2018.01.18 - PopMatters - “As Brothers We Stand”: An Interview with Greta Van Fleet

“As Brothers We Stand”: An Interview with Greta Van Fleet

Rising band Greta Van Fleet brought their tour to NYC for two sold-out shows. Guitarist Jake Kiszka spoke about their new EP and the excitement of touring.

By: Sachyn Mital

One of 2017’s most exciting new bands was the four-piece rock group, Greta Van Fleet. The band consists of three brothers, lead singer Josh Kiszka, Jake Kiszka on guitar (Josh and Jake are twins), Sam Kiszka on bass and keys, plus their friend Danny Wagner on drums. Hailing from Frankenmuth, Michigan, not far from Detroit, Greta Van Fleet derived their band name from that of a local octogenarian musician from their hometown. The group has a raw sound that harkens back to Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, and other classic rock, R&B and blues bands.

Their earnestness and enthusiasm, plus their rocking tunes, have Greta Van Fleet drawing new fans around the world (including the Olsen twins), and have them selling out multiple shows in the U.S. They have been heralded in multiple Ahead of a two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, guitarist Jake Kiszka sat down with PopMatters to discuss their latest EP, From the Fires (four of the eight songs are also found on their debut EP Black Smoke Rising), and the excitement of touring through new cities and countries.

Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Photos from their show on December 5th, 2017 follow below.

My understanding is your family had a limited record collection. When you were listening to their albums, did you or your brothers understand that music to be classic rock? What did you make of your parents’ collection?

It wasn’t something that was you know, previous or contemporary. It was just what we were listening to when we were younger. It didn’t seem to us as if it was classic rock, or it was older, traditional blues, folk, and R&B and stuff. It was just what we had.

It wasn’t until later when we’d hear pop, or we’d hear things on the radio that we were unaccustomed to. Then you hear pop music, it’s like, “What the hell is this?” Because I don’t think it did very much for us.

So the band’s sound has been inspired by your family’s music collection. And obviously, people see a comparison to Led Zeppelin, myself included, With your guitar sound, were you trying to imitate Led Zeppelin in any way or did you just come about it naturally?

Not really. I mean, Jimmy Page being one of the many influences that I have as a guitarist, was a part of my plan, but it wasn’t a direct, or an intention to replicate any of the Led Zeppelin sound with the guitar. I think it’s because I listened to a lot of British Invasion, and a lot of that comes in my playing. So it’s like Clapton, and Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend, those guys.

How did the band, specifically the three of you that are brothers, how did you guys decide on what instruments to play? Did you pick up the guitar first, and that’s what you wanted to play? Did you play another instrument first?

Yeah. It was, something that was initially appealing. I started playing probably around [age] three. And so it was the first time I picked up a guitar, and my dad would set out his bass and his guitar on the ground, and we’d crawl around on them. And my mom would tell him that he could pick them up, or we’re going to break them. He said, “Well, they’ll get bored of them eventually, and stop crawling around on them.” But I never did. So eventually, I picked it up and started playing with it. That’s an instrument that I’ve been drawn to — stringed instruments in particular — my whole life

Josh and I would sing in the car growing up. That was another thing that was sort of initially there. Eventually, he grew into being a good vocalist, and I was more interested in the guitar. We had finally got together, Sam came in, and filled the spot on the bass, and then started playing around with keys. It was kind of a natural.

I know you have a raw, natural sound but do you have any favorite pedals or effects?

I don’t use many pedals or effects. It’s pretty straightforward. I find that I don’t want to lean on any falsities that sort of implicate my playing, or my ability to play. I find that I can actually emulate a lot of pedals just naturally by doing different things, and using different tricks. So I don’t play with too many pedals, but I do have a Holy Grail reverb pedal that I use. And a boost pedal. That’s about it.

Do you remember the first song you guys recorded? That was “Highway Tune”, right?

“Highway Tune” was the very first song we recorded. Yeah.

What is the difference between recording that song, whenever you recorded it, two years ago maybe, to recording something like “Change is Gonna Come” more recently, or another song off the From the Fires EP?

I think it was like two and half years ago; we got with our current producer now, Al Sutton out of Rust Belt Studios. We’d been to some other studios around Detroit, Plymouth Rock Studios, and Metro 37. But it wasn’t until we found a producer that we intended on working with that could give us the attentiveness that we needed, and to help us create the sound we wanted in the studio setting.

We’re all really live musicians. I think we always will be live musicians, as opposed to studio musicians. But two and a half years of learning and evolving as studio musicians, I think we now retain a lot more insight on how to record, like a recorded song. So a lot of the tunes are more mature, and working together makes it a lot easier. And it’s more fun to try new things, and be more creative and expand.

What are the newer songs you’ve had fun playing on, expanding your sound on?

Those covers were really interesting to do because we’d never attempted to cover anything. So it was kind of a new breed of, I wouldn’t say problem, but [a] new breed of approach to some things. It was like, all right, we’ll take that challenge, playing around with different parts, and not a simple structure, and to stretch the tones farther than we normally would, and change parts, and try to honor the song, but also at the same time sound like us.

Yeah, so you covered Fairport Convention and Sam Cooke. “Change Is Gonna Come” is your slowest song. Did it feel different recording that?

Yeah, it did. And especially for me, because I do like, right now, more aggressive, faster-paced songs, because people tend to enjoy that sort of energy. But, you can also on the other side of the spectrum be gentle and delicate, and give them that variety.

Did you cover that one specifically, because of our current political times?

I think that its ability to be political, but also flexible and talk about, oppression. Mainly oppression. It was something that, not necessarily politically, but sociologically, fell in with the times and sort of our generation.

That’s another song that’s kind of like “Black Smoke Rising”, where you stand up in the cold. It’s something that advocates to our generation, that change is gonna come. So yeah, I think it was a testimony to this time frame.

I want to ask about the Edge of Darkness line. “All my brothers who stand up / for the peace of land”. Do you know what meaning or intent Josh [who wrote the lyrics] put into the line?

I guess it’s subject to interpretation. But I think the initial idea with that was that, as brothers we stand for the peace of land. And that was for the good of the Earth, and for man. And all those lessons of peace, and love, and unity, that was something that he had said. And it was sort of advocating that peace, love, and unity. As brothers we stand, for the peace of the land. I think that’s what he was going for there.

Does it feel more special to hear that lyric, because you are brothers? Three of you are brothers.

Yeah, that was a special thing. And I hadn’t thought about it until later. And he could say it onstage, and it gives you a sense of pride. We’re doing this for the right reasons, you know. It’s really powerful.

Do you have a favorite lyric? Have you done any of the lyric writing with Josh?

A little bit. Some with Josh. Sometimes it seems that he’ll need a little push, and it’s usually the two of us. Mainly it’s him writing the lyrics. But yeah.

A favorite lyric… There is one longer piece of the song. I don’t know if you … It’s “Oh, my holy lord, lights my soul on fire. Flames of love and sweet perfume. She’s my heart’s desire.” It’s a cool, poetic thing. That’s “Love or Leaving”. That hasn’t been released yet. I thought that was a really cool lyric.

Could you say you have a favorite track on the new EP?

I don’t particularly have a favorite, but I can tell you that the intent on those new four songs was to sort of project the range, and influence. So you can hear the soul on the Sam Cooke, and the folk. And the rock, the pure rock and roll on Edge of Darkness. And then the catchy fun on Talk on the Street, sort of element to it.

I read that you played shows in your home area there were like three hours long. You have eight songs officially released. How do you sustain a three-hour show? Is it the fans’ energy?

There’s quite a bit of original work that we’ve written in the past. And I think, about 75% of the three-hour set consisted of original material. I would be extending stuff, and just jamming around, and having fun, and going off on tangents, and really just jamming. And then the rest, we put in some covers and stuff.

Do you have any plans for a three-hour show tonight? What are your surprises?

