It’s an unsuspecting Thursday evening, and though the city of Chicago might not know it, Flotzilla is making his way through town via the miracle of Zoom. Hot off the heels of a killer new album, I Am the Weapon, founding Flotsam and Jetsam guitarist Michael Gilbert is face to face with yours truly, ready to tackle the past, present, and future of one of America’s most storied underground metal acts. Despite all the trials and tribulations that have come their way, they’ve always managed to rise from the ashes, defying the false and nonbelievers. They live. You die. But not before reading this interview.
Greetings Michael and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing tonight?
Michael Gilbert: I’m doing good man! Thank you for having me. It’s super cool to be here. Thank you very much. *points to Flotsam and Jetsam shirt* Nice shirt by the way!
Thank you! You know, when you’re a kid, they tell you to dress for success. I’m not sure if this is what they meant, but that’s how I’ve interpreted it.
MG: *laughs* Alright!
I’d like to start by congratulating on the band’s excellent new album, I Am the Weapon.
MG: Thank you very much. We had some concerns after the last record because we all really believed in Blood in the Water. Trying to do a follow up to that was a task in itself, so we were hoping we could meet the challenge. I think we did on this one. From the reviews, I think everybody else does too. It’s very cool.
I couldn’t agree more. How soon after Blood in the Water did ideas start coming together for this one?
MG: We’re usually a two year band, but Steve (Conley) and I spawned the riffs. Usually, it’s me or him that spawns the riffs and starts demoing stuff out to get over to A.K. or Ken (Mary) and do all the production of it. During those two years before we start making a record, we’re coming up with riffs. Each of us comes up with about 25, somewhere in that area, and then we just start filtering through which ones are gonna work, which ones everybody’s really digging on and vibing with.
Is there ever a case where you’re working on a riff or have an idea for one and say, “Maybe I’ll hold this one for the next record.”?
MG: We do that every time, but we never ever use our old riffs. For some reason, we put them on a shelf and go, “OK, we got another record in the tank here. We’ll just use those other riffs.” We never do. We just start writing fresh like always. There’s a lot of gas in the tank still. Steve and I are riff machines still. There must’ve been some blood in the water at some point to make us be creative at our age. It’s very cool *laughs*!
When it comes to writing, how does Flotsam and Jetsam approach a song? Does each member bring in their own individual ideas, or is it more of a group effort?
MG: It usually starts, like I said, from Steve or I. We’ll come up with a riff. With all the tools that we have, we’re able to actually make a vibe out of it. In the old days, when I would write a riff, I’d have to take it to a band rehearsal, try it out with the drummer, and stuff like that. See how it’s gonna gel, if it’s gonna be an angry riff or whatever. I don’t have to do that now. With all the tools, it’s very easy. It doesn’t take very long. It doesn’t stifle any creativity or something like that. I’m looking for more of a “give the song what it needs” approach.
As we’re getting older, a good song…when we were younger, we’d just go fast, fast, fast. It’s gotta be faster, faster. Now, we’d rather have the big choruses. Let it breathe a little bit if it needs it. If it needs guitar solos, as every song does, even ones that don’t need a guitar solo somewhere *laughs*. It’s a process. Then it goes over to A.K. and Ken to see if they like it. We try to demo it out as much as we can with all the mock tracks, just to get the vibe from it and see if they’re gonna go, “Oh yeah. This gets me jumpin’.” Sometimes it doesn’t do anything for anybody. It gets deleted *laughs*.
So everyone needs to be onboard for it to be a Flotsam and Jetsam song?
MG: No, on this record, there’s one that stands out. I’m sure we’ll talk about it too. There’s one song that everybody’s like, “What the hell is that?” It seems to be one that radio’s gravitating towards, at least people that I’m talking to that are in radio, and that’s “Beneath the Shadows”. I’ve heard everything about it from, “It sounds like a ZZ Top song.” to “It sounds a little like a Pantera song.” There were a couple guys in the band that were like, “Sheesh, we don’t wanna do that song.”, but it ended up working, so we kept it and threw it out there. People are digging it.
It’s funny because in my review, I literally described it as “ZZ Top gone groove metal”.
MG: Yeah, if I recall, those guys sold a couple of records too *laughs*. I think “La Grange” sold a few records.
Flotsam and Jetsam seems to be on a real tear as of late, starting with 2016’s self titled and really unrelenting since. How does this latest era of Flotsam and Jetsam compare to the ’80s or ’90s?
