Greta Van Fleet enjoys making music its members like and it shows.
Generation Z’s first major rock band taps into the same spirit of fun and experimentation that the classic rockers of the ’60s like Led Zeppelin and Cream had, the love of playing loud and fast because they can.
“When we’re in the studio, we’re not thinking about what the people will like,” said bassist/keyboardist Sam Kiszka, calling from a tour stop in Birmingham, England. “We make music for ourselves, honestly. We sculpt the album to be the way we want it to be rather than thinking, ‘Well, this might be catchy’ or ‘This may be more effective to grab listeners.’ When we released the album, we thought, ‘Well, here goes nothing.'”
However, Greta Van Fleet’s debut “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” (Lava/Republic) turned out to be much more than the Michigan rockers expected. It topped the rock charts when it was released in October and reached No. 3 on the overall albums charts, while the single “When the Curtain Falls” became the band’s third No. 1 on the rock charts. And the buzz around the quartet — 19-year-old Kiszka, his 22-year-old brothers singer Josh and guitarist Jake, and 19-year-old drummer Danny Wagner — continues to grow, with the band set to play three nights at Terminal 5 in Manhattan on its current tour.
“The high point of this year of very high and very low extremes was releasing the album and seeing the response,” Kiszka said. “Thank God for the current rock and roll climate. It’s very inspiring.”
Greta Van Fleet takes inspiration seriously. After all, it’s what drove them to become musicians from a early age, with Kiszka and Wagner signing their record deal while they were still attending Frankenmuth High School.
“That was a strange thing,” said Kiszka, adding that they waited until he was 18 to finalize the deal so that he could sign as a legal adult. “But when you’re in the middle of doing it, it doesn’t really register.”
Kiszka said he was first inspired to take music seriously by Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” album.
“I found my dad’s vinyl of it in the basement and ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ blew my mind,” Kiszka said. “The lyricism was incredible. I really wanted to understand that song and I have no idea why. I was only 11 or 12 but I really took the time to understand that song. From then on, I was always in the basement, usually with Jake, and we would sit and listen to Bob Dylan while we would paint and draw. There is just something about Bob Dylan. He is the most phenomenal and that really inspired us to think about music.”
Soon, the Kiszka brothers had started a band and would play in their garage for their friends. “People would start coming over to hang out and listen to us screw around in the garage,” Kiszka said. “It was just a second nature kind of thing. Everybody was just playing guitar and that’s what started us wanting to be musicians … I have very fond memories of those times.”
Kiszka said that was when he and his brothers began to understand the power of music.
“Music is a very special thing,” he said.
