Greta Van Fleet is an American rock band from Frankenmuth, Michigan, formed in 2012. It consists of Kiszka brothers Josh (vocals), Jake (guitar) and Sam (bass guitar, keyboards); and Danny Wagner (drums). They were signed to Lava Records in March 2017, and a month later they released their debut studio EP, '' Black Smoke Rising''. Their debut single, " Highway Tune", topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' U.S.

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active ro ...

and

Active Rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

charts in September 2017 for four weeks in a row. Their second EP, '' From the Fires'', containing the four songs from ''Black Smoke Rising'' and four new songs, was released on November 10, 2017, alongside a second single, " Safari Song". ''From the Fires'' went on to win the 2019

Grammy Award for Best Rock Album The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sever ...

. Their debut full-length studio album, ''

Anthem of the Peaceful Army ''Anthem of the Peaceful Army'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Greta Van Fleet. The album was released on October 19, 2018, and follows the band's two EP releases, '' Black Smoke Rising'' and ''From the Fires''. The first singl ...

'', was released on October 19, 2018, and topped the ''Billboard'' Rock Album charts in the first week after its release. The album's first single, "

When the Curtain Falls "When the Curtain Falls" is a song by American rock band Greta Van Fleet. It was released as the first single from their debut album, ''Anthem of the Peaceful Army''. In November 2018, it reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock ch ...

", was released ahead of it in July 2018 and became the band's third number-one single on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock charts. ''Anthem of the Peaceful Army'' also debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hard Rock charts and reached the number one spot on the ''Billboard'' Top Album Sales charts in the first week after its release. A second studio album, '' The Battle at Garden's Gate'', was released on April 16, 2021.

History

Formation and early years (2012–2015)

The band was formed in Frankenmuth, Michigan, in 2012 by twin brothers Josh and Jake Kiszka, their younger brother Sam, and Kyle Hauck. The band name was created when Kyle Hauck heard a relative mention Gretna Van Fleet, a resident of Frankenmuth; their use of the variation on her name was done with her (subsequent) blessing. Van Fleet also stated in a later interview that while the band's music is not her type, she supports the band and thinks they are very talented. At the time Hauck was the drummer, the band recorded three songs: "Cloud Train", "Highway Tune" and "Standing On". Hauck was forced to leave the band in October 2013 and was replaced as drummer by the brothers' good friend Danny Wagner the same year. The initial guitar riff for " Highway Tune" was cited by guitarist Jake Kiszka as being written as early back as 2010, was rereleased as a single in March 2017. On February 28, 2014, a live EP was recorded in one take and released on June 7, 2014. Greta van Fleet - 2018152140928 2018-06-01 Rock am Ring - 1D X MK II - 0080 - B70I0151

Greta van Fleet - 2018152140928 2018-06-01 Rock am Ring - 1D X MK II - 0080 - B70I0151

In March 2014, their song "Standing On" was featured in 2014 Chevy Equinox advertisements in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

area. "Standing On" is one of several songs, along with "By the Riverside", "Cloud Train", "Down to the River", "Motown Funk No. 4", "Sing in the Rain", "Thunder Stomp", "Occidentalli", and "Written in Gold", that were previously released but are currently unavailable.

''Black Smoke Rising'' and ''From the Fires'' (2016–2017)

On January 17, 2016, the song "Highway Tune" was featured as a live performance by the band on the Showtime show '' Shameless''. On March 31, 2017, the final recorded version of " Highway Tune" was released on iTunes as the band's first official single. On April 2, 2017, iTunes started streaming the song "Highway Tune". On April 18, 2017, the music video for the song " Highway Tune" was released exclusively on ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

''. The band's debut EP titled '' Black Smoke Rising'' was released April 21, 2017. On April 21, 2017, Apple Music named Greta Van Fleet new artist of the week. The band toured with The Struts during May 2017. In October 2017, the band won Best New Artist at the

Music Awards. The band released an eight-song double EP titled '' From the Fires'' on November 10, 2017. In addition to the four tracks from ''Black Smoke Rising'', ''From the Fires'' features the new recordings "Edge of Darkness" and "Talk on the Street", as well as covers of

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is common ...

's " A Change Is Gonna Come" and

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

's "

Meet on the Ledge "Meet on the Ledge" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and recorded by British folk rock band Fairport Convention in 1968 on Island Records. It was their second single. Background The song was taken from the album ...

". The four new tracks were recorded in September 2017 at Rustbelt Studios in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along t ...

and produced by Al Sutton and Marlon Young, the same duo that produced ''Black Smoke Rising''. The band also released " Safari Song" as a single in October 2017. Greta Van Fleet opened for fellow Michigan native

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...

at the

Dow Event Center The Dow Event Center (formerly known as Saginaw County Event Center and Saginaw Civic Center) is an indoor arena located in Saginaw, Michigan. The center consists of several parts: The Atrium, The Garden Room, The Theater, The Red Room, Huntington ...

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greate ...

(just minutes from their hometown) on September 7. In November 2017, the band announced that they would begin recording their first full-length studio album shortly after the release of ''From the Fires'', and that they expected its release by mid-2018.

