While we are mostly focused on older artists who have been around for a while and are putting out either new music or stuff from the vault, we do like to keep our eyes on new rock n roll bands here at B&V. Over the years we’ve shared our thoughts on some great new bands who actually play rock n roll with guitars! and real drums! and bass guitar! I have really liked bands like Dirty Honey and Starcrawler that have come up over the last few years. Starcrawler just recently put out an EP of acoustic versions of some of their previous tracks and there’s nothing more rock n roll than that! Who doesn’t like a good Unplugged-esque album? One of the newer bands who I’m proud to say I got in on early was Greta Van Fleet.

GVF is the brothers Kiszka, Josh on vocals; Jake on guitar; Sam on bass and Danny Wagner on drums. The Rock Chick turned me onto their first EP, Black Smoke Rising and I immediately connected with that Zeppelin-esque rock n roll. I was on the bandwagon for their second EP From The Fires and debut full length album Anthem Of A Peaceful Army. Alas, they lost me a bit on their second album, Battle At The Garden Gate. I found it a bit of a midtempo slog. It sometimes is, as Bono said, “The difficult second album.” I know everybody likes to slag these guys as being a Zeppelin knock off band but I think that’s unfair. You’re always a sum of your influences until you forge your own voice. These guys are all really young and establishing their own unique GVF sound and style. While I can’t say I got off the bandwagon after Anthem Of A Peaceful Army, it cooled my ardor for this band a bit. I found myself putting their music on a little less than I had.

This week I found out that GVF have put out a new song “Meeting The Master” from their upcoming album Starcatcher. Even though my ardor had cooled, I wanted to see what the new track was like. I played it for the Rock Chick who was cool to the track, but I love this song. The Rock Chick even said to me, such was her cool reaction to it, “I’m surprised you like this song.” It starts off very mellow. But make no mistake this is an epic 70s style rock tune. It starts off pretty mellow, just Josh’s voice and Jake’s acoustic guitar. There’s something about the sound of that acoustic guitar that takes me back. It’s very “Rain Song.” I hate that every time I hear a GVF tune I end up comparing it to a Zeppelin tune, but there you go. Anyway, the lyrics are their usually trippy, hippy stuff. At first listen I don’t think anybody would be blamed for thinking the confusing lyrics were written by Anthony Kiedis, the master of nonsensical lyrics. But I finally pulled the lyrics up and realized this was a very spiritual song in terms of lyrics. The young Josh sounds like he’s ready to die to meet his master… which I take to mean his version of God. I’m at best a Pagan, but hey, rage on kid. At the 2:37 mark, the track kicks in. Danny Wagner’s drums come into play and the electric guitar shows up.

There was something about this song that also conjures up early Rush to me. Jake’s guitar solo is spectacular. It’s Hendrix-esque in sound. I’m not comparing this guy to Hendrix, these guys suffer enough comparisons, I’m just saying it’s a great guitar solo. I love the lyric, “What a day to travel faster, Take my trip around the sun…” To be this young and have mortality on your mind… I mean, I get why Depeche Mode focused on mortality on Memento Mori, recently reviewed, but these guys are in their 20s. I’m not sure what this means, hence my Kiedis reference, but I dig it, “And I’m taken by the madness and the tripping and the touching…” I’ve never had a problem with madness, tripping or touching… and by tripping I mean falling. The track is only five minutes long but the way it builds to the guitar solo crescendo, with Josh’s wordless wailing in the back ground makes it feel longer and more epic to me. Here’s the track:

This is the kind of rock n roll I can get into. I am so hopeful that this new album will get these guys back on the track of their early music. Let’s hope this gets us all back on the bandwagon! As I’m fond of saying often, sometimes it’s the third album that’s the charm for a band’s career. Give me all the epic, 70s style, trippy rock n roll I can get. Enjoy this one at maximum volume!

Cheers!