europe in March and April, we come back and hopefully we’ll have the new material for a new record or if we wanted hit the states again or some other countries, it’s a tentative plan right now.
That brings up something else. When on tour do you find inspiration for your lyrics or music?
Michael: For writing music, I just — you give me a guitar I’ll write a song, I can write riffs all day long and stuff like that and submit it to this guy and he can sing over it. So, then it still comes pretty easy for us but like it’s difficult, we got our recording equipment and stuff with us but it’s difficult to record and keep tracking your ideas and stuff on the road because we’re just doing other stuff. We’re busy. We’re talking to you guys. You guys are helping to promote us and stuff like that. So, we want to talk to you guys and give the guys the skivvy on the band. So, I mean, we do our best to write several around it but it doesn’t always work out like that.
Thank you very much for your time.
Michael: Oh, thank you.
I’ll be photographing and writing a review on the show later this evening, I look forward to it.
Eric: Cool.
So, we’ll do a two-part coverage.
Eric: Yeah.
Michael: Alright. It sounds great.
Eric: So hopefully the review won’t be, “These guys are too old be to be doing this.”
Michael: [laughs]
You’re never too old [laughs].
Check out Tammy Greene’s show review and photos at Whisky a Go Go with Flotsam and Jetsam here.
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