Back in 2018, when Robert Plant was asked which of modern rock’s hot tips he rated, the former Led Zeppelin frontman paid the ultimate backhanded compliment. “There’s a band in Detroit called Greta Van Fleet. Beautiful little singer – and he borrowed it from someone I know very well. They are ‘Led Zeppelin I’…”
It was a line the rock press would parrot ad infinitum– however reductive it seemed to one of the genre’s best young exponents. True, when Michigan twins Josh (vocals) and Jake Kiszka (guitar), along with kid brother Sam (bass), founded Greta in their family garage a half-decade earlier, there was no denying the DNA of classic rock’s galacticos in their riff-and-shriek sound. But none of the siblings denied the influence, and the comparison certainly didn’t hurt: 2017’s From The FiresEP won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, while both 2018’s Anthem Of The Peaceful Armyand 2021’s The Battle At Garden’s Gatewere glorious interlopers amid the committee-penned pop of the Billboard Top 10.
And as Jake reminds us today, with third album, Starcatcher– a record that intentionally prized spit over polish – Greta has put distance between themselves and their 70s touchstones, with guitar work that roams beyond Page’s shadow.
