Flotsam and Jetsam’s A.K. Knutson – ’80s Bands Sparked Our Fire

Flotsam and Jetsam are definitely on a creative upswing some 40 years into their career, and they’re not the only ones. Singer A.K. Knutson told Full Metal Jackie on her weekend show that they’ve taken inspiration from the quality of work their peers from the same era have been providing in recent years.

“Some of the older ’80s bands are putting out some really great music. Overkill, Death Angel, even Metal Church, they’re all putting out some really good stuff,” says Knutson. “It’s building a little fire underneath us to keep going. If they can do it, we can do it type of thing. I have a lot of respect for the bands that are in the same genre as us.”

That fire has once again sparked with the raucous new record, I Am the Weapon, which arrives Sept. 13, and Full Metal Jackie checks in with A.K. on the state of the band in 2024, what’s creatively working for them of late and what the band has in store as they embark on a new album cycle.

In addition, they dig in on “Burn My Bridges,” a particularly timely track as one of the more divisive presidential elections nears. Check out more of the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie and with us this week we welcome Flotsam and Jetsam’s A.K. Knutson. The band is back with the new album I Am the Weapon, their 15th studio album overall. A.K., you’ve been here through it all. What does it mean to you to reach the 15 album mark? It’s a long way from those days of just discovering heavy metal and starting the band.

It is. We’ve been through just about everything a band can go through and for some reason, we’re just dumb enough to keep hanging on. I’m glad we were because these last few albums have been really, really good for us.

Flotsam and Jetsam, “I Am the Weapon”

A.K., I know that you’ve had a backlog of material and I was wondering if you used some of that as a jumping off point for I Am the Weapon or if you started completely fresh with the new album.

We always try to just start fresh. We really have no goal or direction in mind when we start writing. But I’m sure that the years of experience and other albums we’ve done have to bleed through in one shape or another. That’s what it’s all about – growing and getting better or changing to what you really are over the years.

We’ve gotten to a point now where we’re using a little bit of everything we’ve ever done in the new stuff and it’s turning out really great.

Would you say that anything truly was the spark that set the creative flow going for this new album?

Probably for the last couple albums anyway, the lineup I’ve got right now is very cohesive. Everybody does writing. Everybody puts their two cents worth on everybody else’s parts and there’s no egos involved and there’s no, “I want my name as a writer on this.”

We split everything up evenly as far as money and credits and all that. That way we really end up with what’s best for the song rather than what’s best for any member.

READ MORE: Michael Gilbert – Flotsam and Jetsam’s Last Three Albums ‘Restarted’ the Band

Whether or not modern day politics served as an influence, “Burn My Bridges” feels like such a prescient song as we reach an election unlike any we’ve witnessed before. Where did the inspiration come from on that song? And do you feel there’s a resolution to the divide we’re seeing in the world today?

That’s actually what the song is about. It really doesn’t take a side. I’ve got this view that there are good things from the left, there’s good things from the right, until the extremists get involved in either direction, and then it just becomes a debacle. That’s kind of what this song was about. You go around burning bridges, you can’t get back to normalcy once you’ve done that.

Flotsam and Jetsam, “Burn My Bridges”

A.K., at 15 records in I would imagine you have to find new ways to keep the creative sparks going. What’s inspiring you these days and has your creative process changed in order to provide you new challenges along the way?

I think it’s just growth. I’ve tried every different type of lyrical and music writing that I can think of over the years, and I’ve kind of learned what works and what doesn’t work and what I like and what I don’t like.

Now I’ve got a team behind me that doesn’t skate around the truth. If I write something dumb, they come out and say, “Hey, that’s really dumb.” And we go from there. We start fixing things and rewriting things and patching things up, and I do the same thing to them. However, they rarely write something that I think is dumb. So it turns out pretty nice.

A.K., it’s been 40 years this year since this band started operating under the Flotsam and Jetsam name. Yourself and Michael Gilbert are the remaining ties to the band’s early days. What has it meant to have someone else with a tie to that history with you as you’ve brought in new members to continue the band’s legacy? And how do you feel the current lineup stacks up with what you had just starting out in the ’80s?

Every lineup I’ve ever had with this band has been great in one way or another. I’ve never had really any crappy players. This new lineup everybody’s very pro, everybody’s very veteran and it really shows when it comes to touring and making decisions and especially in the writing.

Ken Mary on drums, he has his studio which is what he does 24/7 basically. He’s been a great influence on my writing and my singing and getting stuff out of me that I didn’t think I had in me anymore. The guitar players just keep writing song after song. We had to throw some really good stuff away for this new record because we already had way more than what we needed and we were starting to run out of time. So we probably have another record or two already written that we just need to go through and tidy up a little bit.

A.K., you’ve had one of the more unique trajectories in metal, starting off learning metal just as you were joining a metal band. You’ve been present for thrash’s rise in the ’80s, but have seen other forms of heavy music take their turn in the spotlight. What first attracted you to metal growing up? What’s giving you hope or leaving you fearful for the continued evolution of heavy music?

When I first joined the band, I was listening to Barry Manlow and Elton John and doing show tunes and crap. The second that I heard Unleashed in the East or the Iron Maiden Killers album, my whole world changed. Metal got really great for a while.

Then grunge came around and kind of destroyed everything for everybody. Metal tried to come back, but I think too heavy and too unacceptable. Now the old school metal is starting to come back around a little bit. Some of the older ’80s bands are putting out some really great music. Overkill, Death Angel, even Metal Church, they’re all putting out some really good stuff.

It’s building a little fire underneath us to keep going. If they can do it, we can do it type of thing. I have a lot of respect for the bands that are in the same genre as us.

There’s some new bands coming out that have some old ’80s sound to them that are really kind of exciting. I think things are heading in a really good direction for metal and for heavy music.

What’s on the horizon for Flotsam and Jetsam? I know you’re on board for the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise next year. But what else is on the “to do” list for yourself and the band?

We’ve got a few things booked right now. We have some South American stuff coming up, hopefully before the end of the year. We did our very first South American trip just a couple months ago in Brazil and people went pretty crazy for us. So we’re definitely trying to book some more stuff there.

We just got a new management company, new agent and things are really looking very exciting for us. We are gung ho to go and do anything that comes up amazing.

Thanks to Flotsam and Jetsam’s A.K. Knutson. The band’s ‘I Am the Weapon’ album will be released on Sept. 13. Make sure to get the record and stay up to date on all Flotsam and Jetsam activities through their website, Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify platforms. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.