According to Europe frontman Joey Tempest, Greta Van Fleet are one of the bands who are carrying the torch of rock ‘n’ roll. In his recent appearance on My Planet Rocks, Tempest discussed his legendary band’s works, as well as some of his favorite music.
One of the songs that he brought up was “Edge of Darkness” which Greta Van Fleet released on their 2017 album “From the Fire.” Reflecting on this piece, Tempest said (transcript via Ultimate Guitar):
“Yeah, that’s my favorite. Some vocal parts in that song, it’s just so stunning. It sounds great too.“
Going more into the matter, Tempest explained how Greta Van Fleet’s music is a combination of old-school stuff and some more contemporary styles. He added:
“The way they record, they use old techniques, but it sounds fresh anyway. They’re very young, and thank goodness for them, you know?“
Expanding on this, Tempest also praised Rival Sons, referring to both bands as torchbearers of rock ‘n’ roll:
“We need those bands, and Rival Sons. They’re amazing. They carry the torch and they make rock and roll speak still.”
But saying good things about Greta Van Fleet’s music is somewhat controversial, at least to your average rock fan. On one hand, people see them as absolute Led Zeppelin imitators. On the other, they’re referred to as one of the few bands keeping the old-school spirit of rock ‘n’ roll alive.
Getting praise and support from big names in rock and metal music is not uncommon for Greta Van Fleet. For instance, Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier praised their 2021 album “The Battle at Garden’s Gate” back when it came out. While discussing some of the new releases at the time and how he was impressed by all of it, Duplantier offered:
“And there’s another album that blew my mind, and I heard about them as being a rip-off of Led Zeppelin, it’s Greta Van Fleet’s ‘The Battle at Garden’s Gate.’“
“I think these kids are very talented — I hate calling them kids, by the way, because it shows how old I am.“
“Seeing a bunch of 20-year-olds grabbing vintage instruments and fucking laying it down like they do, like in the good ol’ days.”
Duplantier then proceeded to address all the Led Zeppelin copycat accusations, saying:
“You can say they sound like Led Zep or this or that, it doesn’t matter to me. I have more faith in humanity when I hear that. I’m like, ‘Yes, some things are not lost.’ That album is absolutely amazing.“
A few years ago, even the Kiss frontman Paul Stanley defended Greta Van Fleet by saying:
“Yeah, I think they, unfortunately, fell into a sinkhole. When you come out of the box and you’re compared to the greatest band ever, and you’re so young, you’re in for a lot of trouble.“
“That ‘Highway’ song they did [2017’s ‘Highway Tune’], which was terrific, you know, when you’re just getting your sea legs to be able to follow that up and to be able to work under that great burden, I think it took its toll. We’ll see what happens now.“
“I don’t believe in general it’s good enough to be a clone of something else. I think that – look, I didn’t invent the wheel, but I took my influences and stirred them all up and came up with me.“
“Who did I love? I loved Steve Marriott, I loved Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, Sam Cook, Dennis Ruffin…”
Back in 2018, Alice Cooper himself also had a few nice words to say about them, offering:
“Guitar rock, no matter where rock goes – it will go to punk, it will go to grunge, it will go to disco, it will go to this, that and this, but the one music that never dies is that sort of modern Chuck Berry hard rock that The Stones do, that Guns N’ Roses do, that Aerosmith does, that Alice Cooper does.“
“That’s the kind of music that will just not die. There are bands right now – look at Greta Van Fleet. There’s a band who said, ‘It’s been a long time since Led Zeppelin was around; let’s be Led Zeppelin.’“
“People are ready for a new Led Zeppelin, so guitar rock, once again, is going to take the forefront.”
Photos: Stefan Brending (2018 RiP – Greta Van Fleet – by 2eight – 3SC7131), Nicolas Valdes (Joey Tempest (39754858224))
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