Save this story Save Story Save this story It’s early afternoon in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, and the boys who make up the rock band Greta Van Fleet—lead singer Josh Kiszka; his twin, guitarist Jake; their younger bassist brother Sam; and drummer Danny Wagner—have convened in a studio as they prepare to sign heaping piles of their fourth studio album, Palace for the People . (It’s out today.) Contemplating the task ahead of them, Josh can’t help but reminisce about the Michigan-born band’s first time in the city, just as they were breaking into the mainstream. “It was just total culture shock,” he tells Vogue . “Back then, I couldn’t be here for more than a week because it was just too overstimulating.”
Just under a decade later, they’re plenty used to the hustle and bustle now. Propelled by lyrics rich with emotion, Josh’s trademark falsetto, and a general fondness for theatricality, Greta Van Fleet has established itself as a keeper of rock’s sacred flame, racking up four Grammy nominations and one win, for best rock album in 2019.
According to Josh, the title Palace for the People comes from a real palace in England designed for use by the public. “It’s such a Greta concept,” he muses. “When we play shows, it’s incredibly inclusive and you see everybody from everywhere, and all ages. It’s a real-life palace for the people.” (Tickets for their globe-trotting Into the Beginning tour, launching next year, go on sale October 15 and will be offered exclusively at face value.)
Here, Josh Kiszka explains why, after a three-year break, Greta Van Fleet is back and more plugged in than ever.
Vogue : You’ve managed to stand the test of time for the better part of a decade. What do you attribute that to?
Josh Kiszka: We’ve hurdled over so many obstacles growing up inside of this group. Even just out of high school, I remember Sam and Danny missed their school prom because we had to be playing some show. So we never really had the chance or circumstance to grow up in some kind of organized, traditional, or conventional sort of environment because of the early success in our career. Only recently have I thought back and realized that that was really absurd to be inside of. So if we were to fall or collapse or divide, it would’ve happened earlier. There’s a brotherhood there. Without the four of us and that sort of support system, we wouldn’t be making the music we’re making and we certainly wouldn’t still be here now.
How do you grapple with being one of the few rock bands to break out in the modern era? Have you felt an added pressure as a result?
I think there’s a pressure there, to an extent, because of the responsibility that we have to this hallowed genre. When you’re steeped in it, you’re thinking: Oh, boy, we better be really on and be our greatest. But it seems that we are kind of a minority and I think that’s why we decided to make music. We’re providing something that wasn’t there when we were growing up. Nobody was making rock ’n’ roll music. But it’s a beautiful, elastic genre that encompasses so many different sorts of influences, and it’s like a melting pot. It’s almost an analogy for the human fucking experience. I don’t think anyone’s really doing what we’re doing or has done what we’ve done. I mean that objectively, without any form of pretension or subjectivity.
What was the reaction like when you first came on to the scene? Rock fans are known for being extremely serious about the genre.
It was people shitting on us left and right. Like, “Oh, let’s castrate those fuckers.” People in the rock ’n’ roll community really cling to their music like it’s scripture. Like it’s some kind of spiritual text. The feeling was, these snot-nosed kids are coming in here, and they’re gonna make a big mess of all this shit! And, of course, it’s quite the antithesis; we came in with the greatest respect and reverence. But now it’s kind of leveled out. I think when something new happens fast, big, and loud in pop culture, the instinct is to compare it to what’s come before. And when it doesn’t compare, and it doesn’t fit a mold, [people] lose their minds. But all of our greatest influences experienced that.
Photo: Sophia Matinazad Can you explain the full backstory for the title Palace for the People ? I know it’s based on an actual place.
It comes from Alexandra Palace, which is an actual venue we played in London on this hill named after Princess Alexandra. The royal family built it and it’s got this beautiful view of downtown London, and it’s insane that it’s a musical venue; it’s unique and magical. We started thinking about the idea and dissecting it philosophically, and I thought, That’s so inherently a Greta title and a Greta concept . The ethos of that humanity and how we’re interconnected. There’s a shared consciousness.
This is your first album release since you publicly came out. Were you guarded lyrically before, and has your creative process changed in light of that?
I think it had an implication for my songwriting and my approach to music in the way that I physically sing and the way I write. I think that I’m more cognitively aware and freer than I ever was. I wasn’t as though I was ever closeted. It’s just nobody had ever asked. And then you become a public figure, and everybody wants to know, “Who are you dating?” The first inclination is to have some iota of privacy, thinking, Maybe I should guard my life to protect my partner, or something.
What would you say when people would ask you who you were dating back then?
I’d kinda go, “Someone.” When I came out, I thought it was important to make a point because in the state of Tennessee, they were challenging a bunch of these ridiculous laws and securing some really bizarre regulations, and I thought politics had their nose in social and moral ethics. So I was like, “Okay, how about this , fuckers?” And here we are. Even though I also thought I’d have a target on my back. But I didn’t mind either. I said, “Kill me if you want. This is human. This is natural. This is who we are. This is part of us.”
The first show we played on that last tour was in Nashville. It was at Bridgestone Arena and we hit the song “Light My Love,” which was this sort of beautiful love song that had no tie to any specific given thing. It was just a very romantic song about identity and self-expression. And I was unprepared for it, but the entire venue of God-knows-how-many people had organized this sort of shining rainbow from their phones and the whole arena was just filled with rainbows. I could barely finish the song because it was so emotional. Now I have mothers saying, “My six-year-old son just opened up to me today, and now we’re closer than ever. Thank you.” So it started a bit of a movement that I didn’t expect to happen.
Then again, queerness has always been part of the genre. So it must feel a bit like you’re continuing a legacy.
I’m lucky enough to be standing on the shoulders of giants. Without predecessors like Elton [John] and Freddie [Mercury], it all would’ve been twice as difficult. A lot of what I do is I want to give people permission to be themselves. I wanna wake them up and bring them outside of their shell.
Your soaring single “Saw You Stand,” with that falsetto of yours, is a powerful song. Can you take me through the story behind it?
I’d never written a song from heartbreak [before]. I have singer-songwriter friends, and they were always like, “I can only write when I’m miserable and sad,” but I never got that. But after nine years of being with my partner, we separated. We grew apart and it was devastating. I still love and respect him, but it just wasn’t built to last. So that song is kind of like a reflection on that relationship. I wanted to write it in a way that was sort of for everyone, and so the first line is “Anyone who ever loves.” It’s just like, this is a song about love and any given person at any given point in their life in any given scenario can sort of interpret it for themselves. I hate being vague, but sometimes when you’re ambiguous enough, you give people room to [find] their own space they can inhabit.
Earlier you said you’re standing on the shoulders of these musical giants. You could say the same in terms of your sense of style. Who are your style icons?
I think Elizabeth Taylor is a fashion icon. Liberace. I’m very hands-on when it comes to my style and there’s an incredible list of people that have inspired me—not all of them musical, [some] in cinema. I design a great deal of what I wear. If you have a vision for something that didn’t already exist, you have to invent it. That happens to me often, which is why fashion is frustrating, but also why it’s worth it.
I work with Amber Doyle here in New York a lot, and she is a visionary. I can take any concept and she brings it to life. One recent example was a suit that looked like something Cher wore to the Met Gala, a jumpsuit with feathers. So we just made something like that for a show in Nashville, but it was this pullover piece with feathers on the legs and the arms, and it was mesh with an entirely rhinestoned, low-neck thing. Cher is just eccentric. But that, I think, embodies the sort of rock ’n’ roll spirit. When I’m anxious or depressed, or I don’t wanna do it, I put on my outfit and then it’s like, “Oh, I’m so ready for this.”
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
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Source: Lifestyle
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