Greta Van Fleet have opened up about how they became part of Bruce Springsteen’s band in new film, Deliver Me From Nowhere.
In the biopic of Bruce’s life, which stars Jeremy Allen-White as Springsteen, there is a scene in which Bruce is seen joining a ‘local’ band at the Stone Pony in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. The band is an all-star line up, put together by the film’s producer, Dave Cobb.
The band featured Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka on guitar and Sam F. Kiszka on bass, while keyboardist Bobby Emmett from Jack White’s band featured alongisde Nashville drummer Askel Coe. The band performed Little Richard’s ‘Lucille’ and John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boom Boom’ that were performed with White and feature on the film’s soundtrack.
Speaking about how it came about, bass player Kiszka told Billboard about how some of Greta Van Fleet ended up in the film.
He explained: “It’s interesting. It began through Dave Cobb; he produced the last Greta album (2023’s ‘Starcatcher’) and was helping me produce this current Mirador record. We were sitting around on the dock out by the water at his house in Savannah (Georgia) and he said, ‘I’ve just been working on this Deliver Me From Nowhere film about ‘Nebraska’ and Springsteen,’ and he said the director, Scott Cooper, was looking for a young band who could be the house band for the Stone Pony during this era of Springsteen.
“And Scott said, ‘I’m really looking for a young, sort of hop rock ‘n’ roll band like Greta Van Fleet.’ And Dave’s like, ‘Well, I know someone… Why don’t we just ask those guys?’ He asked me and then he needed a bass player and guitar player, so Sam and I sort of stepped up to the plate. That’s how it began.”
He continued: “…It was completely unexpected, but there’s been so many opportunities like this that come across through the grapevine. A lot of this stuff it’s like, ‘OK, that’s cool, but we’re touring’ or doing a record, whatever we’re busy with at the time.
“This came through and it was like, you definitely can’t say no to this because Bruce Springsteen is such a big influence on us. This is definitely not something we had foreseen happening, but it was irresistible. It was a fascinating thing to do, the intersection between film and cinema meets music.”
He went on to explain how the first step was “recording” going to the Power Station in New York where Springsteen recorded, including where Allen-White covered some classic Springsteen hits.
Kiszka added: “Jeremy came in as well. It was really rough and tumble; we maybe got two or three passes on each song. The idea was we were gonna record (more) at the Stony Pony while we were filming, so we were under the impression of, ‘OK, let’s give this a go, give it our best’, and ultimately have another go at it when we’re on the set and filming.”
He then went on to reveal a dream interaction with Springsteen soon after. “What happened is Bruce heard what we had recorded (in the studio) and he was so enamoured with it and loved it so much that Scott Cooper decided we were gonna use those recordings from the Power Station in studio, which is quite cool.”
The film, which was released in cinemas last Friday (October 24) dramatises the recording of The Boss’ 1982 album ‘Nebraska’ as he battles depression and haunting memories from his traumatic childhood.
It received a four star review from NME which said: “What Deliver Me From Nowhere shows well is just how commercial success was a distant second to Springsteen – a man who had no choice but to rip those ‘Nebraska’ songs from his wounded heart.”
Director Scott Cooper recently said that Springsteen was keen on more potential films following the release of the biopic.
“There’s so many chapters in Bruce’s life, in all seriousness, that are quite right for cinematic treatment,” Cooper added. “That’s something quite honestly that Bruce and I have discussed. I think he really loves this film. He’s loved the experience.”
In a new interview with NME, Allen-White opened up about playing the Boss in the film, and how he met Bruce on the set after he recorded one of his songs.
“The first time I recorded ‘Nebraska’, which was the first time I was really singing on set… I knew Bruce was there that day, but I didn’t want to see him on my way to set. I needed to stay in what I was doing. He found me afterwards and he looked me in my eyes, gave me a hug and held me. That gave me a tremendous amount of confidence going forward to finish the film.”