I think we had a surprise of our own. We’ll be getting up and doing our hour set, and then, yeah, we may have a surprise. But we also have another surprise. I didn’t know that the Olsen twins are coming tonight. That was interesting.

So surprises for the audience, and one for us.

You have two nights here. How does it feel to be selling out shows everywhere?

It’s humbling. Because I don’t think that any of us had expected this sort of immediate attention, and for it to be received so well so quickly. But yeah, it’s humbling to see that every single venue consistently, continues and consistently sells out. It’s great.

Do you have any fun touring stories?

It seems to be that everywhere we go, we pick up some sort of item of clothing from the area. And it usually looks like it came from that area. So we did this stint through, the last tour we did down the East Coast, and we have these sweaters and things like that. Different types of jewelry. And we went through like Texas, and Galveston, and Austin, Odessa to Southern California. And I got like bolo ties, and things like that.

So we, by the end of that last tour, by the end of the two months, had sort of a tour outfit. And we put on every item of clothing that we collected along the way. We just looked like a bunch of hilarious jackasses. So that was kind of a thing, that when we got home, we got home and walked into the house with those clothes on. And everyone is wondering what the hell we were wearing.

But you got memories from every city. Did you get cowboy boots?

I tried to get some spurs, but I didn’t have any.

Or a big belt buckle?

I did… I actually got this copper horse.

That’s cool. Has the touring influenced your music? You’re hitting new, larger cities?

I think that the fact that we’ve become more aware of certain ideas, different ideas, and different types of people from different areas… I guess it’s that worldly, or that maturity that changes your perspective on how to write a certain song or something, and what to say.

Your current tour ends this month. Will you start recording a new set of songs after? I read you generally write songs on the fly.

We go home December 21st. We’re off for Christmas that week, and then the first week of January, we’re in the studio all of January. There were a lot of songs written on tour.

So do you have plans to release a new EP, or a full-length album?

It’s going to be our full-length, all original album. And they’ll be all new songs.

What else are you looking forward to in 2018?

I think we’re really looking forward to next year. We’ve got a lot of great stuff coming along for that album. I think people will be surprised with what we have in mind. It’s going to be cool. And we’re looking forward to, because we’ve sort of gained some sort of credibility now, to moving into bigger venues. We’ll be playing some bigger festivals this summer, and more countries. So, we’re coming to a town near you.

So, your summer tour is about planned. Any European festivals?

Yeah for the most part. It’s pretty, stacking up. Some European festivals, as well.

That’ll be awesome. Is there any city you’re looking forward to visiting that you haven’t been to?

Yes. All of them. Yeah, we’re really excited. Especially, we’ve really wanted to get into Canada, so that’s something that we’re really excited to be able to do. We’ve always wanted to go. And then also, we get to go to France, and Germany, and London, England again. So that’s, we’re really excited for all of it.

I’m sure you’ve been to Canada, right across the-

No. Never. Never. So, it’s going to be an experience.

https://www.popmatters.com/greta-van-fleet-interview-2523362610.html

2017.12.17 - AntiHero Magazine - Interview: Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet

Interview: Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet

Rising Rockers In the Mood for some Oasis

By: Mark Dean

Greta Van Fleet is the band on everyone’s lips right now after winning the award for the best new artist at the legendary Loudwire Music Awards. Very much in demand, I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity of a slot in their busy press schedule where I caught up with guitarist Jake Kiszka to discuss the band’s plans for their global takeover. Opening the chat, I was keen to discover how the band had dealt with their newfound celebrity status.

JAKE KISZKA: I think that we have taken it quite well. A lot has happened for us in such a short span of time.

Was there a single factor that you can pinpoint that has made the world sit up and take notice of the band?

JAKE: I am not really sure, you know? If I tried to identify why… I guess it’s just that we have written music that is truthful to us, real music, you know? Putting your soul and your heart into it. People can hear that and they have reacted to it.   

Has it been easier or more difficult being in a band with family members?

JAKE: (laughing) Well, it can be, or it can be the opposite. It hasn’t come down to fists thrown at some point yet. It has actually been great. The fact that we all grew up together we share a lot of similar influences. That certainly helps. Especially when it comes to the musical process that we know what the others are thinking. That gives us the ability to all share a similar page. However, on the flip side of that is when it comes down to artistic differences it can be a bit brutal at times, but not anymore.

I have read that your father had adopted quite an original incentive scheme during your early career progression. Is this still something that is ongoing? (He upgraded Jake Kiszka’s guitar each time he showed significant progress).

JAKE: (laughing) He’s stopped now. He was instrumental in shaping my career. He would make me learn a certain set of songs, from when I first started out on a little basic acoustic guitar.That was before I could get my first electric guitar. I mastered those and then I got my first electric guitar and he would give me more substantial songs to learn. Then he would upgrade my guitar to the next one that I would need. He was definitely instrumental in improving our ability to want to play, I guess.

The band always seems to be on the road and relentlessly touring. Any plans to spread those wings a little further and perhaps come over to Europe.

JAKE: Certainly, the plan for the next year will consist of bigger venues and bigger festivals, more countries, and we have a European tour coming next year – Germany, France, and the UK.

Will those be headlining shows or on a support with larger acts?

JAKE: I am not sure, I think that it may be opening for some bigger acts, and then doing some of our own headlining shows as well.

Will you be touring right through until Christmas or do you actually get a little time off?

JAKE: Not too much time off-we are doing just a short leg. We will be back for Christmas on 21 December and then in January from 1st its back into the studio. For that month we are working on our first full-length album.

The two EPs that you have brought out this year was that all old songs or a mix of old and new featured on there?

JAKE: It was variety and mix of the two. A mixture of what we had written five years ago. “Highway Tune“, for example, was the very first tune that we had ever written. It varies and there is also some more contemporary stuff like Black Smoke Rising which was actually recorded a week before the first Ep was actually released. We decided to record it and actually stick it on there. That gave the first release its musical direction in a way.

Just returning to the band’s forthcoming debut album. Have the band already written songs for that, any ideas already earmarked for that release?

JAKE: Yeah some of those songs are already very close to being done. There are some songs that we are constantly writing and are constantly demoing. We have assimilated quite a few songs. We will be going into the studio and maturing those tracks, so yes there is quite a bit of material written already for the first album. There’s some that go back a few years but also a lot of stuff that we have just finished writing also that will find its way also onto the album as well. We already have a producer and a studio lined up for that. Our current producer will be working on the forthcoming album as well.

In terms of album artwork will that be something that the band will continue to have direct input into?

JAKE: We usually do. I designed the artwork for Black Smoke Rising, but we didn’t actually have time to do it ourselves on From The Fires, and we hired an artist to do that. She sent us ideas for the artwork and we suggested changes. It is now time to involve other artists to be able to do artwork for covers and stuff. In terms of an album title, we don’t have anything in mind as yet.

From the Fires features a couple of cover versions. Why did you choose those particular tracks to do? What is your objective when you cover a song? Do you try to capture the essence of the original or just totally reinterpret it entirely in your own style?

JAKE: We generally like to put our own take on them. We wanted to do a folk song so that was Fairport Convention – [“Meet on the Ledge”]. Then there was something to showcase our Soul influences, so a song by Sam Cooke – [“A Change Is Gonna Come”].

Your musical influences are widely reported and known. Anything that you currently listen to that would surprise people?

JAKE: You know growing up we were surrounded by a lot of vinyl and things like that. There were a lot of influences and there’s more traditional you know blues records. Roots blues Muddy Waters. Elmo James and Robert Johnson Traditional music Woody Guthrie, like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.  You can see the third evolution of influences from the traditional. Yeah, there are a variety of elements there is a large eclectic mix.

OK. As I mentioned earlier the band have appeared to have just suddenly exploded onto the scene and be everywhere. What made you decide to do this music full time? Is this going to be your full-time career?

JAKE: It wasn’t that we set out to have a career in music. It was just the four of us creating music and jamming. Creating a body of work. Someone found us, and we were kind of thrown into it, they got on board and supported us to have a career in music. It just seemed that we were all kind of built to do it.

