“I guess it all starts in the little town we grew up in,” Danny Wagner tells me over the phone, setting the scene with a air of fairytale “once upon a time” about small hometown of Frankenmuth in Michigan. Although for my Netflix-obsessed brain, this intro and place name sounds like the beginning of a Making A Murderer-esque story, it is actually where Wagner, alongside brothers Jake, Josh and Sam Kitszka, decided to start playing music together and the most hyped rock band around right now — Greta Van Fleet — was born.

Flash forward five years and although the guys are barely out of their teens — Sam and Wagner are actually currently still enjoying their last year of teenage life, so insert all Courteeners jokes here — the group have two EPs under their collective belt, have travelled the world and can call Elton John a fan. “He’s incredible!” Wagner gushes of the legendary musician, who apparently told the group that they were making the best rock and roll he’s heard “in 20 fucking years.” “When it comes down to it though, he’s just one of us personality wise,” Wagner continues, “and he’s given us loads of advice regarding persistence and keeping doing what you’re doing for as long as you can and as often as you can because that’s what it takes. That’s kind of our goal right now.”

Creating captivating rock’n’roll full of 70s-flair, their huge riffs and frontman Josh’s incredible Steven Tyler-like vocals combine to make the perfect air-guitar music that’s seen them being compared to the genre’s legends. Unlike many modern rock acts nowadays, who lean towards electronic or hip-hop elements within their music to set their sound apart, Greta Van Fleet’s excellence is firmly rooted in their love of the good old days, a fact evident from where they draw their musical inspiration. “The Beatles were a huge inspiration for us, still are and will continue to be. They’re just timeless.” Wagner explains. “Then there are some artists that share some similarities and influences like The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and The Who. The whole British Invasion was a big influence on us. Our inspirations are really vast, but we’re firm believers in music that give us emotion.”

This is something that transfers into their own songwriting style as the group tackle what Wagner describes as “human themes” within their songs. “We write about love, peace, unity, even anger and sadness,” he tells me. “Just different things that make you feel emotion and are easy to talk about and easy to write about. We like to include some of those messages in each song so each song has its own character.”

Their emotion-fuelled rock’n’roll is something that is sure to be evident in their highly anticipated upcoming debut album which, according to Wagner, is “80% done right now”. “We’ve been recording since January back in Nashville and it’s going very well,” he laughs, “we’re too far in to turn around now! So that’s something very exciting for us. We’re planning on releasing it sometime this year, hopefully around the middle of summer.” Better start learning your best air-guitar moves now then…

Taken from the Summer 2018 Issue; out now and available to buy here.