After three years, one-million concert tickets sold across five continents, four consecutive #1 singles, a Grammy Award, and performances on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, Greta Van Fleet is hurtling into the future with its second album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate is due April 16th (Lava/Republic Records). The album can be pre-ordered here.
A bold evolution from the band’s 2018 full-length debut Anthem of the Peaceful Army, The Battle At Garden’s Gate came together primarily on the road or while in the studio after the runaway success of 2017’s Highway Tune led to the band packing up, leaving home, and eagerly soaking up new experiences on an extended road trip around the world.
Over the past three years, Greta Van Fleet – vocalist Josh Kiszka, guitarist Jake Kiszka, bassist Sam Kiszka, and drummer Danny Wagner – played to hundreds of thousands of people across North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, South America, New Zealand, and the UK. While driving to gigs, the first-time world travelers passed many unfamiliar sights, from the favelas in Sao Paulo to the Gold Coast of Australia and everywhere in between, meeting and enjoying conversations with fans and other musicians that opened up new worlds to them. To cap off the change-filled era, the quartet moved from Michigan to Nashville, immersing themselves in Music City’s rich history. The melding of all these experiences opened their eyes to amazing new worlds of culture, history, philosophy and spirituality – and ushered in an entirely new way of looking at life and the approach to their music.
Accordingly, Greta Van Fleet poured everything they experienced into these new songs – the music reflects their spiritual and intellectual growth, increased awareness of the inequalities plaguing the modern world, and deep empathy for what other people are going through.
“We realized that while growing up, we had been shielded by many things, and we were unaware of a lot of things,” says drummer Danny Wagner. “And then we were thrown out into this huge world, and it was a bit of a culture shock at first. But as we started to travel a lot, meet new and different people and experience different cultures, our definition of ‘normal’ changed.”
“I suppose that everything has changed except what got us here in the first place,” adds bassist Sam Kiszka. “Everything – our perception of the world, perception of life itself, what it means to be an artist, what it means to be part of a beautiful, gorgeous society. We’ve gained a larger understanding of why we’re all here.”
In general, the album’s arrangements are spacious and leisurely, giving the music pleasing dynamics, as the band touches on all manners of rock ‘n’ roll. The Battle at Garden’s Gate is cinematic, capturing the breathtaking energy of an exciting fight scene or the smoldering passion of a brooding, heroic protagonist saving the day. The new music also illustrates that the members of Greta Van Fleet are paving the way for a new generation of musicians – ones that use rock ‘n’ roll’s foundational elements to build an entirely new sonic blueprint.
Sonically, The Battle at Garden’s Gate also feels bracingly modern, an embodiment of genre-blended musical freedom. Recorded in Los Angeles with Greg Kurstin (Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney), the album is ambitious and expansive, marked by epic journeys such as the second single, Age of Machine, released today (listen below), and the Top 5 rock hit My Way, Soon, which boasts a towering chorus hook and rip-it-up-and-start-again lyrics.
Josh explains, “It’s very dynamic, lyrically speaking. And that’s the human experience. It’s much more than pain or fear; it’s also beauty. People need people, and love is important.” Lyrically, The Battle at Garden’s Gate muses about the influence of technology on modern life; the role conflict plays in the global sphere; the deceptive fulfillment of tangible riches; and philosophical questions about life, love and power.”
“There was a lot of self-evolution happening during the writing of this album that was prompted by experiences I had, experiences we all had, so a lot of contemplation occurred,” Josh says, while Jake adds, “It’s reflecting a lot of the world that we’ve seen, and I think that it’s reflecting a lot of personal truth. What Josh does very well with the lyrics is telling ancient tales with a contemporary application.”
For Josh, working with Kurstin provided the confidence he needed to push his songwriting into these vivid dimensions. “I’m always a little bit hesitant about my abilities as an artist; I think a lot of artists feel that way,” he says. “But Greg hovering over me while I’m on the piano, taking an interest in what I was doing – that was really important for me.”
That added confidence is obvious. Josh sounds commanding on each song, stretching his already-acrobatic voice to newer heights, while the instrumentalists fearlessly push themselves into new territory. Easy going organ and acoustic folk-rock riffs drive one song, while another ends in a torrent of guitar noise that rivals Neil Young’s onstage guitar freakouts with Crazy Horse. “For all of us, the performances – and the aspects of them that are captured – preserve where we’re at musically in time right now,” Jake says.