2017 has been a great year for Greta Van Fleet, but what realistic goals do you have for the year ahead?

JAKE: Next year we are definitely looking forward to getting the first full-length album released. That could be early to mid-next year. I guess also to build on the reputation that we already have to establish more credibility. As I said, bigger gigs and festivals and as I said to visit more countries, including the UK, as well. That’s what we will be working towards next year.

Thinking of all the influences that we discussed would there be a single song that for you always takes you to a particular place mentally every single time that you hear it?

JAKE: Man that is a great question. There actually is, there are a few songs that can do that.I don’t know if you are familiar with Dillard & Clark Through the Morning, but that song is really quite emotional and quite moving. Also, “When the Wind Cries Mary” by Jimi Hendrix.

If the roles were reversed who would you, Jake Kiszka, like to interview? (after a few minutes of silence there was quite a surprising response)

JAKE: Who would that be? I think I would like Liam Gallagher, right.

That’s what a surprise. Are you a fan of his music or just him as a public and media figure?

JAKE: Oh yes. I am definitely a fan of his music, for sure.

It’s quite a surprise because I mean I would never come through your music.

JAKE: Yeah, it’s certainly well-hidden.

Thanks very much for joining us. Hope to see you in the UK next year. Thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule.

JAKE: Yes, definitely. Thanks very much. Thank you.

https://www.antiheromagazine.com/interview-jake-kiszka-of-greta-van-fleet/

2017.11.25 - Amps and Green Screens - Greta Van Fleet's Josh Kiszka Checks in from Rock Allegiance

Greta Van Fleet's Josh Kiszka Checks in from Rock Allegiance

By: Damian Cousins

I had the chance to sit down with singer Josh Kiszka from GRETA VAN FLEET while at Rock Allegiance last month. Lemme tell you something about these guys; they are the REAL DEAL and then some!! I have said it before and I’ll say it again that these four kids (ages 18-21, so yeah, they’re kids to me!) are the future of rock and roll. Just real, honest, guitar rock rooted in the 1970’s that will instantly transport you back to a time when music was good, and bands played and sang in tune (imagine that). We talked about the band’s meteoric rise, and also about our mutual love of film. So check it:

Right away I have to ask how on earth four guys so young channel this energy from a different time and better era of music?

Josh: I don’t know. That’s the honest answer. I think it’s just that we’ve grown up expressing our emotion and passion for life through art, and music was always very visceral and we grew up on a playground of albums. My father is a blues man, he plays the harmonica. Music has always been a great communication tool for us. Being brothers helps a lot. Because it’s just like holding a conversation, a very natural thing. This all just manifested itself, and the momentum keeps going. We enjoy doing it, we can’t stop writing music.

Did you have any idea how this would take off when you got together? Because your name is on EVERYBODY’S lips right now.

Josh: It’s gained a lot of momentum and it’s certainly snowballing. I don’t think any of us in our wildest dreams even envisioned that after just four songs we’d garner that much attention, you know? And now our label is saying, “We gotta cancel show dates and get you guys in the studio!” Management came in and said, “Whoa, that’s not a good idea. Let’s work it out so we can manage both.”

What is happening with your next release? Will it be another EP or a full-length?

Josh: We’re doing a double EP where we’ll merge the first four songs with some new ones (at press time it is now out, titled From the Fires).         .

You’re a film guy-

Josh: I’m a film FREAK!

Favorite movie…GO!

Josh: Oh come on, man! That’s not fair! That’s too hard. I love stylized film. I love Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers. 2001: A Space Odyssey is something I can watch over and over because visually it’s astounding.

Terry Gilliam is another one I love. Tarantino’s best work to me is Inglourious Basterds by far. And Paul Thomas Anderson is pretty amazing. I love his movies.

Agreed. Like with Boogie Nights. You really shouldn’t care what happens to the characters, because they’re not the greatest of people. But I was so wrapped up in them that it hurt me watching them have their downfalls before redemption, you know?

Josh: He does a great job of getting you emotionally invested in those characters.

As a film nut, would you agree that PG-13 by and large has dumbed down the movies of today, especially in the horror genre?

Josh: Yeah, I think as an artist it’s easy to say that here shouldn’t be as many restrictions or boundaries to making art. And I think if it’s made with real clairvoyance of vision that the intent behind the piece is better off. Violence is a big part of our culture, and to watch it is better than to go out and commit violent acts.

If certain movies were maybe 20-30 minutes longer and a little darker, they’d be better. Instead they want to dumb it down, wrap it up in 90 minutes, and get that teenage dollar in the theater for the sake of a potential #1 opening weekend and that’s all.

Josh: I think in a way PG-13 has hurt a lot of what could have been much better films. And the productions have become big piles of shit. They’re working some formula to get people in the door and not challenging anything. And that’s the whole point of the fucking medium, to challenge people!

Meanwhile, somewhere in a basement, some kid is writing the next The Usual Suspects, and some film exec will only uses it as a drink coaster and never even open it. He’s too busy figuring out how to remake and butcher JAWS in the next ten years!

Josh: (Laughs) you’re right, you’re right.

What are you listening to in the car or at home these days?

Josh: I listen to a wide variety of music. I love African music like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and some Chilean music as well. I love the culture behind world music.

And I like folk music like Joni Mitchell and John Denver. He was amazing and I love his message. It’s timeless. People have asked, “Why don’t you cover a John Denver song?” and I say, “Fuck no! I’m not touching that!” because it’s untouchable, and iconic.

What are you doing to preserve your voice since you’re gonna be so busy for the next ten thousand years?

Josh: (Laughs) I don’t take care of it as well as I should, probably. I drink lots of fluids, like hot tea with honey, all the things they recommend. I try to get good sleep when I can. I feel like singing correctly has a lot to do with it, too. I feel like I am finally comfortable singing properly. I did have one vocal coach who helped me with preserving my voice. You know, proper warming up and warming down, things like that.

Looking ahead, what’s next for GRETA VAN FLEET?

Josh: I don’t know. I think once we release the next four songs and give people some more substance, we’ll have some things to build on philosophically. I think the album’s gonna be monumental when it does arrive. And I’d like to be playing to arenas someday. I don’t know what’s next initially, but we’re building this thing. Hopefully we’re starting a movement that gets kids to listen to the roots of rock and roll, the stuff WE grew up on like Wilson Pickett, Howlin’ Wolf, Sam and Dave, Lightnin’ Hopkins (Josh and Damian break into the chorus of Hopkins’ “Bring Me My Shotgun”, then laugh).

What would you like to say to all the GRETA VAN FLEET fans out there in the world?

Josh: Breathe in the fresh air, and look forward to the possibilities in all music, life, love, and hope. Exude the passion inside of you, and damn all who stand against that.

As you can all see, Josh Kiszka is a young man who is already wise beyond his years. Not only is he a tremendous singer, and frontman, but he is also a very engaging person to sit and chat with. I really enjoyed my converstaion with him, and I hope you did, too. Be sure to head on over to your nearest music retailer, whether that be online or brick and mortar, and pick up From the Fires. It’s out now via Republic Records, and it is fantastic. And be sure to catch GRETA VAN FLEET on the road. Their live show is NOT to be missed!!

http://ampsandgreenscreens.com/2017/11/25/greta-van-fleets-josh-kiszka-checks-rock-allegiance/

2017.11.20 - Glide Magazine - Greta Van Fleet Fronts Much Needed Hard Rock Revival (Interview)

Greta Van Fleet Fronts Much Needed Hard Rock Revival

By: Leslie Michele Derrough

“You couldn’t stop us if you tried,” Greta Van Fleet bass player Sam Kiszka says with a laugh. And the young man is undoubtedly right, for at the moment, Greta Van Fleet is one of the hottest up & coming hard rock bands in rock & roll. With the release of their EP, Black Smoke Rising, in April and From The Fires just coming out on November 10th, you could say these guys are, well, unstoppable.

