Has it been easy to focus on the creative process with everything going on in the world?
“I think we have managed to – and that focus has been a major factor in keeping us sane. I suppose you could consider us to be a live band to a great degree – that’s what we really love doing – so it has been a strange shift. However, the extra time has allowed us to enter another realm of the writing and recording process; it’s given us chance to explore and delve deeper.”
Comparing your new music to the debut album and the previous EPs, how far do you think Greta Van Fleet has evolved as a band?
“I think there has most certainly been change, but it’s very hard for me to have a great deal of perspective on it. Being at the heart of the process it’s tough to stand back and look at it. Have we evolved? Most certainly. We evolve as people every day and we’re constantly trying to push and challenge ourselves. That means not just musically, but philosophically and spiritually.”
Have you taken on any fresh musical influences?
“Yes, and I would say that there’s going to be quite a reaction to this, because it is quite a bit different to what we’ve done in the past. But I’ll say no more about that for now. I want people to make up their own minds and make of it what they will.”
How has touring the world changed you as a person and an artist?
“It’s been an enlightening experience and it really does challenge you. When you put yourself in that situation, you witness so much different culture and customs and foods and fashions. All of this is overwhelming, but you process it, and it in some way translates in perspective. Seeing things like poverty and shanty towns can be quite devastating. Growing up in a small town [Frankenmuth in Michigan] we were closed off to a lot of that. On a spiritual level it has certainly contributed a lot to where we are now, and the music we’re writing, and I think you can see that in the single.”
My Way, Soon is a very positive and uplifting tune. What’s the story behind it?
“It’s a salute to our love of being out on the road. After three years of touring it seemed appropriate. It’s about getting out and observing that while there is all that different culture out there, we remain one big human society, and that is very much the spirit of the song. It invites people along on the journey and dares them to take their own trip. Obviously such things are impossible right now – the song was written before the pandemic.”
It also comes with a light-hearted video that you filmed yourselves…
“Yes, and to be honest we’ve always had a natural inclination to pick up cameras. Our grandmother had a camcorder, which was our first experience of such things, and before my life took the detour that it did, I really wanted to be a film-maker. We all took to it naturally and then realised that the footage we’d put together could really be used to capture the essence of being on the road.”