The future is unwritten, and the sky’s the limit for these curious travelers and truth-seekers. Josh says, “certainly after this, we’ve grown in so many ways. This album has taught us a lot, about life in general, about ourselves, about all of us, about the world we live in.”
For more information, visit: Greta Van Fleet’s Official Website.
32 Responses
Maybe its me, but these guys are over-hyped
No, it’s not just you, I find them totally unoriginal, uninspiring and boring.
Airbourne may be major AC/DC clones, but at least they are upbeat and rock. Also, I admit to being partial to AC/DC’s sound over Zeppelin, anyway.
Wig, I agree they’re overhyped. They’re today’s G & R from that standpoint.
And Dana, I agree….AC/DC > Zeppelin.
“it’s not you, it’s me.”
You wouldn’t say that if you saw them live. Awesome.
If I don’t like the material being played, a live performance is not going to sway me.
Sorry, but to me , they are an overhyped Led Zeppelin tribute band, but to each their own.
There are good proteges – Airbourne/AC⚡DC, and then there are bad proteges – GVF/Zep! GVF is just a poor man’s watered down version of Zeppelin. Maybe if they just tried to be themselves and not so much like Zep, they might actually have something. Dirty Honey for example, you can hear several strong influences in their music style, and yet somehow they still manage to stand out on their own. Not saying GVF totally suck, but by now they should be trying to be more original, and less of a Zeppelin tribute band.
That’s so disingenuous….you could say that about a lot of bands….you have to start somewhere…don’t get me started on a band that has as much talent as a guy punching a loaf of bread.
Of course you have to start somewhere, but do you really want to start out being compared to and up against a legendary band like Led Zeppelin? Again, Airbourne is AC⚡DC 2.0, or, AC⚡DC on steroids! 😉 and yet still able to have their own identity, GVF (IMO) isn’t there yet, whether they’re purposely trying to sound like Zep or not, fact is most people when they hear them (especially for the first time) think that they are listening to a lost track from the Zeppelin vaults! And again, it’s not just the fact that the singer’s voice sounds almost exactly like Plant’s, but it almost sounds like he’s trying (overdoing it) to sound too much like Plant, instead of just letting his vocals do their own thing, for better or worse.
Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome: Led….
Oh sorry, wrong band.
There’s having influences, hell I can’t tell you the amount of times I’m put a Tony Iommi inspired vibrato or chord structure together when just putting together a tune to pass the time; but if I was ever brave enough to start a band (a million percent unlikely) I think that I would try to have some of that influence but not sound totally like my heroes.
These guys clearly love and adore Led Zeppelin like I do Sabbath, and they are clearly talented at playing their instruments (unlike me), but I think that they just need to be told to reign it in a bit and be themselves, because I have to agree with Dana and say they sound like a Led Zeppelin tribute band – which is a shame because I think that they can go far being original.
Thank you D.J.H,
It’s so blatant that it even goes beyond just sounding like Zeppelin, they even have song titles that are similar. I did a list of them on a previous Greta Van Fleecing Zeppelin post, but I can try and replicate a few here, obviously the Led Zeppelin songs are on the left
The Battle of Evermore/ The Battle At Garden’s Gate
When The Levee Breaks/ When The Curtain Falls
Immigrant Song/Safari Song
Black Mountain Slide/ Black Smoke Rising
D’yer Mak’er/ Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer)
Misty Moutain Hop/ Mountain Of The Sun
Goodness, that opening riff could be on a ’90s era Sabbath record…i.e., a lot of musicians were influenced by Page and/or had the same influences as he did. It’s a very tasty lick; it’s dark, and very musical. The quality has gone up considerably.
I give these guys a lot of credit…this music is a huge step forward …the singer isn’t good enough for this band anymore, unfortunately…he has to step up his game or maybe they should start looking for a more seasoned professional…let’s hope for the former.
That is highly unlikely, as three out of the four band members are brothers, and the singer is one of the three siblings. On a positive note Taylor Hanson can sing-LOL!
on the other hand, maybe a grizzled veteran singer would mess up the chemistry and the naivte…this identity they created…he’s not a great singer, maybe barely passable…but ..he’s their barely passable singer…the musicainship really impresses though…they got a lot better.
I sorta agree with that, musically they’re good, not great, but good enough, but that singer needs alot of work, A LOT of work! He sounds like he could be Robert Plant’s illegitimate son.