The brothers Kiszka – vocalist Josh, guitarist Jake and bassist Sam – have been playing music since they were kids back in the town of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Drummer Daniel Wagner was a friend who joined the band about a year after it’s formation. “We all have similar taste in music and that helps a lot. But at the same time we have these little differences in what we like and when it comes together it produces this sound,” Wagner has said. And that sound is what has earned them top of the charts positions and over four million YouTube views. Not too shabby for a little ole band thirty minutes down the road from Flint, which spawned a band that went on to great success, Grand Funk Railroad.

Debuting with a swirling, psychedelic blues number called “Highway Tune” that evokes Robert Plant’s Moroccan wails and Deep Purple’s rambling anthems, it was just the shot of adrenalin that rock needs. Black Smoke Rising featured four original songs – “Highway Tune,” “Safari Song,” “Flower Power” and the title track. For From The Fires, they kept the aforementioned tracks, added two more originals (“Edge Of Darkness” and “Talk On The Street”) and two very powerful covers – Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Fairport Convention’s “Meet On The Ledge” – that are not necessarily what you’d expect from guys barely out of puberty. “Our parents had a lot of vinyl laying around so we grew up listening to that,” Josh explained about their musical roots.

For younger brother Sam, he tends to lean towards singer/songwriter harmonies. “I’m not very good at it but I absolutely love hearing it,” he told me during our interview. He is also known for being the multi-instrumentalist of the band, playing everything from bass to guitar to mandolin, drums, keyboards and organ.

While enjoying his first day back home in a “quite cold Michigan,” Sam talked with us about his contributions to Greta Van Fleet, what it means for them being in a recording studio and staying grounded amidst all the sudden success.

You had Black Smoke Rising come out earlier this year. Why do this record the way you did it instead of having these other songs be a separate entity?

Because it’s a connected piece, it’s a continuation. Honestly, how I kind of feel about it is that Black Smoke Rising was showing different angles of our sound. It’s like telling a story but telling the first part and the middle part and then another part of it. Then you fill in the pieces in-between. So I think this is going to be more of a complete body of work and I think it’s going to mean a whole lot more when everything is all together. It really is kind of a continuation. It has the same themes of, I guess, humanity, archetypes of human behavior, and that’s why we chose to put them all together.

What is the oldest track?

Well, “Highway Tune” was the first song we ever wrote as a band. “Safari” is right up there with it; very, very early material. It was about four or five years ago it was written and it’s the same thing with “Flower Power.” Jake just started playing two chords together and, you know, magic happened. I sat down on the organ and started playing the part and then Josh came out and sang the song all the way through, like it was already written. I think it was just floating around in the universe and we snagged it up before anyone else (laughs). Then “Black Smoke Rising,” that was written in the studio when we were working on those other three songs that I just referenced. Then more recent ones that we wrote were “Talk On The Street” and “Edge Of Darkness.” Those were written probably about nine months ago. Then we do the two covers. “A Change Is Gonna Come” is a very timeless song. It has as much meaning as it did fifty years ago.

You said you guys only started writing four years ago. Was that when it clicked that you wanted to be a band?

It’s funny how that happened. I don’t think it was ever like, “Hey, let’s be a band!” It just kind of all fell into place. Jake started bringing over buddies from Jazz Band and Josh would go out and sing. Then eventually I decided to pick up bass and was like, yeah, this is really cool. My dad had an old bass lying around so I picked it up and started messing around with it and next thing you know we’re playing Grad parties cause we’re asked to. Then we moved on to the bar scene, clubs, music festivals. It was awesome because we’ve always just done it for fun. It’s like, this is fun, this is what I want to do. Even if it was just a hobby, I wanted to do it for the rest of my life. But it’s an amazing excuse for a career, for sure, because you get to see all these beautiful places, all these beautiful faces. It’s an amazing thing and you can make a living at the same time (laughs).

That sounds like a dream come true for you

It really is

When you decided to be a band and go out and play, what was going on in the local music scene?

This is the interesting thing: Frankenmuth is a town of about 5000 people, and it’s very interesting because there are a lot of amazing musicians there. However, nothing very substantial has ever came out of Frankenmuth. But when we’re home we love to get buddies over and just play, play, play, so it’s always a great time. So I guess when we were growing up, the stuff that people listened to, the non-musicians, they listened to whatever was playing on pop radio or hip hop radio. I never got along with anybody with my musical tastes until I met Daniel. Well, I’ve known him since about first grade but around sixth grade, we started figuring out that we liked the same kind of music and little did we know that three years later he would become the drummer. When the old drummer had to leave we threw Daniel in because he was already playing with us. He’s a brother.

As far as clubs in Frankenmuth, there’s a local music hall that we used to play. People always took interest in it cause it’s a community thing and we’re part of the community. But Frankenmuth, it’s an old Bavarian town. It’s like, is this place for real? It looks like some mock-up for like nuclear bomb testing houses.

From pictures, it seems like you’d be playing a polka there or something in that town

(laughs) Our grandpa is in the Polka Hall Of Fame for accordion so I guess it’s in our blood.

So that’s what your last name is?

Yeah, it’s Polish and Kiszka in polish also means blood sausage.

I should title my article that

That’ll catch some people’s attention (laughs). I would look at it if it said blood sausage.

And you guys are right down the road from Grand Funk Railroad’s old stomping grounds

Yeah, it’s about a half hour away in Flint. There’s been some great acts out of Michigan. It’s flattering to be compared to them too. Like, Stevie Wonder, holy shit, growing up listening to Stevie Wonder. All of Motown. My favorite bass player is James Jamerson. There’s MC5, Grand Funk, Bob Seger – love all of that.

You played the organ on “Flower Power.” How did that come about?

It was in the garage and it was like an old Wurlitzer and it sounded sweet because it had this horn in it and it was like distorted so it was a really cool sounding thing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore but Jake started playing two chords together with a little melody in there and then I sat down at the organ and started playing like the same kind of thing and it turned into “Flower Power” right there. There’s no other way to describe it. It feels like five seconds went by and then the song was over but it was minutes, you know. It was one of those experiences that you can’t really explain.

Are you playing mandolin on that too?

Actually, on the album, Jake played mandolin on that. I wasn’t there that day.

And you’re supposed to be the multi-instrumentalist who plays everything

(laughs) Well, I do play mandolin but I’m not as good a guitarist as either Jake or Daniel. My strumming hand is not as quick. I’ve got to work on that. I can play guitar but the thing is, I’m not as good as two other guys in the band so I never get to. Except for radio stuff. Then I get to play guitar and I’m like, Yes! (laughs).

Of the songs that are on here, which one would you say changed the most from it’s original conception to it’s final recorded version?

I’m going to say “Safari Song.” It’s up in the air what actually happened with it but how I remember it there was a percussion break. We were playing the song and there was a big percussion break with like bongos and congas, very kind of Santana, kind of South American style, really cool stuff. But that part got cut from it. Also, you know the vocal break, where it’s kind of a singing solo, no other instruments; that was never in there until we got in the studio and we did something on accident. And Josh started singing that and we were like, “Holy shit, let’s put that in there!” The bass line completely changed, the drumbeat was changed to just clean it up and make it sound like a good steady rock song. So definitely “Safari.” I’ve got to find the demo that we did for that a few years back because that is way different.

Since you guys were kind of novices in the studio, how much guidance or non-guidance did Al Sutton and Marlon Young give you?

I’m going to have to teleport us to about three years ago where we first stepped foot in Rust Belt Studios. We had two studio experiences before that but the producer wasn’t really like putting in his point of view. And that’s the most important thing a producer can do is that and make it sound good. So when we got in the studio with Al, it was life-changing, you know. Cause you walk into a studio and you no longer are four members, you’re infinite members, you can put as many things as you want. We took about two years to actually learn how to do it – what sounds good, how to make a good recording, which includes so, so much. So by the time we recorded the tracks for the EP that we released, we had a pretty good idea of what we were doing. We were taught well by Al Sutton and Marlon Young.

