"I'm on a journey as a guitarist to achieve perfection"

Heavy rock heroes Greta Van Fleet are on a mission to explore new territory. For guitarist Jake Kiszka, this means different techniques, random guitars and all-improvised solos. "Stagnation," he says, "Is a form of death."

- By Ellie Rogers

When Greta Van Fleet burst onto the airwaves in 2017 with Highway Tune, the Michigan-born band of (mostly) brothers were quick to amass a legion of fans - both young and old - and all equally exhilarated by their refreshing yet retro brand of guitar-driven rock 'n' roll. Since then, they've cemented their status as 21st-century rock gods with two acclaimed LPs, scooped a Grammy, topped just about every chart that matters and become one of the most in-demand live acts on the planet - selling out every single one of their headline shows in the last two years and shifting well over a million tickets worldwide.

Their rise to stardom has been the very definition of meteoric, and as they return with their third full-length album Starcatcher, the quartet's chops are hotter than ever, their songcraft more ambitious and they continue to pour their energies into artistic growth.

"It's never going to be an easy process if you are trying to constantly evolve," muses guitarist Jake Kiszka, speaking from his home in Nashville. "You could repeat yourself and it could be successful - I'm sure people would dig it - but, at the same time, stagnation is a form of death..."

So, instead of tethering themselves to a formula based upon proven commercial appeal, the band's ethos when hatching songs for the new record was a little more "admirable", as Jake puts it. "Part of it was to be really aggressive and bring a lot of light and energy into the structure of the world," he says, "and part of it was to expand into territories that we hadn't covered."