Greta Van Fleet...Anyone?

I get that, guess I'm just thinking that 8-songs is proper LP length.

I snagged the first EP through HD tracks too. Probably just have to buy the individual new tracks this time.

 

To bad it isn't eight new tracks.

Already have the first four

I'll buy the new ones though for sure

 

I wish I had been able to score a "Black Smoke Rising" CD!

Can you buy individual tracks on HD Tracks?

 

Still can Black Smoke Rising EP

 

They will cancel your order the next day. I tried it two times.

 

Amazon still has the CD for $4.95:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074JS9ZXW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Dang that's strange, maybe waiting on a new batch? I'm going to their show at the Troubadour on Sunday, I'll ask the merch desk what's up. And ask why no vinyl for this new double EP

 

Featured in today's WSJ.

Classic Rock Is Now A Young Band’s Game

Classic Rock Is Now A Young Band’s Game
Greta Van Fleet draws sold-out shows and hit songs with a new spin on old-school rock

By
Neil Shah

Some of the music industry’s biggest players are betting that a new sound is ready to catch on. It’s called classic rock.

The genre is being reinvented by young musicians, some of whom are barely out of high school, who are channeling bands their mothers and fathers grew up with.

Greta Van Fleet is a rarity in today’s music business: An old-fashioned rock band that could, some music executives say, break into the pop world.

The Frankenmuth, Mich., group is made up of 21-year-old twins Jake Kiszka, the band’s guitarist, and Josh Kiszka, its singer; their brother and bassist Sam Kiszka, 18; and drummer Danny Wagner, 18. Greta Van Fleet’s debut EP, “Black Smoke Rising,” which features Josh’s Robert Plant-like howl and Jake’s guitar hooks, opened at No. 1 on Apple’s iTunes rock chart. “Highway Tune,” their single, recently topped Billboard’s mainstream rock radio chart for five weeks. Despite having just four songs, Greta Van Fleet is selling out clubs like New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.



Greta Van Fleet on their tour bus before the Ottobar show. From left, band manager Aaron Frank, discusses cover art for their upcoming double-EP with singer Josh Kiszka, with guitarist Jake Kiszka and drummer Danny Wagner. Photo: Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal

Championing them are two of the industry’s most powerful names: Marc Geiger, head of music at talent agency WME, which represents Adele, Foo Fighters and Kendrick Lamar, and Lava Records executive Jason Flom, who helped launch Lorde, Katy Perry and Kid Rock.

The band is releasing a “double-EP” on Nov. 10 that will include “Black Smoke Rising” and four new tracks—two originals and two covers. “Black Smoke Rising” showed the band’s knack for catchy, tightly-crafted songs but was also criticized by some fans as derivative of Led Zeppelin. The new songs, including a cover of soul singer Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” aim to prove the band isn’t a Zeppelin clone by showing its other musical influences, Sam Kiszka says.

The band’s ascent is reviving a question pondered by industry executives ever since hip-hop took over America’s youth culture: For younger music fans who see Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, and Nirvana as the distant past, can “classic rock” be new again?



Greta Van Fleet played an hour-long set in Baltimore earlier this month consisting mostly of songs that were unknown to the packed audience. Photo: Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal
“There’s a theory that rock needs one new band showing up and getting people to talk about rock again,” says Eddie Trunk, a longtime rock personality who hosts a daily radio show on Sirius-XM’s “Volume” channel. “Could this be that band?”

“We grew up listening to blues and soul,” not classic rock, says Josh Kiszka. The Kiszka brothers’ father is a blues musician with an extensive record collection, their grandfather, an accordion-player on the polka scene. Jake Kiszka first got into classic acts like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and the band followed. The group took its name from an 86-year-old Frankenmuth musician, Gretna Van Fleet, who plays the dulcimer. “It’s a little piece of home that we can travel with,” Josh Kiszka says.

It isn’t just Greta Van Fleet giving classic, guitar-driven rock a modern twist. Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown are playing to bigger crowds, recently opening shows for AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses. The band’s new album, due Nov. 3, features tighter, punchier songs—a decision it made after playing a 25,000-capacity venue with AC/DC and realizing they needed bigger-sounding material.


Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown perform in Columbus, Ohio, in 2016. The band’s latest batch of songs is out Nov. 3. Photo: Getty Images

The Struts, whose singer Luke Spiller channels Queen’s Freddie Mercury, delivers ‘70s-style rock with singalong choruses; they’re touring with Foo Fighters. “From Day One, our ambition has always been to compete with the biggest pop or hip-hop acts,” Mr. Spiller says.



Luke Spiller of The Struts opens for Foo Fighters in Washington, DC. The Struts have also opened shows for the Rolling Stones. ‘That gig changed everything,’ Mr. Spiller says. Photo: Getty Images
No one thinks it will be easy for 20-somethings playing classic rock music to achieve a level of stardom on par with Drake or Taylor Swift.

Today, streaming services mint stars, not radio stations. But rock fans don’t stream nearly as much as hip-hop fans do: Greta Van Fleet’s “Highway Tune,” for example, has under 7 million streams on Spotify compared with female rapper Cardi B’s recent hit “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” with 146 million. Talented, upstart musicians who in previous eras might have tried to be rock stars have embraced rap, says David Jacobs, a music-industry lawyer. Meanwhile, the few recent bands to explode, like Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots, are considered pop as much as rock. Many of rock’s most critically acclaimed new names are indie-oriented or female acts such as The War on Drugs and Courtney Barnett.