''Anthem of the Peaceful Army'' (2018–2019)

The band performed at

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's Academy Award Party on March 4, 2018, at the host's personal request. John joined Greta Van Fleet onstage for his " Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and their " You're the One". After the set Elton John recommended the band get more dramatic and flamboyant with their performance and wardrobe. On July 26, 2018, the band made their TV debut on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

'' performing "

", the first single off of their upcoming debut album. Their debut album, ''

'', was released on October 19, 2018. According to Josh Kiszka, the name of the album "Anthem of the Peaceful Army" was taken from the title of a poem. It was the top selling album in its debut week in the US, selling 80,000 copies. Factoring in album equivalent units, it debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200. In December 2018, the band was nominated for four

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

–

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for s ...

for " Highway Tune", Best Rock Song for " Black Smoke Rising", and Best Rock Album for '' From the Fires'', the latter of which they won. On January 19, 2019, Greta Van Fleet appeared as a musical guest on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'', and performed the song "Black Smoke Rising" and second single from ''Anthem of the Peaceful Army'' " You're the One". A third single, " Lover, Leaver" was later released in May 2019. The band contributed "Always There", an outtake from the album, to the soundtrack of the film '' A Million Little Pieces''. Jake and Sam Kiszka told ''New Musical Express'' magazine in an interview in July 2019 that they are working on a new album to put out in the coming year and that their musical style has evolved.

''The Battle at Garden's Gate'' (2020–present)

On October 9, 2020, the band released a new single, " My Way, Soon", accompanied by a music video that was shot, edited and directed by the band. The song was expected to appear on their upcoming second album, which, according to Wagner, drew on the band's touring over the previous two years, and how it opened their eyes: "We realized that while growing up, we had been shielded by a lot of things, we were unaware of a lot of things". On December 4, 2020, the band announced their second studio album would be titled '' The Battle at Garden's Gate''. A single titled "Age of Machine" was also released alongside the announcement. The album was released on April 16, 2021. On February 10, 2021, the band released the third single "Heat Above". On March 19, 2021, the band released the fourth single "Broken Bells".

Musical style

Greta Van Fleet's music has been categorized as

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

, and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

. Although all four members bonded over

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

, each does have his own musical tastes: Jake gravitates towards rock and roll, Sam likes

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, Danny prefers

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

, and Josh likes world music. Jake said in an interview, "that all three brothers had listened to their parents' vinyl which included blues and folk music." Sam stated that, "It's not like we set out to be a rock and roll band, it's just that sound that comes out

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

we get together and play." Songwriting is done by the band as a whole after one of the four members finds the concept for a song. Danny stated that a lot of their songs are first written in a "folk set up" before evolving into something else. Greta Van Fleet is often compared to

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. Jake related that he "... went through a year of really intensely studying what immyPage did to the point I knew how he thought." He has also studied other classic rock guitarists in a similar manner, specifically mentioning

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

. Likewise, on his voice being compared to

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

's, Josh said that Plant has certainly been an influence, "though it's not what I was going for." Stating that he did not even know who Led Zeppelin were until high school, he explained that his singing style came out naturally one day while struggling to be heard over the rest of the band. In a March 2018 interview, Plant said of Greta Van Fleet, "they are '' Led Zeppelin I''" and described Josh as "a beautiful little singer." Some of Jake's guitar influences include

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

. Some of the drummers that inspired Danny are

Carmine Appice Carmine Appice ( , born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is also Vinny Appice's ...

John Bonham John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove,J ...

Mitch Mitchell John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard' ''T ...

and

Michael Shrieve Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949) is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Santana, playing on the band's first seven albums from 1969 to 1974. At age 20, Shrieve was the second you ...

. Sam's favorite bass player is

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

session bassist

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases u ...

. Josh Kiszka has imitated the movements and onstage antics of

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

. According to guitarist

Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and "L ...

, the group has been also inspired by his band

the Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

Members

Current *Josh Kiszka – lead vocals *Jake Kiszka – guitars, backing vocals *Sam Kiszka – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *Danny Wagner – drums, backing vocals Former *Kyle Hauck – drums

Discography

* ''

'' (2018) * '' The Battle at Garden's Gate'' (2021)

Awards

Fryderyk The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the American Grammy and the UK's BR ...

! , - , 2019 , , ''

'' , , Best Foreign Album , , , Grammy Awards ! , - , align="center" rowspan="4",

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Greta Van Fleet ,

, , align="center" rowspan="3", , - , "Highway Tune" ,

, , - , " Black Smoke Rising" , Best Rock Song , , - , ''From the Fires'' , Best Rock Album , , iHeartRadio Music Awards ! , - , 2019 , "Safari Song" , Rock Song of the Year , , Loudwire Music Awards ! , - , 2017 , , Greta Van Fleet , , Best New Artist , , ,

References

External links

*
Lava Records Greta Van Fleet profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greta Van Fleet 2012 establishments in Michigan American blues rock musical groups Grammy Award winners Hard rock musical groups from Michigan Lava Records artists Musical groups established in 2012 People from Frankenmuth, Michigan Republic Records artists Sibling musical groups