Are you ready to do even more new music?

Oh yeah, I’d say we’re about halfway done with the album.

How are those songs sounding?

Oh, they’re sounding great! In my humble opinion (laughs). I’m excited to get even more material out to show people like, this is a different angle of Greta Van Fleet, looking at it from this way, you know. We can do this too, we can do that, so I think there are a lot of things that people aren’t going to expect but again there’s a lot of continuity in our work. I’m really excited for people to hear that. And it’s going to be all originals, the album is.

You’ve had millions of plays and views and been on top of the charts; all this great stuff happening to you so quickly. How do you keep that from messing with you when you’re trying to create some new music?

That’s a tough question. There’s a few things and fundamentally I just think we’re Midwestern boys. I don’t think it’s going to go to our heads very easily. I’m just the same old Sam that I’ve always been. I have the same friends. And I think family keeps you grounded. Family is the most important thing. Your friends keep you grounded, they still tell you you’re an idiot (laughs). You need those people in your life. And nature is a big part of it, getting back to the roots of where you came from, the home ground. And I guess largely, not paying attention to what’s going on is a good thing cause  then you don’t have that kind of in the back of your head, going, wow, this is taking off! I try not to read a lot of the comments, I try to keep hands off, because it does to a certain degree really does ruin the intention of art when you start thinking about what people want. We’re not going to be the biggest people-pleasers, unfortunately, but we’re just going to make the music that we want to hear still. That’s the reason why we’re doing it and it’s amazing that people are grabbing onto it like they are.

What was the first song that you obsessed over as a kid?

“I’m Looking Through You” by The Beatles on Rubber Soul. That and “Ramblin’ Man” by the Allman Brothers. I think they’re powerful songs, fun songs, beautifully melodic, so well done, so well recorded and they have so much feeling. That’s the one thing you can’t fake in music. If you want to hear a lack of authenticity, you can flip to your local pop station. It’s interesting how that works but I think that’s one thing that people are responding to from our music. It’s authentic. When we record music, when we write music, we put our hearts into it. There’s no bullshit going on there.

What was the toughest song you ever tried to learn to play?

Oh shit, there were a lot of hard ones (laughs). Honestly, one that I did learn was “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the piano part. It took me like a week of just every day going out in the garage and listening to it. It doesn’t really matter if it’s the exact same thing as long as the feeling is there, right. But that’s one of the greatest songs of all time.

You must really like harmonies

You know what, I do. I’m not very good at it but I absolutely love hearing it. I guess my favorite part about that whole thing is the songwriting. The songwriting is so good. I love the acoustic, the wooden sound, the sonic quality of the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album. It’s like you’re sitting there in your living room and watching these guys play.

I was talking to Chris Hillman last night, who also plays mandolin.

He was in The Byrds and he was in Manassas with Stephen Stills. You know, for Manassas, it was such an array of amazing musicians but the songs I just don’t think were there. But there’s an album that I found that was like Manassas outtakes. It was awesome. Take a look at it but that first album is great, like “Jet Set (Sigh)” and “Johnny’s Garden.” Oh man.

When you hear new music, original music, in your head, what does it tend to lean towards?

I would say more folky, more melodic, I think. It’s a difficult thing to explain but when I wake up in the morning, and I’m not sure if this is like for everybody, but when I wake up in the morning, there’s a song that I’m singing in my head already. Then I want to go listen to it. And every morning it’s a new song and completely random. Like this morning it was a song that we haven’t even written yet. It’s one that’s been floating around forever. It’s not recorded or anything. But I guess when something comes into my head, it’s just a melody, a nice little thing I would imagine on piano.

Will you take that to the guys?

If it’s good enough. If I have a concept for it, you know. When we do get concepts, we try to bring it to the band as primitive as we can, just because I think everybody’s input is very important, as far as writing a song or organizing a song, it is very important.

Are you going back out on the road anymore this year?

We just got back home yesterday. It went from September 29th to yesterday so we’re going to be home for four days here and then we’re going to go off in a cabin in Tennessee and hang out and write a little bit maybe. And then it’s Thanksgiving.

You’re doing it the old-fashioned way, just throwing you all together in one room and seeing what happens.

Yeah, no distractions. It’s a lot better that way. Our grandma lives there and we’ve been going there ever since we were born. There are lots of hills and lots of waterfalls. Super beautiful.

https://glidemagazine.com/197281/greta-van-fleet-leads-must-needed-hard-rock-revival-interview/

2017.10.05 - AL.com - Greta Van Fleet talk hits, blues, fave Led Zeppelin LP

Greta Van Fleet talk hits, blues, fave Led Zeppelin LP

By: Matt Wake

The very first song the band ever wrote – there in the family garage, before any of them were even old enough to purchase cigarettes - became a number-one rock radio hit.

Such is the origin story of “Highway Tune,” Michigan band Greta Van Fleet’s bluesy, accelerative debut single. Besides topping Active and Mainstream Rock radio charts, the track has been streamed on Spotify more than 5 million times. And almost 3 million times on YouTube.

Notable numbers, particularly for a band whose musicians currently range in age from 18 to 21 and hail from Frankenmuth, a city with a population of less than 5,500 and better known for Bavarian architecture than guitar jams.

But what’s even more notable about Greta Van Fleet is this quartet's already drawing comparisons to one of rock’s all-time greats: Led Zeppelin.

The similarity of 21-year-old Greta Van Fleet singer Josh Kiszka’s voice to Robert Plant’s gashing bay is a major reason for this. At times on Greta Van Fleet’s four-song debut EP “Black Smoke Rising,” that resemblance borders on uncanny. But it’s not just the high notes. Kiszka sings with the kind of fire and feel that make Plant’s early-70s Zeppelin vocals such an apex to this day. Josh’s twin brother, guitarist Jake Kiszka plays focused, spirited riffs and solos inspired by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Zep’s Jimmy Page. Drummer Danny Wagner and bassist/keyboardist Sam Kiszka, both 18, do symbiotic grooves and textures that echo bell-bottom-rock’s prime. Greta Van Fleet’s youthful exuberance keeps the music from seeming like history lesson. And in the present tense.

The scary thing is "Highway Tune" might be the third best track on Greta Van Fleet's debut EP.

The goose-stepping “Safari Song” and folk-flecked “Flower Power” are a little stronger songwriting-wise, with just as much nubile-pow as “Highway Tune.” (Producers Al Sutton and Marlon Young, Kid Rock’s guitarist, did quite the job balancing retro tones and modern clarity throughout “Black Smoke Rising.”) Even with its lava-lamp interlude, title track "Black Smoke Rising" is easily the EP's most contemporary-sounding cut.

At moments does Greta Van Fleet teeter on sounding too much like Led Zeppelin? Sure, but just as early Black Crowes did with a heavy Stones influence, they pull it off and end up making each song their own. And there are worse aural zip-codes for a band to begin from. Remember, more than a few radio listeners in 1974 thought the Rush song "Working Man" was a new Zeppelin tune. And even early Zeppelin relied heavily on turbo-charging secondhand blues and folk before crafting their own signature dynamics.

For rock fans who've sorely missed a certain musicality, roots and oomph in new bands, Greta Van Fleet is an exciting listen. There's something about their music that's thrilling in the same way early Van Halen, Guns N' Roses, Pearl Jam and White Stripes was.

Where they take it from here remains to be seen.

Like the rest of Greta Van Fleet's current headlining club tour, the band's 8 p.m. Oct. 11 show at Huntsville's SideTracks Music Hall, address 415 E. Church St., is sold-out. Arkansas combo Welles is the support act.

On a recent afternoon, Greta Van Fleet's Sam Kiszka, younger brother of Josh and Jake, checked in for a phone interview to discuss their band's music, tour and what’s next. Excerpts are below.