What separates Greta Van Fleet, Mr. Trunk says, is the considerable promotional machinery behind them.

With their retro sound, youthful energy and good looks, Greta Van Fleet could appeal to three key demographics, Mr. Flom says: Older “classic-rock Dads” who tune into rock radio shows and attend classic-rock concerts; younger male fans curious about 1960s and 1970s rock, soul and funk; and young women who, in the past, have helped mainstream rock bands become pop stars.


Concertgoers listen to Greta Van Fleet’s set at the Ottobar. As Led Zeppelin borrowed from their blues heroes 50 years ago to craft a new sound, Greta Van Fleet’s channeling of Zeppelin and other classic acts may sound fresh to a new generation, the band’s backers say. Photo: Matt Roth for the Wall Street Journal

Greta Van Fleet’s rise to stardom started when tour manager Mike Barbee discovered them at a cookout in Frankenmuth in September 2012. He courted the Kiszka boys’ parents for months. As his charges gained local notoriety, he reluctantly agreed to hand them to a more experienced manager— Aaron Frank, whose family runs a major U.S. concert promotion company—a move that led to WME’s Mr. Geiger and eventually, Mr. Flom.

For Mr. Flom, who signed ‘80s rock bands like Zebra, Twisted Sister and Skid Row, Greta Van Fleet represents a return to his rock roots. Mr. Flom took Greta Van Fleet’s song “Highway Tune” to David Dorn, senior director of Apple Music, who helped it onto the streaming services’ playlists, where the song immediately gained traction. In April, Apple Music named Greta Van Fleet a “new artist of the week.”

“I’ve known Jason for a long time. He’s someone with a proven record,” Mr. Dorn says. Spotify has been supportive too: The band has recorded a not-yet-released cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” at Spotify’s studios.

Greta Van Fleet’s backers are having them play smaller venues to hone their chops even if they can get booked in bigger ones. “You need to give people the, ‘I saw them at the Troubadour,’ ” Mr. Geiger says.

Minutes before a packed show earlier this month at Baltimore’s Ottobar club, the band drank beers and hung out with Mr. Flom in a small green room as Mr. Flom made jokes about infamous “tour riders” from pop-music history. Josh took sips of whiskey from a plastic cup. They performed an hour-long set full of songs the crowd—a mix of 30- and 40-somethings and younger fans—had never heard before.

During soundcheck hours before, guitarist Jake Kiszka briefly played “ Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” by Tom Petty, who had died the day before. With so many of rock’s pioneers dying, Greta Van Fleet’s music provides a reassuring continuity, music executives say. “What’s going to happen when all of that [classic rock] is gone?” Jake Kiszka says. “What is going to fill that void?”

 

The plan is for 3 eps then they will be compiled to a debut ep.

 

Great band. They are from my neck of the woods in Michigan. I think the singer has a pete best thing going where he refuses to grow his hair long to match the other guys

 

Has anyone heard this new band of 18 year old's out of Michigan called Greta Van Fleet? Very Led Zep influenced with a new twist to it. I have to say I like it a lot. The lead singer is influenced by Robert Plant. Check out Highway Tune on YouTube.

 

They are very, very good. Saw them at a very small venue in Charlotte for about $15 a couple of months ago. The lead singers stage presence could use a little polishing, but they rocked it pretty hard. If they can keep writing good stuff, they might help keep traditional rock music on the map a while longer and break big.

 

Welcome to a burgeoning fan club...

Greta Van Fleet...Anyone?

 

I wasn't trying to start a fan club. Just trying to introduce a new band to you folks that some of you might actually like. At least check their video Highway Tune (maybe someone could post it here I admit my computer skills are limited) and see what you think. If you like classic rock and Led Zep I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

I'm liking "Highway Song" a lot. I did hear a very slight Robert Plant thing on the vocal when I first heard it but after a half a dozen or so plays that thought has gone. Great band. hope they do well..

 

Deek glad you like it. To me All I hear is Robert Plant from the singer. Don't get me wrong it's not an exact copy. Plant was and is unique but you can hear is influence on this young man.

 

It's unfortunate that hostile defense was your default reaction. By linking an existing thread, I was simply pointing out that your voice joins a growing chorus of accolades on SHF for this remarkable band. And I didn't realize "fan club" carries a negative connotation; indeed, if such a thing exists for GVF, then I'd have to be considered an informal member!/K

 

I get you, many people are making the Zeppelin connection, it reminds me of thirty years ago when "Kingdom Come" put out there debut album..

 

I wasn't being hostile in the least. I'm glad you enjoy them, sorry for the misunderstanding. Plus I didn't notice your link. Again sorry for the misunderstanding I like to get along.

 

Yes exactly and remember the Stone Roses they too had the LZ connection.

 

I was at that show in Charlotte, real good time.

 

They have a new EP coming out in the next week or two with 4 new songs.

 

Pretty darn good band and they've got some serious music industry support behind them (sez the WSJ). But will the kids listen to them? I'm doing my part by not mentioning them to my teens and I plan on acting surprised if they mention Greta.