“Her tune changed very quickly”: Even Josh Kiszka’s vocal coach was dubious about Greta Van Fleet – until she saw them live
Love them or loathe them, Greta Van Fleet are here to stay. After sparking break-up rumours in May, the band returned in full-force this month, dropping their new album Palace For The People. Haters may brand them as “derivative” rock ‘n’ roll, but they’re taking rock ‘n’ roll seriously – so seriously that frontman Josh Kiszka has even had to work to win over his own vocal coach to prove that the band aren’t fooling around.
At first, many rock ‘n’ roll fans were dubious of Greta Van Fleet. People shrugged them off as a Led Zeppelin tribute. In fact, in a new interview with Classic Rock, frontman Josh Kiszka admits that even his vocal coach used to hate Greta Van Fleet for meddling with rock ‘n’ roll – until she saw them live.
“I had a vocal coach come to our show in New York…” Kiszka recalls. “She saw the show, then told me backstage she was one of those people who once thought, ‘How dare they!’ But [after seeing us perform], she said: ‘You deserve everything that is coming to you, and thank you for carrying the torch.’ So her tune changed very quickly.”
READ MORE: Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka says people who dismiss them as being imitators are ignoring the “far more complex and nuanced” reality of their music
Nowadays, Kiszka isn’t surprised when he encounters a naysayer. In his words, some people act like rock ‘n’ roll is a “religious temple”, and their involvement alone is like an act of blasphemy. “When we came along, I think people were so concerned we were going to penetrate their hallowed rock ‘n’ roll world,” the frontman says.
“[Rock ‘n’ roll was] their religious temple, [and this] bunch of snot-nosed kids [wanted] to change things up,” he continues. “But it was quite the antithesis. It was our respect for the genre. We just wanted to do something new, to move things along.”
While the hate still stings, Greta Van Fleet just try to avoid as much of it as possible.“I stopped reading [the hate comments],” he admits. “I’m fairly sensitive, so I thought, ‘This is weighing on my consciousness.’ I don’t even know the name of the publication, but someone said we were a bunch of talentless musicians who don’t know how to write a song or perform it. Things like that stab you where you’re tender. Some of that I carry. But I don’t believe it.”
As the old saying goes: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. With the release of Palace For The People and their Into The Beginning tour set to kick off next February, the band are simply focusing on what really matters – good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.
For tickets to the Into The Beginning tour, head to Greta Van Fleet’s website.
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