Sam, what do you remember about the day you all wrote "Highway Tune"?

We were all just getting together as a band. And my brothers would be out there playing and they had this buddy that came over that played drums with them. So I started playing bass. We started playing some covers - some old blues numbers, some Cream stuff.

One day we came out to the garage and Jake was playing a riff he wrote and it turned out to be “Highway Tune,” so I guess what happened on that day five years ago kind of turned out to be a common artifact in what we do. A lot of the time Jake does come up with a riff and then me and Daniel will throw a rhythm section on it and Josh will do whatever he wants on it vocally. Back in eighth grade when we wrote the song I never thought that I would have a number one hit on the radio. It’s an amazing thing.

Since your band has already had such big radio success, what songs did you hear on radio growing up that you really connected with, that were new at the time?

When we were kids there really was music out there I heard that I really liked. I think that in the time that I was growing up, the mid-2000s, I think we were in a musical depression. Since then music, I think the quality has been going substantially up and I think it works in phases where people get tired of listening to bull----. They produce a lot of songs, it’s like an algorithm. They’re not really evoking any kind of emotion from anyone. I think a lot of time it’s artificial. And I think it’s time that people are making real genuine music that they put their hearts into. The real stuff.

It wasn’t until high school I started figuring out there’s modern music that’s good. You’ve just got to dig for it. But I’m a big fan of a band called Lewis Del Mar. They’re out of New York and they’ve got pretty groundbreaking work in my opinion. We definitely have our modern influences, like Kaleo, Rival Sons. There’s some great bands out there right now. Josh and Daniel are really big fans of Fleet Foxes.

The last new bands I can recall making a mainstream impact playing classic-rooted rock with youthful energy were The White Stripes and Black Keys...

You know, what’s interesting is that we actually covered Black Keys stuff when we were jamming in the garage. Like that “Magic Potion” album’s great.

And that one didn’t sell as well as some of their other albums or get quite as good reviews, but it’s probably their most “rock” album. I think Dan (Auerbach, Black Keys frontman) described it as an album to sit on your porch and drink a six-pack to.

[Laughs] Yeah, that's really cool. And you know what? I think music like that, that fails to go to forefront, a lot of the times that's the highest quality music because it's more difficult, yes, but it's not instant delivery of what you want to hear.

Were you guys into the White Stripes at all?

Well, the White Stripes, I don’t think we started to pick up on them until a couple years back but we definitely know some of the songs. But Jack White, he’s an example of hope in the music of rock and blues, you know? Thankfully we’ve got guys like Jack White who keep the stuff authentic. I think he’s a very talented musician, artist and producer.

How did you guys record “Black Smoke Rising”? Were you cutting the songs live in the studio?

We recorded all the material at Rust Belt Studios in Detroit. If you’re going to produce a rock album anywhere in Michigan or honestly in the Midwest it’s Rust Belt Studios. But (the title track from) “Black Smoke” was also an interesting piece, and this kind of goes back to “Highway Tune” and that’s because when we were working on all of our previous material, we were trying to get an idea together for our EP.

And we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to put on it – “Flower Power,” “Safari,” “Highway Tune.” But then something kind of smacked us in the face. The full band was in the studio room, we’re just kind of sitting around waiting, and Jake just started screwing around with a couple of different chords and Josh he just instantly threw that melody on there. And I was on piano and Daniel he grabbed another guitar and ("Black Smoke Rising") wrote itself. It’s one of those songs that was just floating around in the universe or something.

I’ve been told your band has been doing some more recording recently. Is that for the first Greta Van Fleet full-length album? Another EP? And what’s the vibe of material?

What I can tell you is we are currently working in the studio, juggling studio time and playing for our fans live. The material has a grand amount of continuity and all I can say is we've got some really good stuff coming. Maybe some of the songs are some of the songs that we play live. So yeah, I'm excited to get more material out there, to start showing different sides of what we're capable of.

Are there many Greta Van Fleet originals in the live set that weren’t on the EP?

Oh yeah. Because the EP is only about 20 minutes. It’s probably less than a third of our show. So yeah most of the show is our originals and we have one cover in there that’s a Howlin’ Wolf tune that we spruced up a little bit.

Oh cool, what Wolf tune?

It’s called “Evil.” It’s kind of an obscure one. It’s a very vibe-y song.

So looking here at a setlist posted online, songs like “When The Cold Wind Blows,” “Edge of Darkness,” “You’re the One,” “Watching Over,” “Lover, Leaver, Talker, Believer,” those are all unreleased Greta originals?

Yeah those are all Greta originals. And I’m sure that you will be seeing them in the future.

Uninformed people used to ask the guys in Pink Floyd, “Which one’s Pink?” thinking that was the singer’s name or something. [This inspired the lyric in 1975 Pink Floyd track “Have a Cigar."] How much has that happened with Greta Van Fleet, people asking, “Which one’s Greta”?

[Laughs] It used to. Our old days of playing the local circuit, going to places like Bay City, Saginaw, Detroit, it used to happen all the time when people would go up to Josh and say, "Are you Greta?" It was just so funny. But we did take the name from a town elder from Frankenmuth, Gretna Van Fleet, and we adapted the name, and it was probably a year, year and a half after we had the name and we were playing at the local hall and up on the marquee it says, "Live Tonight Greta Van Fleet." And everybody was calling her saying, "Gretna, you haven't played in 30 years? Why didn't you tell me?" And they kept getting these calls so they had to investigate, so her and her husband showed up and sat through a whole hour of loud rock 'n' roll music.

Why did you all name the band after her?

Well, I guess initially it was a cool name and something unique. It doesn’t define our music. It’s something that identifies us instead of boxes us, because there’s a lot of bands with name that you say it and instantly know what they’re going to play. But I look back now and it really represents our roots and reminds us where we came from, and it grounds us to a certain degree. So I think carrying on the legacy of a musician that shares our hometown, I think that has a lot of extra meaning than it did when we first picked it because it just sounded cool.

Some people have been comparing Greta Van Fleet’s sound to Led Zeppelin's. It’s a very cool compliment. But I remember reading a Jimmy Page interview once where he said something like, “If you want to learn how to play like me, don’t listen to me listen to my influences.” And your band is very into old blues, like Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Who are some other Greta Van Fleet influences people might not be picking up on?

For me personally, it really goes into the depths of the Crosby, Still, Nash & Young catalog. And that was perhaps the best music ever made in that time frame, with that mentality. It was really magical with those three guys, sometimes four guys. I could talk to you all day about that. But more interestingly for me as the bass player, as the keyboard player, it really goes into jazz. Herbie Hancock. Even listening to horn players like (John) Coltrane. Even going back to Motown, that’s where I learned to play bass listening to Motown.

James Jamerson (bassist on many classic Motown recordings), that’s a good place to start.

Oh yeah, James Jamerson is my favorite bass player. So it really does go back a lot farther and a lot wider than most people would guess. Then you have Josh who just listens to weird stuff, the world music, the Cuban stuff, he likes African very heavy drum kind of things.

Fela Kuti, things like that?

Yeah, the weird stuff. Daniel, you’d never guess it by watching him play but he really digs into the world of folk. Jake is just a straight-up rocker. Jake loves rock.

We talked about diverse influences, but if you had to pick your favorite Led Zeppelin album, which one would it be?

Hmmm. [Long pause]

I’m a “Physical Graffiti” guy.

Oh yeah? That’s kind of a cheater because it’s a double (album). But oh man, that is tough. I’ve contemplated this before but I really couldn’t come to a conclusion. I would have to say probably "Zeppelin I" (the 1969 self-titled debut LP). The roots. But imagine the innovation of the time.

What’s the groupie scene like for young rockers in 2017? That was such a big part of being in a young rock band in the ’70s.

The groupie scene? [Laughs] That's a good question – people definitely stick around, that's for sure. It's definitely not as prevalent as it was, that's a fact.

