Greta Van Fleet
No modern rock band polarizes opinion like Greta Van Fleet. But with new album The battle at garden’ s gate, will they finally shake off the ‘mini-led Zeppelin’ label? Guitarist Jake Kiszka explains how they’re reaching for a sound that’s “orgasmic and cinematic”, and how he is constantly refining and rethinking his art
Greta Van Fleet could very well be the most divisive rock band of the 21st Century. On one hand, there are those who recognise great maturity in the Grammy-winning Michigan quartet and praise their ability to conjure up vintage sounds of the past with staggering accuracy. And on the other, there are the detractors who write the band off as cocky young Led Zeppelin wannabes, lacking both credibility and originality.
Given the influences at play on GVF’S 2018 debut Anthem Of The Peaceful Army, it’s perfectly understandable how they ended up in this position. But this may be about to change with the release of new album The Battle At Garden’s Gate.
The three Kiszka brothers – singer Josh, guitarist Jake and bassist Sam – and the fourth member of the band, drummer Danny Wagner, all freely admit that Led Zeppelin will always be one of GVF’S primary influences. But this time around they have been adding new dimensions to their wall of noise. More varied and expansive than anything they’ve recorded in the past, The Battle At Garden’s Gate, should hopefully put an end to the endless debates on their musical legitimacy...
As Jake explains to TG: “We’ll still be honoured and humbled by any references to or affiliations with Led Zeppelin,” says Jake Kiszka, when confronted with the negative aspects of being such a popular and yet polarising band. “I mean, it’s worth noting that Zeppelin were an influence on many other groups. But I think this album showcases and reimagines the influences we grew up with, especially the blues stuff...
“It’s interesting – the commentary we’ve had surrounding Led Zeppelin. We don’t feel it’s something that should subtract from originality. They’ve influenced us in positive ways. We wanted this album to be orgasmic and cinematic, and also an ode to our childhood as well – moments that were influential musically, philosophically or even pictorially through film. So it had to be really big and broad, with all of those elements going into the creative process. This record is a testament to where we are musically right now.”
The new album’s opening track Heat-above has a flavour of The Beatles and of progressive rock...
Jake Kiszka: Yeah, it’s a very strange song with a funny arrangement. The initial idea came about when we were in Michigan three years ago, we went there to write one summer. We walked
into this house that belonged to my uncle and his daughter had this little classical mini-scale acoustic thing for learning on. I just picked it up and played that riff instantaneously, thinking, ‘Well, that’s a song right there!’ It came very quickly, we’d literally just walked in through the door. And so we put it on the shelf. It didn’t feel ready to be recorded, I honestly don’t know if we had the capability at that time to do it justice and serve the song in that way. Eventually, we pulled it back down and repurposed it with some rearranging, and yeah, that was it!
It definitely feels like you’ve been discovering more unusual ways of playing simple riffs, with more open strings and inversions...
That definitely comes from the whole university of playing things that sound simplistic and easy to listen to but have these added layers of complexity when you get down to it. A lot of my favourite guitar players have tended to play like that. When I was a kid, I’d say, ‘Ah I want to learn that riff or piece!’ because I liked the sound of it. And then I’d realised it wasn’t easy, asking myself why I couldn’t make it sound the way they did. Eventually you learn that’s the more tactile aspect of playing. It’s something I’ve tried to bring to my own parts, ideas that sound fun with their own layers of complexity. I’m all about stretching the possibilities with detail and execution, those delicate little nuances that make it come to life.
How exactly did you work on that side of your playing – were you thinking in terms of the CAGED system, studying chordal chemistry or simply just experimenting with shapes?
I think a lot of it has been studious, but I think ultimately over time it’s become more intuitive. As I’m playing I start to toy with how to add things in, little twists here and there. Whenever I found something interesting, I’d have to find out why – to fundamentally understand what was making it sound the way it did. Sometimes it’s about completely breaking the rules and playing things that shouldn’t sound good or admirable. Some ideas might not be technically accurate musically, but they work well in terms of emotion and feel. They might not sound as intentional, but they sound more emotive. It really comes down to listening to those nuances and trying to replicate what you hear from other players or in your head. Just getting used to that kind of exploration will give you new shapes and ideas to come up with your own nuances. It’s an important part of any musician’s journey. You need to find originality and independence after experimenting with all those little nuances. It’s just like Miles Davis said: ‘Anybody can play. The note is only 20 per cent. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is 80 per cent.’ I agree with that. It’s all about individuality.
Are there any techniques you’ve been working on specifically over the last few years?
There are some technical things I’ve picked up from other guitar players just from being on the road, just little licks or ideas that I’ve incorporated into my own thing. There’s this strange one I picked up from a player called Chris Turpin who is in Ida Mae and he picked it up from Tommy Emmanuel. And Tommy picked it up from Chet Atkins or Merle Haggard or some old country fellow. It’s an odd technique I’ve been using quite a lot, using hammer-ons and pull-offs almost at the same time. You can actually hear it at the very end of Built By Nations, that weird scale thing I play.
Ageofmachine and Tearsofrain have some interesting slapback echoes and ambiences that weren’t on the debut – closer to what you might hear on a 70s David Bowie record...
