L.A. GUNS' TRACII GUNS Says GRETA VAN FLEET Is 'A Great Success Story For Rock And Roll'

L.A. GUNS guitarist Tracii Guns has defended GRETA VAN FLEET over accusations that the Michigan rockers have ripped off LED ZEPPELIN.

Despite the fact that GRETA VAN FLEET has managed to sell out shows all over the world, the four-piece has been criticized for channeling a sound uncannily similar to LED ZEPPELIN, with some music fans slamming singer Josh Kiszka for allegedly copy-and-pasting Robert Plant's vocal style.

During a recent interview with AL.com, Guns was asked for his opinion of GRETA VAN FLEET.

"I think, first of all, the singer sounds more like Geddy Lee than Robert Plant," he said.

"It's difficult when you go into comparing things to LED ZEPPELIN, because LED ZEPPELIN's mastery of music and that chemistry is very special. So, you can say a lot of great things about GRETA VAN FLEET, but they in no shape or form rival or compare to the use of Eastern influence and folk music of LED ZEPPELIN. Beyond that, they're [GRETA VAN FLEET] a really cool band, there's lots of room for growth. And let's face it: Robert Plant and Jimmy Page upfront, maybe Axl and Slash, maybe David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, that's some pretty sacred territory when you're trying to make comparisons. Like, 'Hey you should come see this band GRETA VAN FLEET they're like LED ZEPPELIN.' And then you go and — and I get the maple drums, I get the cool shirts and the singer sings in a high falsetto — but there's nowhere near the danger of 'these guys are going to beat my ass after they fuck my girlfriend.' And LED ZEPPELIN had that.

"And that's the thing about rock and roll — it's psychological; it's about the stories; it's about things that are attractive," Tracii continued. "The things GRETA VAN FLEET has going for them, they're good-looking guys, they sound cool, they've got a rough, vintage-y sound. But there's another band out there called THE DARBIES that is even a little bit younger than GRETA VAN FLEET and these guys will scare they shit out of you.

"I tend to lean more towards extreme metal and black metal and stuff like that when I'm listening to my hard rock these days because I really need that danger. Those bands have more danger, in the same way Jimi Hendrix had danger then the so-called 'rock' bands of today. The rock bands of today they're very safe. It's not … Nothing flips me out. But THE DARBIES really do. And GRETA VAN FLEET, that's a great success story for rock and roll and that benefits everybody. But people should be careful with their comparisons."

GRETA VAN FLEET's debut album, "Anthem Of The Peaceful Army", landed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in July 2018 despite earning a lukewarm 53/100 score on review curation site Metacritic.

In December, GRETA VAN FLEET scored four Grammy Award nominations, one for each major rock category — "Best Rock Album", "Best Rock Song", "Best Rock Performance" — and a "Best New Artist" nod. They went on to win for "Best Rock Album" for their sophomore EP, "From The Fires".

Image courtesy of Gibson