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Jacob Jake Kiszka is an American musican who is a founding member and lead guitarist of the american rock band Greta Van Fleet. He has written many songs for the band including a guitar solo in the song "The Weight of Dreams", which was named as containing the greatest guitar solo of the 21st century by TotalGuitar.

Early Life

Jacob Jake Kiszka was born on April 23rd, 1996 in Frankenmuth, Michigan. He was raised alongside two brothers and future bandmates, Josh and Sam Kizska, aswell as his sister named Veronika Kizska. His father, Kelly Kiszka, was a chemist from Michigan. His mother is Karen Kiszka, a science teacher in Michigan. He was influenced by his father who had a love for 70s rock music and played the harmonica.

When he reached high school he would attend Frankenmuth High School, where he completed his basic education and earned his high school diploma. After high school, he enrolled on a course at Delta College.

In Kiszka's sophomore year in high school, him a fellow highschooler Kyle Hauck began to play music together in the Kiszka's basement. Soon after this, they would invite younger brothers Sam Kizska and Josh Kizska to form the band Greta Van Fleet.

The band would begin playing in local street corners and parks. The band would play their first concert at Fischer Hall on the 25th of January, 2013. Jake would be 17 at the time of this concert. Early recordings of the band include their self released version of "Highway Tune", which would later become a hit debut single for the band, and the Greta Van Fleet Demo Tapes which would also be self released in 2015.

Success with Greta Van Fleet

On January 17, 2016, the song "Highway Tune" was featured as a live performance by the band on the Showtime show Shameless. The band would then released the song later that year on ITunes. The band's debut EP titled Black Smoke Rising was released April 21, 2017. The band would also begin to tour with The Struts during May 2017.

The band released an eight-song double EP titled From the Fires on November 10, 2017. In addition to the four tracks from Black Smoke Rising, From the Fires features the new recordings "Edge of Darkness" and "Talk on the Street", as well as covers of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" and Fairport Convention's "Meet on the Ledge". The four new tracks were recorded in September 2017 at Rustbelt Studios in Royal Oak, Michigan and produced by Al Sutton and Marlon Young, the same duo that produced Black Smoke Rising. The band also released "Safari Song" as a single in October 2017. Greta Van Fleet opened for fellow Michigan native Bob Seger at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan on September 7.

Their debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, was released on October 19, 2018. It would become the top selling album in its debut week in the US, selling 80,000 copies. Factoring in album equivalent units, it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. In December 2018, Jake would be nominated for four Grammy Awards with the band. These being Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance for "Highway Tune", Best Rock Song for "Black Smoke Rising", and Best Rock Album for From the Fires, the latter of which they won.

On October 9, 2020, the band released a new single, "My Way, Soon", accompanied by a music video that was shot, edited and directed by the band. On December 4, 2020, the band announced their second studio album would be titled The Battle at Garden's Gate. A single titled "Age of Machine" was also released alongside the announcement. The album was released on April 16, 2021. On February 10, 2021, the band released the third single "Heat Above". On March 19, 2021, the band released the fourth single "Broken Bells". The band then toured extensively throughout 2021 and 2022 on the global "Dreams in Gold" tour.

At the final three shows of their Dreams in Gold Tour, the band played five new songs titled "Meeting the Master", "The Falling Sky", "The Indigo Streak", "Sacred the Thread", and "Farewell for Now". The band then announced on Twitter that their new album was titled Starcatcher, and would be released on July 21, 2023. On April 9, 2023, the band released their first single from the album titled "Meeting the Master" on digital media, followed by a music video for the song on May 4, 2023. The band's second single "Sacred the Thread" was released on digital media on May 19, 2023. The band released two more singles, "Farewell for Now" and "The Falling Sky" on June 8, and June 27, 2023. The band released the album on July 21, 2023, where it would sell 46,000 units in its first week and debuted at 8 on the US Billboard 200.

Musical Influences

Kiscka was raised to have an appreciation of classic rock, soul and blues by his parents. Greta Van Fleet is often compared to Led Zeppelin. Jake related that he "... went through a year of really intensely studying what Page did to the point I knew how he thought." He has also studied other classic rock guitarists in a similar manner, specifically mentioning Pete Townshend.

In terms of writing solos, Kiscka would say in a 2018 interview "The point where I decided I needed to learn how to solo, where I wanted to show my voice in my licks, to speak that language, my dialect. That was a challenge I gave myself. I studied a lot at that point, especially Eric Clapton. As soon as I figured out what it was that I wanted to do, the whole world exploded. The floodgates opened, and I found my own approach to it:"

Some of Jake's guitar influences include John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Bert Jansch, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. Some of the drummers that inspired Danny are Carmine Appice, John Bonham, Mitch Mitchell and Michael Shrieve. Sam's favorite bass player is Motown session bassist James Jamerson. Josh Kiszka has imitated the movements and onstage antics of Joe Cocker. The group was also influenced by Rush, Aerosmith,and Queen. According to guitarist Robby Krieger, the group has also been inspired by his band the Doors.

Personal Life

Kiszka is currently in a relationship with Hannah Schooley.

Discography

References

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• Greta Van Fleet Members