MG: It’s definitely a different kind of monster. It was its own monster in both creations. In the early days, we were on fire. I think we still are right now, but things have kind of changed with the lineup and stuff like that, peoples styles. Whenever we’ve gotten a new member, I want them to do their own style, play their style when they come into our band. That’s what we’re asking for. Ken Mary, when he joined, I didn’t want him to come in and play just like Kelly Smith or Craig Nielsen. I want him to play like Ken Mary.
Once he got comfortable with the band, you know, just listen to that guy. You wanna talk about monsters? Holy crap. The same thing with Steve Conley. When he joined, I didn’t want him to conform and try to write something that he’s not accustomed to writing. I wanted him to do what he does. It’s been good chemistry, really good chemistry for the last four records. Even though we had (Jason) Bittner in the band, good chemistry with that guy too, he left and went to Overkill. That’s when we got Ken Mary on drums. These last two records have probably been my two favorite records we’ve ever done.
Ken is someone we usually associate with Fifth Angel, Alice Cooper, and all the other bands he’s been with over the years. When he joined the fold, I was a little suspicious of how he’d tackle being a “thrash drummer”, but boy did he prove me wrong.
MG: *laughs* Same with me. When we found out Bittner was gonna move onto Overkill, Steve had worked with Ken Mary on a lot of other stuff. They’re studio partners. He asked me, “What do you think about Ken?” I’m like, “I don’t know. He doesn’t really seem like he’s a thrash drummer, but if he wants to throw something down, tell him to send us a tape.” We were in Europe at the time, so he sent us a video of him doing “Hammerhead”. He got about halfway through it and I was like, “That’s our guy! That’s our dude right there.” *laughs* Getting in a room and jamming with him, it only took about 15 seconds to be like, “Yeah, this guy’s a freaking monster, man.”
Playing guitar alongside you on this album and for the past decade for that matter is Steve Conley. How does his style compare or contrast to those of past guitarists Edward Carlson or Mark Simpson?
MG: It’s really easy to write with him. We contrast pretty good together. There’s always some level of friendly competition, especially when it comes to guitar solos. That’s usually one of the last things that gets done and tracked, so we keep that stuff a secret, until the last couple of weeks before we turn everything in to our latest mix guy, who over the last couple records has been Jacob Hansen. What happens is he doesn’t wanna give out what he’s doing and I don’t wanna give out what I’m doing because we’re gonna start trying to top each other. When I hear his stuff, I try go go back and rewrite the crappy solos that I did, so I try to make them better *laughs*. Whatever. He’s a great guitar player. I learn stuff from him too. There’s tons of respect for each other.
Despite being labeled a thrash band, Flotsam and Jetsam has always had a bond with power metal, going back to the band’s earliest days. This album is no exception, with such powerful tracks as “A New Kind of Hero” and “Black Wings”. Which scene would you say the band feels a stronger connection to: thrash metal or power metal?
MG: I don’t know. That’s a great question because I didn’t really consider us a power metal band back in the day, but over the last four records, we’ve been gaining new power metal fans. They’re locking onto the big choruses. Again, I’m gonna talk about Ken Mary again, because a guy like that is a Swiss army knife. He’s a world class producer. A lot of bands pay for that kind of stuff. We don’t have to. We have this guy, he’s gonna come in. He’ll pick the songs apart if he has to and revamp the choruses if he needs to. For the most part, A.K. does all that stuff, but it’s always nice to be in a band with guys that can gel with each other and talk to each other about changes. There’s no egos. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. We don’t have any egos in this band at all. We fired all the egos *laughs*!
This year marks Flotsam and Jetsam’s 40th anniversary. Could you take us back in time 40 years and tell us what events took place that led to you joining the band?
MG: I think I was 17 at the time. I had a mutual friend that knew these guys. Prior to that, they were Dogz. They changed their name to Flotsam and Jetsam, and I went to their first three shows that they did. I was like, “You know what? I want to be in that band.” A friend of mine was like, “I happen to know somebody!”, and they were getting rid of their guitar player at the time. I stepped in and did an audition with (Jason) Newsted. He right away said, “You wanna be in my band?” It’s history after that. Shortly after that, I wrote “I Live, You Die”. He wrote the lyrics to it and that’s the song that launched it. Metal Blade took that and put it on a compilation record. The rest is history. 40 years? It only seems like about 10 to me *laughs*! That’s how fast it goes by.
Like you said, “I Live, You Die” served as the official introduction to Flotsam and Jetsam for many headbangers in those ’80s days, first appearing on 1986’s Metal Massacre VII. What events took place that led to the band getting in contact with Metal Blade? How quickly did that come about?
