Members of Greta Van Fleet spent the hour before their sold-out Basement East show adorning the greenroom walls with chalk drawings.
"We're having arts and crafts!" said the Grammy-winning band's bassist, Sam Kiszka.
The musician stepped back to admire his handiwork: GRETA VAN FLEET scrawled in giant, Tim Burton-y block letters.
His brothers, twins Josh and Jake Kiszka
, and friend Daniel Wagner, nodded approvingly.Soon, the Nashville band would take the stage at the 575-person-capacity rock club for their first of three shows celebrating their forthcoming album, "Palace for the People," due Oct. 9.
Greta Van Fleet announced their unusual residency at The Basement East in September, quickly selling out a trio of Saturday night concerts scheduled
for Oct. 3, 10 and 17, charging only $20 a ticket.
Before taking their show on the road, one of the most popular modern rock bands today intentionally chose to launch its next chapter on a smaller Nashville stage.
Small yet mighty, The Basement East has hosted shows by Alice Cooper, Jack White, Cage The Elephant, and more recently, surprise pop-up concerts from Charli XCX and Kings of Leon.
The venue, which opened in 2015 and is located in East Nashville's Five Points neighborhood, is emerging as the city's most prominent rock club. Greta Van Fleet took notice.
As fans streamed through the doors, band members sat down with The Tennessean backstage to discuss the new album, life in Nashville and the next phase of Greta Van Fleet.
How the Greta Van Fleet Nashville residency came together
An energetic buzz coursed throughout the greenroom, the band already decked out in sparkly blazers and jumpsuits.
Three-fourths of the group had played the venue back in the day with other bands, including drummer Wagner, vocalist Josh Kiszka and guitarist Jake Kiszka.
"I've never played here," said Sam Kiszka, "but I've seen brilliant shows here."
While country stars Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers played residencies at The Basement East before they blew up, Greta Van Fleet's rock residency is the first of its caliber at the venue, said its owner, Mike Grimes.
"I good-naturedly elbowed (the band) about an underplay, and after the Charli XCX and Kings Of Leon underplays, they hit us up for some dates," Grimes told The Tennessean, adding he's known the band for some years now.
"We are honored to have them in the house in Rocktober!"
The Michigan natives cut their teeth playing similar clubs, like Nashville's Cannery Hall. Since Greta Van Fleet's debut release in 2017, the band has achieved rapid success, reviving a 1970s classic rock sound reminiscent of Led Zeppelin.
Relocating to Nashville full-time in 2019, they've since amassed more than 5 million monthly Spotify listeners, topped the Billboard rock charts, and performed alongside artists like Elton John and Metallica.
While Greta Van Fleet regularly sells out large-scale arenas around the world, returning to play such an intimate show is nerve-wracking, Josh said.
The rooms are less echoey, more concise. The audience is made up of family and friends, not strangers.
"There's obviously vulnerability in that," Jake said, fellow band members plopping down on couches, some pouring tequila, others sipping coffee from Ugly Mugs. "But you know, that's the exciting bit."
The group recently announced their 2027 "Into the Beginning" tour, which includes a stop at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 10.
Ahead of the extensive tour, the band wanted to celebrate their new album by "having a party and taking over Nashville," Wagner said.
The vision worked. Greta Van Fleet's fanbase, The Peaceful Army, went wild after the band announced their residency, immediately crashing the venue's website with the high demand for tickets.
"It's a moment to get intimacy with a lot of these fans that we don't get in an arena," Jake said.
During the show, Josh leaned back into the crowd, letting them catch him, his high-pitched, intense tenor blaring all the while. He did a shot with the audience and handed out roses, looking each fan in the eye as he did, an homage to Queen.
Harnessing the magic of an underplay, the Kiszkas and Wagner created a massive-sounding, expansive rock show that somehow felt like it was happening just for you.
Greta Van Fleet made 'Palace for the People' in the Tennessee woods
To create their fifth full-length LP, "Palace for the People," the band sequestered themselves in the wilderness of Gallatin, Tennessee, working alongside Mike Elizondo, who is known for producing artists from Turnstile to Eminem.
"We always get outside of town," Sam said of their album-writing process, the band adding that Elizondo's rural studio was "quintessential pastoral living."
Together, they made their first record in three years, one driven by the themes of unity and interconnectedness, Josh said. "It's about celebrating similarities, and more importantly, differences."
While the band members have always listened to world music, they felt drawn to incorporate global sounds into their work after experiencing other cultures on tour.
"It evolved from a faraway sound to something that felt a little closer to home," Josh said.
They were inspired by acts like The Orchestral Qawwali Project, a musical collaboration featuring composer and pianist Rushil Ranjan, vocalist Abi Sampa and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), plus Bollywood music icon A. R. Rahman, sometimes called the "Hans Zimmer of India."
To capture the sweeping sound, the band worked extensively with session musicians for the first time in their career.
"We had to incorporate more people," Josh said, "strings, brass and so many world instruments that were almost a little obscure to the Western world. We needed specialists in those departments."
One of those many professionals was percussionist Abe Rounds, who worked closely with Wagner. He brings a deep sense of lineage to his work, including his Fijian, Tongan, Hungarian and Iraqi ancestry.
Weeks later, after a particularly quick album-making process, the band had "Palace for the People."
It's still true to the band's equal parts Queen and Led Zeppelin-inspired sound, but with a new, rich layer of artistry. Deeply cinematic and transportive, Josh called the 13 tracks a "love letter to the whole world."
'Come one, come all.'
After The Basement East residency, Greta Van Fleet has a few months before they hit the road.
There's time to hang around their favorite Nashville spots, like Cafe Roze, Two Ten Jack and the dive bar Dino's.
Come February, they'll kick off their 59-date tour in Georgia before heading to Michigan, Massachusetts, California, Florida and more.
In line with their current ethos, Greta Van Fleet has ensured that tickets have been priced in advance and will be sold at face value through primary ticket sellers.
"We've never in our careers done that thing where people pay $1,000 to be right up front," said Josh. "We don't want to see lame people up front."
"Like CEOs!" another band member chimed in.
"No, we do want to see CEOs," they quickly added. "But maybe in a nice box."
Laughing, but all in agreement, they said: "We want our real fans up front."
"It is a 'Palace for the People,' it should be open to everybody," Josh continued, just like their shows at The Basement East.
"Come one, come all."
General tour on-sale for Greta Van Fleet's tour begins Friday, October 9 at 10 a.m. local time.
To learn more, visit GretaVanFleet.com.
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com. Follow her on Instagram at @audreyraegibbs.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Inside Greta Van Fleet's intimate Nashville rock club residency | Exclusive
