Greta Van Fleet guitarist Jake Kiszka insists the band evolved beyond Led Zeppelin comparisons.
The shredder has studied all the guitar gods, including Zeppelin’s very own Jimmy Page, and although there is no denying the band has been influenced by the ‘Whole Lottta Love’ legends, with ‘Starcatcher’, they feel like they’ve arrived at their signature sound.
Speaking to Guitarist magazine, he said of religiously studying Page’s guitar playing: “There’s been a handful of guitar players I’ve done that with. [Eric] Clapton was one. [Jimi [Hendrix], from the American side. It gets into philosophy at some point.
It was like living and breathing a type of guitar player at any given time. Page was one of those guys where if I was playing a Zeppelin track, I would walk through exactly what his thought process was when he was putting that song together. I could think exactly like him, or Hendrix, or whoever. Because if you spend enough time with that stuff, it’s like a psychological character study, if you will.”
Asked if he’s ever met his idol, he replied: “I haven’t. I’ve been in close proximity. We were staying in the same hotel in LA and missed each other in the lobby by a couple of minutes. Our manager was like, You know who just walked through here? Jimmy Page?’ So, close but not quite.”
Asked if they’ve put an end to the comparisons with their new album, he explained: “I think, if you take a common denominator control group, and you ask them, What is rock ‘n’ roll to you?’, then Zeppelin and those groups that laid the foundation are the baseline. So our [early] approach was, We’re playing rock ‘n’ roll music.’ It’s what we grew up with. It’s what we listen to. It’s driven deeply into our DNA. And initially, yeah, the reaction was like, ‘This sounds a bit like Zeppelin?’ You’d get that reference a lot. I’m sure every rock ‘n’ roll band gets that reference a lot. But time goes on, you get a bit older, there’s an evolution in what you’re doing, and with ‘Starcatcher’ it definitely sounds like Greta Van Fleet, no doubt about that.”