I really got more into slap delays, ambiences and space echoes on this album. We’d use different techniques to create those sounds, like physically delaying one amp against another. One wet and one dry, or both dry or both
“SOMETIMES IT’S ABOUT COMPLETELY BREAKING THE RULES AND PLAYING THINGS THAT SHOULDN’T SOUND GOOD” JAKE KISZKA
wet. I got more into playing around with effects, I had a lot of time to do that and craft away... Which was lucky for me! I think we had two 60s Fender champs and did the whole stereo thing. I loved playing around with delays for that.
Your main pedals for the live shows have been the Electro-harmonix Holy Grail, the Jext Telez Range Lord and a Cry Baby wah. Has much changed?
Those have become pretty standard for me. I have been toying around with delay pedals, too, but that’s pretty much all I’ve needed so far. The Range Lord is this fuzzy top-ended boost that has this certain kind of breakup to it, which helps me dial in more Hendrix-style sounds. If I ever need any more push or gain or drive, that’s what I use. And I like the Holy Grail reverb because it’s really simple in design. I tend to be drawn to pedals that have a singular application. It’s a straightforward pedal that gives me a very accurate effect, albeit in digital form. I actually have a Fender reverb tank, so I used that on the record for more of an analogue vibe. But for live shows, I just love the simplicity of the Electro-harmonix. It’s a very pleasant and natural kind of sound. We also used an old POG octaver on Built By Nations.
Is the 1961 SG/LES Paul still your main guitar?
Yeah! I used that on a lot of stuff. I did branch out with other guitars on certain songs, many of which have interesting stories and feel kinda fabled as well. But for the solos I really wanted to stick with the ’61 Les Paul. It’s the main thing I tend to use, so it felt right. I was lent a factory black 1959 Gibson ES-335 for the song Broken Bells. A friend of mine from the Chicago Music Exchange dropped it off specifically so I could use it on this record, which was amazing. I think there’s only about five or six that are known. I believe Keith Richards has one, as well as maybe Johnny Marr and John Shanks, the Bon Jovi producer and touring guitarist. There were some other really cool guitars too, like a blonde ’62 Telecaster and a 60s sunburst Strat for the solos at the beginning and in the middle of The Barbarians. It was that Strat with a wah pedal and split with some delay to make it feel really wide. That was fun because I could actually use the whammy bar a bit...
Ah yes, because we’d seen you had the sideways tremolo on your Les Paul blocked off...
Yeah, it’s sideways and didn’t work for sh*t [laughs]. It’s an amazing guitar though, that a friend of mine who owns the Chicago Music Exchange gave me a few years. I saw that 1961 Les Paul in the store and it was love at first sight. He lent it to me for three years. I beat the hell out of it on tour and three years later I bought it! Thank god he lent it to me.
As for amps, was it just those Fenders you mentioned or did you have the Marshall Astoria and Bletchley Belchfire 45 in the mix?
I used the Astoria and some Bletchley amps too – they’re a boutique company based in Eastside Detroit. We were coming through there and met the owner, who lent us some amps – a lot of that stuff ended up on our earlier recordings done in Detroit. I love those amps and tour with them, so they really are another aspect of my sound, along with the Astoria. We used a lot of
different amps on this album, going with whatever sounded right for the song.
And how about the acoustic sounds on this record?
It was interesting, there were a bunch of different acoustics that we used, but the go-to for me was actually an Epiphone Texan, this 1964 F-79 with a smaller neck. John Lennon used that model too. I tend to like smaller necks, so that was easy to play and really had an amazing sound, so I used it a lot. There was also a Martin 12-string, a Silvertone 319, that Gibson J-15 that I sometimes tour with and a Giannini classical which you can hear in the bridge section of Caravel. And I have this Espana double neck acoustic with a 12-string on the top and a six on the bottom... That’s what you hear at the end of Broken Bells, played on the top neck. It’s a really interesting guitar!
You played a lot of Cream covers growing up. It definitely feels like Eric Clapton left his mark on the moments where you employ a faster style of vibrato...
It’s a key element of any guitarist’s playing – everyone has a different vibrato! I don’t really know what mine is or where it came from. It’s pretty organic and natural, but I can hear similarities with Clapton or someone like Angus Young – both of whom have been outrageously influential on me. I was actually listening to some AC/DC while we were making this album and it felt like I’d never really listened to his vibrato specifically, which made me want to incorporate it. So in The Weight Of Dreams, there’s that bluesy melody that gave me the opportunity to really go for it!
A lot of your lead playing is pentatonic-based. How do you go about getting more mileage out of that scale?
It’s definitely one of my main ones. And there have definitely been times I’ve felt limited by the pentatonic. All my blues influences were pentatonic-based musicians. It’s not like I’ll just wake up and say, ‘Let’s just switch to Dorian today!’ and change the framework. And yeah, I’ve felt really confined by it at times. But I like the idea of crafting your own language and phrases, so what got me around the limitations is sitting down to work out my own complexities and nuances within that scale, which might also go into other frameworks. I might add in a little Dorian flavour here or a blue note there, crafting my own lines that are completely original. Thinking in those terms is very beneficial – inventing your own stock phrases and language will push your playing to a different realm. It will give you a new understanding. As will tuning your guitar to something completely different. Doing things like that will force you to change how you think.
“I REALLY GOT INTO SLAP DELAYS, AMBIENCES AND SPACE ECHOES ON THIS ALBUM” JAKE KISZKA