Greta Van Fleet is a modern rock band made up of three brothers and a childhood bestie that formed in 2012 out of Frankenmuth, Michigan. The band gained lots of attention on TikTok last August for their lead singer’s out of the blue head nods and twitches throughout their Saturday Night Live performance in 2019. With this they recruited lots of new followers into the Peaceful Army (the band’s fanbase). A few of their followers found inspiration within GVF’s music and decided to post their creations on TikTok gaining a following themselves. Layne Ewing from Indiana found inspiration in paint. Marie Thomas from Florida found inspiration in jewelry and Alexis Willis from Alabama found inspiration in makeup. We all met up in Indianapolis one Tuesday afternoon to discuss the band, music, art, and the struggles of social media.
Megan Lutes: Can you describe what you do?
Marie Thomas: I take all my inspiration from musically-based things or art-based things, then I make jewelry pieces–mostly earrings and sometimes necklaces–that to me represent that piece of media I use for inspiration. It’s a way for people to wear that song, or that video, or that outfit in a really subtle nod to the inspiration.
Alexis Willis: I’m a makeup artist. I take music or music videos, like Marie said, or outfits that the musicians wear and I turn them into wearable art.
Layne Ewing: I’m a music inspired illustrator.
ML: What does the process look like from finding the source of inspiration to the final product?
AW: I listen through a song and if a lyric stands out to me, I’ll base a look off of that. But most of the time I’m like “okay if there was a character in this story or piece of music what would they look like?” That’s how I turn myself into an embodiment of a piece of music.
LE: I think the one way I differ from [Marie and Alexis] is that I don’t watch music videos. I kind of refuse to because I don’t want to be swayed by that visual aspect. I listen to the music. I’ve had to sit with just one song on repeat for multiple days which is excessive and not always the best time, but the more you listen to it the more you’ll hear it in a different way. Then, I read all the lyrics because sometimes what you hear is not always what they’re saying.
*laughs from everyone*
MT: Especially in Josh Kizka’s case. [The lead singer who’s singing tends to sound like screaming]
LE: Whatever pictures I start seeing in my head, I’ll work those together into a painting. Things like rhythm and tempo influence my color palette because all my paper is colored. I don’t paint on white. I’m also not going to listen to a really fast paced, aggressive rock song and be like here are my waves and my sun.
MT: Let’s say I’m thinking about “The Barbarians” and there’s this line in the song “behold visions of burning skies.” That’s the line for me. “Behold visions,” I want an eye. “Burning skies,” I’m thinking fiery red, orange, yellow, maybe a little bit of blue. I’m thinking what bead, faceted gem, or colorful item can I add to this.
AW: I like to take each song and think what are the elements? Is there water? Is there fire? I like to use different things. I’ve used cups or I’ve used pieces of wire, I’ve glued them to my face. I’ll glue anything to my face.
MT: I was gonna say I love the look you did for “Age Of Machine” where you had gears and chains glued to your face. I love the 3D stuff you do. It’s literally art.
ML: What is it about Greta Van Fleet’s music that is so inspiring and inspires you?
LE: One reason I love them is because they are such gifted lyricists. It’s unique and not just “I got dumped, I got my heart broke.” It’s not your typical mainstream rock or pop.
AW: It makes you think.
MT: They have the most colorful lyrics. It paints a picture in your head.
LE: Literally.
ML: Are there times when you’ve finished something and you don’t like it?
MT: I’ll make something and I’ll go nah that’s not it at all. I didn’t do that justice in the slightest. I’ll put that specific project off to the side and I’ll sit on it for a couple days or a week. That allows me to have these aha moments, like I’m cleaning and I’ll put “My Way Soon” on. I keep it casual and when it comes to me it comes to me. Sometimes I’ll make five things. It’s not a quick process, which I think people might think it is.
LE: I actually just throw those paintings away. I don’t even keep them because I’ve found in the past that if there’s a project I’m working on and I’m really struggling with it, if I try to come back to it, it always hinders my creativity or whatever the new vision is because I’m trying to put it in this old box. I’ve had pictures be completed and I throw them in the trash.