MG: That was pretty much 100% Newsted. That guy was a genius about correspondence. He was writing letters everyday. He was sending out tapes. He was making sure he was as networked as you could be when there was no internet or anything like that. It was all done by mail or a drive to Los Angeles at that time. He kept up on all that. He had a relationship with Brian Slagel from Metal Blade. We all knew too, when Cliff (Burton) passed, we knew that call was gonna come. He was just the right guy for the job. I still think he his the right guy. We hated to give him up, but we got Bill Bodily now and he’s the right guy for us. Things happen for a reason. Hopefully Bill’s enjoying playing with the band. I’m sure he is. We give him a lot of shit because he’s “the new guy”. He’s not really new, but he’s still getting hazed *laughs*.
Leading up to joining Flotsam at such a young age, which bands were you listening to back then and which guitarists most shaped you and your playing approach?
MG: I grew up listening to a lot of AC/DC. As a matter of fact, I said it in a couple interviews, when I was real small, I think I was 11 or 12, something like that, I was listening to “The Jack” on headphones. I could hear the reverb and the sound of the guitar. I was like, “I wanna do this. Oh my God!” I was a KISS fan before that. I would dress up like Ace Frehley. Before I had a guitar, I had a tennis racket. That’s what I used to practice with. My tennis was not very good. I didn’t know that’s what that was used for. I thought it was just like a guitar *laughs*.
It served you well in the long run!
MG: *laughs* Yeah. My mom, when she found out I was serious about it, she bought a guitar from K-Mart, if you remember that store. It was $19. She brought it home and I played the crap out of it. When they found out I was serious, they bought my first Gibson after that. The rest is all history. Talk about some supportive parents! I was a lucky kid for sure.
My parents were the same. And it’s funny, because there used to be a K-Mart no more than 5 minutes from my house. I was there for the tail end of their existence, but I do remember it.
MG: Do you remember the stale popcorn they used to have? It was killer though! It was super stale, but it was really good.
Yes! I remember that and the fish tanks that I was always trying to get my little hands in. I’d go over there with my grandma!
MG: *laughs* Nice!
When people think of the ’80s thrash movement in America, they often think of the west coast scene and east coast scene. Being that the band was from Phoenix, was there any consideration of moving further west to the Bay Area, or did Phoenix have a thriving metal scene back then?
MG: It was thriving, definitely thriving. We thought the L.A. scene was gonna pass right through here, and it was gonna be here for a while. It did go through here and went to Nashville *laughs*. There’s a huge music scene in Austin and Nashville, of course. Phoenix has been pretty good. They’ve been very supportive. Unfortunately, they don’t play a lot of heavy, heavy stuff on the radio here. If you wanna hear that, you gotta listen to SiriusXM. Who knows? Maybe “Beneath the Shadows” will end up making it on our mainstream radio here. You never know.
The two Flotsam and Jetsam albums that metalheads regularly point to as their favorites are Doomsday for the Deceiver and No Place for Disgrace. Between the two, which is your favorite and wny?
MG: I like No Place. Man, I don’t know. They were both a lot of fun. We were young and we were thinking that we were gonna grow up and become rockstars. That whole life with the major label back then, you’re having stuff just given to you all the time. It was just crazy. To spend two months in the studio with Michael Wagener is a pretty cool experience. I don’t know. Can I do a draw on that one? Equal? *laughs*
Absolutely, because both albums are perfect for different reasons. For me, Doomsday is raw, savage, and go for the throat from start to finish, whereas No Place is perhaps a bit more refined in its musicianship, a little Maiden-esque in parts, but still thrashy.
MG: Yep, I’d agree with that and I appreciate that. Thank you!
In closing, what does the rest of 2024 and going into 2025 have in store for Flotsam and Jetsam?
MG: 2024, we just signed with FM Management, so hopefully there’s gonna be some stuff on the horizon. We don’t have any more shows booked for 2024. The next show that’s actually on the books and confirmed is 70,000 Tons of Metal. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on that one, but it’s my favorite gig. You should go to that. It’s a lot of fun. There might be something happening before that. I don’t know yet. There’s things floating around for next spring. I’m sure next spring, we’ll be in the United States or Europe. In the summertime, they’re already booking the festivals for us in Europe.
The new Flotsam and Jetsam album, I Am the Weapon, is available now on AFM Records. For more information on Flotsam and Jetsam, visit www.flotstildeath.com.