There’s been a lot of acrimony and fighting in some of rock's biggest brother bands, like Oasis, Black Crowes and The Kinks. Is the vibe between you and your brothers more laid-back and cool than that, or is there some rivalry and tension there?

Well luckily, I think we’re past the animosity and the brotherly affection that we all love, beating the hell out each other. I think that went out a long time ago. So thankfully we work very well together and it really adds that extra dimension when we’re onstage. I think there’s an extra level, a deeper level of communication that we can achieve through our instruments being related. And also Daniel, who I’ve known since kindergarten. So I think that a big part of the chemistry between us, our roots together. And we all grew up listening to the same music.

Here in The South, music fans really love what the Allman Brothers did with that. If you don't have their live album "At Fillmore East," you'd love it.

Oh yeah, I listen to that at least once a month.

Greta Van Fleet is playing all sold-out shows on this tour. What’s the energy like for the band, to be playing so many packed-out rooms like that?

When we started the first headlining tour it was so crazy because we would get up onstage and the response we got was just so beyond enormous. We played “Black Smoke Rising” and people are singing all the parts and it is just so cool. And that opening riff to “Highway Tune,” people go nuts. Packing all those people into a club is just so fun. It’s hot and sweaty. It’s rock ‘n’ roll and it’s loud. People are having a great time and we’re having probably an even greater time giving it to them.

In recent years there's been a lot of discussion and headlines about how “rock is dead." As a young band playing the music you do, what’s your reaction when you read or hear “rock is dead”?

I would have to say that mainstream rock a lot of the time is a formula, so I can understand why people say that. And I think that it’s time for someone to come along and kind of smack everybody in the face and show them what authentic roots are. But there’s definitely some amazing rock ‘n’ roll there, you just have to find it. Rock is not dead. Rock can’t die.

https://www.al.com/entertainment/2017/10/greta_van_fleet_led_zeppelin.html

2017.07.21 - Words & Music - Interview: Greta Van Fleet brings back Rock ‘n’ Roll in a loud way

Interview: Greta Van Fleet brings back Rock 'n' Roll in a loud way

By: Paty Elias

If you think rock is dead, and nobody plays the guitar loud enough to make your bell bottoms wave, you haven’t heard the band Greta Van Fleet, a group of talented young players who are being heralded as the second coming of Led Zeppelin.

Named after an elder from the band’s home state of Michigan, Greta Van Fleet will blow your mind with their vocals, their sound, their looks, and especially their super young age.

How did they get this good this quick?

Lead singer Josh Kiszka is unbelievable, and you can feel Robert Plant’s influence coursing through his body. Josh, along with brothers Jacob “Jake” Kiszka and Sam Kiszka, along with bandmate Danny Wagner range in age between 18 and 21, and they rock out like heavies from the ’60s and ’70s.

This is a band you won’t soon forget, so if you get a chance to see them at the Viper Room this week, or at the Aftershock Festival, do not miss them. It’s a tough ticket, for sure. The four boys from Michigan sold out the Viper Room in two hours — a feat only well-established bands manage to do in the heavy pay-to-play Hollywood music scene.

Greta Van Fleet’s debut single, “Highway Tune,” is No. 8 at Active Rock radio and No. 7 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock radio chart. The track’s music video has surpassed 750,000 YouTube views, and on the band’s first-ever headline tour that kicks off Aug. 15, the dates in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Nashville and Grand Rapids have already sold out.

We spoke with Josh, the pleasant, articulate and creatively ambitious singer with pipes that just won’t quit.

Who are you and your band excited to play with at the Aftershock Festival?

JOSH KISZKA: The talent that we are going to be playing with — it’s like each of us is excited to play with a handful of people. But I have to be honest with you, we have been launched so much into a world of one place to the next, so many people playing, that it’s hard to keep track, you know?

This is not your first big festival?

JOSH: No, we have played a handful of pretty large festivals. The large festival scene is certainly a new one for us.

Regarding  your upcoming show at the Viper Room, have you played in Los Angeles before?

JOSH: We haven’t played a show in Los Angeles before — this will be our first show. The Viper Room sold out in two hours, so that’s kind of a wild thing. So to be playing the first show in Los Angeles  at Viper room under these conditions is a magnificent opportunity and reality.

What’s old is new again, and that can be said about your sound and your band — we can hear a very blues-influenced Led Zeppelin/Robert Plant sound. How did that come about?

JOSH: Its’ kind of really natural for us. I found that I could get more power out of my voice by singing like that than any other sort of style. It was all sort of rooted to influences that were similar to Led Zeppelin’s influences. I know that blues is something that all of us share as a common ground in music. And Jake seems to be the rock ‘n’ roll man of the group really, Sam would be the jazz guy, and Daniel has the more folkie influences. And myself, I like world music to a great degree. So it kind of like the glue that bonds us is the blues.

You’re being called the second coming of Led Zeppelin on YouTube.

JOSH: That’s not too bad, you know — worse things could have happened.

And you’re working on songs: You have released four songs so far.

JOSH: we released four songs. In the age of the written product, it ranges from five years old to more contemporary. “Highway Tune” was written five years ago, and “Black Smoke” was written about a year ago — it spans a good deal of time. It shows the evolution of the sound, I think. We have an archive a quite a few songs — you can’t stop it, (it’s) just a natural function innate to us. As we chug along, we will put out what we want to put out. It’s a strange thing to be in this position because none of us went into music for the purpose of money or fame to even nurture a living. But because its happened, it’s kind of like that ideology that we have nothing to lose at this point. We are just having fun and putting out how we feel.

Your voice is unique, and you don’t hear many singers that sound like that any more. How do you take care of your voice, and how do you keep it in shape? When did you discover you had this powerful voice and range?

JOSH: I’ve always been singing in theater. I like doing theater and being on stage acting. I love filmmaking, but music is something that definitely came in later. It’s kind of one of those things I’ve always been doing, but to find that there is a power behind it like that, it’s probably (something I’ve been) nurturing some five years back now. And I probably don’t take care of it like I should. You’d have to be a saint to maintain your voice like that. It’s probably the same old thing you hear about all the time, you know the hot lemon honey teas, standing on your head … (laughs) only smoke occasionally, but you know its like that real deal rock ‘n’ roll thing. It’s not really easy to sing like this. It takes an extreme amount of energy and power, the kind of message and energy and force that you have to put out to create this aura, or this sound quality, is a lot. But that’s why you blow off steam whenever you get the chance.

Would you consider working on musical scores or video games? Your music seems that it would lend itself to that?

JOSH: It’s interesting that you say that. I always listen to music as if I’m scoring a film. That’s pretty much the main purpose of the function of what I was doing really as a filmmaker. It was like no matter what I was listening to at any point, I was sort of in the mode or thinking of it as though it could be a part of a picture. And so that would be sort of a unique way of thinking about music.

What’s your musical background?

JOSH: We were playing music growing up in a lot of ways. And our father was a musician, his father’s father was a musician. And Yankee Springs is sort of a “gun lake,” a place we went to with a set of cabins in the woods in the winter every year. To this day, it’s like the playground for making music. It’s an artistic community and friends of the family — all of that kind of thing — and we get together, skiing and making music, and that was kind of the highlight. And we kind of grew into this really five years ago as a band — as Greta Van Fleet — when Sam came in. Jake made the initial push to do something, you know, and I just fell in line from there.

Your voice is amazing, but the whole band is very talented as well. Two of the guys are your brothers, and one is not?

JOSH: Yes, these are amazingly talented individuals, and they are a lot of fun. Daniel, the drummer, would be the only odd one out, only because he’s the only one that’s not a brother (laughs). All of them are amazing musicians — I mean, you name any instrument, and they could probably pick it up, and they can just play it. That’s the kind of people they are. Oddly enough, on the live shows, Sam is on the keys, though we’ve had an issue about getting them fixed for some time now. In the very near future, that will be incorporated back into the show, you know. As a band, we are looking forward to seeing some evolution, some growth and some new releases that hopefully can change the foundation of the music industry. As a person, I’m looking forward to taking some of these many stories and screenplays I’ve written and directed into the movies.

