Nearly three years after bursting onto the scene, Greta Van Fleet is ready to share their follow up effort.
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Josh and Sam Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet joined RADIO.COM’s Taryn Daly to take us inside their long-awaited second album The Battle at Garden’s Gate. While we’ll touch on the new record in a bit, we first have to start with the music video for their single “My Way, Soon.”
The video, and the creation of it, helps provide insight into the making of their new record. For one, the band took over complete control of the video. That includes directing, editing, shooting, and producing it. "It was a natural inclination,” Josh said.
“It was pretty simple for two main reasons, well, they’re kind of the same reason,” Sam added. “We are extreme control freaks and everything has to be the exact way that we want it to be.”
Their love of filmmaking comes from experiences the Kiszka brothers had as children. “Our grandparents had these cameras we’d play with. We’d make these little shows, little sketch comedy bits and things,” Josh said. “We put it together, and we’re talking like, VHS you know? Film and movie making has always been something we’d been interested in.”
When Taryn asked the boys if there were any tidbits about the new record they could share, it was met with a resounding “no! Nothing!”
All jokes aside, they were happy to oblige and provide some info on the record. For one, expect to see more videos created, directed, and produced by the band. “Given the current situation, we’re able to get our hands on these things more directly,” Josh said. “In the past you’d been so busy with touring, trying to fit in recording inside of that, and trying to have some space to breathe.”
A major contributing factor to this is the COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine allowed the band the opportunity to sit down and dig into their cinematic instincts. “Now there’s more time and we get to do some of the filmmaking aspects of these videos,” Josh said.
Their videos seek to be “a visual representation of the world that the song lives in,” according to Sam. Greta Van Fleet wants each video to expand a song’s “consciousness, giving it a whole new space in the universe.”
“We wanted to create a cinematic album,” Josh added. “It’s like, ‘what movie would this album score?’ Well, it would score The Battle at the Garden’s Gate.”
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“The album is a bit of an amalgamation of older songs and completely fresh new songs,” Josh said of the new record. “As was the previous album and I think that’s because we’re constantly writing.”
“We started recording summer of 2019 fitting in recording around touring, which was totally normal for us. Then all of a sudden, we had most of the album done and we come into this pandemic phase and then it was actually a matter of getting to record the last two tracks somehow within this scenario.”
“We had time to reassess what world the album is and how it lives in all these different spots,” Sam added. “We were able to take a step back from that for awhile. We went in and recorded the two new songs that we felt captured the aesthetic of the album.”
Along with their brother Jake and drummer Danny Wagner, who they consider a brother, the potential for brotherly conflict is high. When Taryn asked them to recall their best brotherly fight, Sam exclaimed, “oh my gosh where do we start!”
“We could write a whole novel on that alone,” Josh added. Although the guys did admit to some tense moments, including Sam smashing a ukulele over Jake’s head, they say it usually arises from the creative process.
Those moments are few and far between for the Kiszka brothers though as they easily recall them with a laugh. Another topic they breached that would bring joy to many was entertaining the idea of doing a holiday album.
“James Brown did some good Christmas [songs] and that was amazing,” Josh said. “Maybe if it was in that vein. I don’t know though it’s hard to say, I think there’s other things we want to get to first.”
Greta Van Fleet holds soul music as a key influence as Josh name dropped the artist that’s played a major role in molding him as a rock singer.
“Aretha Franklin might not fall under the umbrella of rock, but I think she’s one of the greatest rock & roll singers of all time,” Josh said.
As for what’s next for the boys? Well, it’ll be the perfect antidote to what’s gone on in 2020. “What’s coming next is something that’s much more in the realm of hope. I think it’s something we can all relate to and something we all need right now,” Sam said.
Greta Van Fleet’s second album The Battle at Garden’s Gate is scheduled to be released on April 16, 2021. You can watch the full conversation with the band above.
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