Metal, money and markets

For the better part of two decades, Flotsam and Jetsam has maintained a stronghold in the thrash-metal scene. What started in 1981 isn’t slowing down anytime soon. And while the Arizona-based band’s current lineup boasts just three of its five original members—drummer Kelly David Smith, singer Eric “A.K.” Knutson and guitarist Michael Gilbert—the current incarnation, rounded out by Steve Conley on guitar and Michael Spencer on bass, is its strongest yet.

The band, currently on a West Coast tour that stops at The Boardwalk on Friday, July 11, just rereleased what is arguably its strongest album, 1988’s No Place for Disgrace.

Spencer, who played with the band for a few years in the mid-’80s and rejoined in 2013, now lives in Elk Grove and owns an air-conditioning automation company. He recently chatted with SN&R about the band’s future, the state of the industry and why European touring beats stateside trips.

Most of the band lives in Arizona. Any plans on moving, too?

No. I’m the only California guy in the band. Everyone else in the band are lifelong Arizona boys. What’s been cool with me rejoining Flotsam was within a month after being back in the band, one of my clients based in San Francisco began contracting me to work at one of their largest Phoenix locations. So all my travel to rehearse for tours and record the last album was essentially paid for through my company’s relationship with a client.

How profitable is the touring circuit today as opposed to 20 years ago?

One of the issues with touring today is getting the income from the clubs or the headlining act to make it financially viable for the band. Flotsam, like every other touring band out there, has a minimum [guarantee] that we need to maintain that assures our bills are paid when we’re on the road away from our day jobs. Flotsam has been far more popular in Europe, the [United Kingdom] and Australia than [in the United States], so we may find that the U.S. market isn’t a profitable market for us. It’s definitely a different scene for the band here in the States compared to overseas.

How has the downturn of the record industry affected the band? Do you still receive any royalties from previous albums?

Royalties still come in mostly from Internet plays and iTunes along with CD sales. Being on the road is how a band generates interest and gets CD and merchandise sales. With labels not offering [tour] support any longer, every midlevel band’s strategy has changed.

You left the band and then came back in 2013. Were you in touch with the members during that absence?

I was in touch with Michael Gilbert for a few months after originally leaving the band in 1987 after a short U.K.-Europe tour supporting Megadeth. … Somewhere around 2010, Kelly and I started speaking after I put out a limited run of No Place for Disgrace preproduction CDs.

Will there be a new album this year?

Not with our current touring schedule. It looks like we’ll have a window in August to begin working on the preproduction for a new album. It looks more like a spring 2015 release.

Any plans for after the current tour?

After our European-U.K. festival run next month … we’ll be getting back to the writing process for a couple of months, unless there’s an offer for a support slot for a tour either in Europe or the U.S. We’ve already had a few offers come our way, but we need to make sure it works for us.