How do you stay grounded and focused on music, especially when you are on the road?

JOSH: I think there is a certain spiritualism that’s naturally grounding that you are tapping into. And as we go on the road, we take time to go camping or hiking, or being in nature any way you can get, and that’s very grounding, you know. Reading and being at peace with the world around you and a certain acceptance that it’s going to do what it wants, and you just have to roll with it.

http://blogs.dailynews.com/music/2017/07/21/greta-van-fleet-brings-rock-roll-loud-way/

2017.04.26 - Metal Riot - Interview: Greta Van Fleet’s “Black Smoke Rising” might just make you believe

Interview: Greta Van Fleet’s “Black Smoke Rising” might just make you believe

By Morgan Ywain Evans

A lot of bands can be like a family, functional or dysfunctional. The fans become extended family tree members through involvement and the branches grow. In the case of Michigan exports Greta Van Fleet, three members of the band are brothers! Talk about learning to share!

We recently interviewed hard rockers Paralandra who have a father / daughter team in the band and they manage to get along. I can’t imagine it is always easy for brothers, but the band certainly have a unified sense of energy to their classic rock influenced ear burners. Hey, it works for my cousins in Texas band Hawk Vs. Dove. People have been raving about GVF’s Black Smoke Rising, with comparisons to Led Zep and The Black Crowes coming to mind. That said, the guys are also set on making their own mark while drawing from the well of soul, rock and blues stomp of lore and yore.

Let’s imagine no one had heard your band before and you, well…there are obvious classic rock influences, but you do a great job. But how would you want them to fall in love with your own band’s story? 

JAKE KISZKA:  The only thing we’d ask of people who have never heard us before is to just give our music a listen, hear one song, two songs, give it some attention and then decide for themselves if they’ve ‘fallen in love’ with us or not.  We really have no preconceived idea of the experience we want people to have – that belongs to the individual.  Hopefully people will find something in our music that they like.

How did this band come about? Were you all experienced players or was there a varied level of experience? You sound more like you came out of 70’s England than, say, Detroit. But certainly the rock n’ roll heart is beating within the band. 

JOSH KISZKA:  We’ve been surrounded by music all of our lives.  Our father and grandfather were both musically inclined, and our parents had a large collection of vinyl, so we had easy access to music at a young age.  I’ve always loved telling stories, exploring subjects like humanity, who we are, where we’re going, and I’ve found that one of the ways I could express that was with my voice. Our parents encouraged us to delve deeper, to better understand the instruments we played.

JAKE:  Our parents had instruments all over the house and we’d pick them up and start to play.  One day my dad bought me this plastic guitar and told me if I learned to play a certain number of songs on it, or as soon as I could play Bob Seger’s ‘Night Moves,’ or Hendrix’s ‘Wild Thing,” or ‘Hey Joe,’ then he’d get me that electric guitar I had my sights on.  He was always challenging us like that, but I finally learned all of those songs and got my first red Fender Squire and a 20-watt Marshall amp.

JOSH:  Jake started jamming in our garage with a drummer friend from school, and eventually Sam and I joined in.  Then Daniel Wagner, our current drummer, came on board about a year later.  We haven’t stopped since.

Do you feel like your band is made for more large festival stages or sweaty rock clubs? 

JAKE:  We enjoy playing both and think our music is suited for either type of venue.  Our music is loud, the songs were written to be played loud.  We’ve actually been asked to turn the volume down when we’ve played small clubs, so playing at bigger venues is probably more in line with the music we perform and how we play it.  Good volume equals good tone.  But, it’s a personal experience when we play a small club, there’s more of a relationship we share with the audience. Everyone is in harmony, sharing the energy of the room. It’s more intense and intimate.

How’d you connect with Lava/Republic? That’s some solid support! 

JOSH:  It was a series of individuals involved with the upward passing of our work, and eventually, our music landed in the hands Jason Flom, the president of Lava Records.  He liked what he heard and called our manager the day after hearing the material and offered us a deal.

Is it interesting to you how maybe people see your image and think,” oh, another bunch of sorta retro long hairs with pretty faces,” haha…but then it seems like when people hear you they are pretty regularly blown away from all the research I have done on the band. That has to feel pretty good, right? 

JOSH:  I know it can be relatively difficult at times to avoid stereotypes pertaining to one’s image.  You don’t go to an art gallery to listen to the painting, just as you don’t go to a concert to just stand there and watch a performance.  We want people to connect with the music, no matter what kind of clothes we wear or how long our hair is.  It may sound trite, but for us, it really is all about the music.

Do your thing, man. How long did it take to write and record Black Smoke Rising? 

JOSH:  We’ve been writing and recording for the past five years. When we signed with Lava, we’d already had quite a repertoire to draw from, so we hand-picked the four songs that would end up on the EP.  We wanted material that would fit together, be a cohesive collection and give the EP its overall sound. We went into Rustbelt Studios in Detroit with Al Sutton and Marlon Young in 2016 and made the final recordings over the course of three days.

DO you like to have fun or feel like it is more important not to make the same mistakes as the legends, haha? I mean, it isn’t like everyone has the money to drive cars into swimming-pools or get girls to have sex with an octopus and crazy shit like that anyway. I think most bands just want to be able to say on the road these days, haha. 

JAKE:  We’ve taken into great consideration the lessons of history, this, every member of the band can attest to. However, we like to walk the fine line out on the edge, if you know what I mean. For instance, when Keith Moon allegedly drove a Rolls Royce into a swimming-pool in 1967 here in Flint, Michigan, that was genius work!

Haha. I think a major mistake radio made was turning so many radio stations over to just pop and hip hop or pop country when that was hitting or safer. I mean, sure…you can make some money but it was also at the expense of the grand tradition of rock n roll. Whereas if you leave room and support for everything maybe the industry wouldn’t be suffering so much. If you put all your eggs in one basket or two and don’t keep structure intact, you will never whether changing climates. Thoughts? 

JOSH:  This gets very philosophical and I believe there is certain merit to this theory, but we all feel a real change is coming, that there will be, once again, more space for rock music on the air.  There’s a subtle turning over of the reigns to the next generation, OUR generation, it’s a revolution led by the bands that seek to change the landscape of radio.  Rock and roll will play a large part in the re-invigoration of radio and the music industry as a whole.  We’ve met some visionary people involved with the radio industry, who have a deep love for all genres of music and would like to see the return of more all-inclusive, free-form playlists. Our personal playlists range from The Who to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, from Wilson Pickett to the Yardbirds, from Muddy Waters to Jimi Hendrix – how great would it be to hear that range of music on commercial radio?  Music is about truth, and you cannot manufacture the truth.

I hope you are correct. I know radio has been sniffing around the band Blacktop Mojo, for instance,  who are working hard like you guys. Hopefully you all get support. Any bands you would really like to tour with? I’d love to see you with Kula Shaker or, say, Electric Citizen or Chris Robinson Brotherhood. You have some range of who you can play with. 

We’d love to tour with artists whose music ours would compliment.  There are a lot of artists who we respect and would love to tour with, such as, The Fleet Foxes or Coldplay, artists who could put us in front of huge audiences, giving our music a much larger and varied reach.  There are spiritual and philosophical expressions in our work – the lyrics for the song ‘Black Smoke Rising’ are a reflection on the lessons of history and that man does not always learn from the lessons of history; The wars and tyrants of ages past and the innocent victims of blind hatred ultimately have us begging the question, “What is the meaning behind all this?” The song is a reaction to these themes, and in a more positive light, embodies a unity of humanity, as an example – so, we’d love to have the chance to tour with bands who are vocal about what they believe.

http://metalriot.com/news/interview-greta-van-fleets-black-smoke-rising-might-just-make-you-believe/