AW: I’ve had makeup looks where I’m like I hate this, I hate this so much, and then I put on some lashes and I’m like wait a minute–this is it. Before I finish my transition TikToks, I usually sit and marinate in the mirror and ask myself is this worthy? Sometimes I’m like today is not the day, and I have to wipe it off and try again later.
LE: My paintings happen in three stages. I always love my pencil sketch and I always hate my watercolor and I always love the ink. When the ink is there all the detail comes back.
ML: Are there any struggles being content creators alongside being creatives?
LE: Filming is a very distracting thing.
MT: Sometimes I think “I should share some of this to my story,” but I don’t know if I’m ready and I don’t want to pressure myself to finish something just to create content. People still appreciate when you do post things and it’s so awesome. It’s the community that’s built.
LE: There is that fear of: if I don’t show up on the internet, what’s gonna happen to my career? I started being more open with my followers saying if I don’t post it’s for the safety of my creativity. Then when I do come back everyone’s excited. I would get nervous that I’m gonna get screwed by the algorithm. One thing I had to accept is that the internet doesn’t care about you, but people do.
AW: I’m in nursing school. When April hits you have a month and a week to study your butt off, get those grades, and then it’s summertime. I was feeling this internal pressure that I put on myself to keep coming out with looks every week, but that was not going to be possible. I told my followers I’m gonna have to take a month off and everyone was like take all the time you need.
ML: Do you think your creative careers and TikTok accounts really blew up once you started doing Greta Van Fleet inspired stuff?
LE: I was about ready to fully give up on a creative career. I was on TikTok and heard “Heat Above” one day and was like “ have an idea” and just started the painting. I wasn’t even a painter at that time, I was a graphic designer. I was going to be the big time branding guru, then I realized I don’t love branding or graphic design. It’s not what I’m called to do. I had a mini crisis, then the painting happened and it’s kind of history from there.
MT: I made jewelry all throughout college and sold it as well under a different etsy account, but I always found that most of my customer base were people I knew. When I found Greta Van Fleet, I made a new instagram, a new TikTok, and a new Etsy all under the name @GretaVanBeads and I didn’t tell anyone in my life. Not my friends, not my husband, not my family. I made my “Heat Above” inspired earrings, they had little disco balls, and people absolutely loved that. I had six available for sale and I had so many people inquire about them.
AW: I started the whole @slaygracefully thing my senior year of high school when instagram makeup artists were on the rise and youtube was big. I found it really hard for a few years to figure out what sets me apart from all of the other makeup artists. I was struggling to find inspiration to keep my accounts going. I started posting on TikTok and that’s when Greta came along and I was mind blown. I was like wait a second, I have to do makeup right now. For the past year I have not had a makeup artist block.
ML: What is the coolest thing you’ve done or gotten to experience since starting your creative journeys?
MT: For me this is a big one. I got to fly here and meet Layne and Alexis and I feel like a girl boss. One time a girl messaged me and said she went to Chick-Fil-A wearing a pair of my earrings and someone else knew that I had made them. Like how did that happen? These two random people in a random part of the country, nowhere near where I live just happen to both know who I was.
AW: The one that takes the cake for me is when I opened my phone and I saw the message from Colourpop. I was like “shut the front door” and sat on my bed crying for twenty minutes. Another one was after the West Virginia show was canceled. My mom, sister, and I walked into a Starbucks there and this girl turns around and is like “are you slaygracefully?” Then I walk outside and there’s a group of twenty-five people standing there. They all turned around at the same time and I was just holding my hot chocolate. It was really cool.
LE: I was asked to create something for the private event in Frankenmuth and I had to keep it cryptic and on the down low. So when I got to Michigan for the shows people were walking up to me like “you’re the girl that does the art.” You gain traction on social media obviously, but when you meet the people in person it’s so much more real. They were like “can we get a picture with you?” and I’m like “uhh yeah I guess so.” I’ve also gotten to show other artists my work inspired by them and that reaction and interaction is so special.
ML: Are there any upcoming things you’re looking forward to that you would be willing to share?
MT: I do love my focus on custom orders, so I’m going to continue to make that a thing. I’m also trying to expand the types of items I make. The majority of what I make are earrings, but I recently just started making suncatchers as well. People really liked those in my last restock.
LE: I’m building playlists of very curated feelings. I have a smaller summer collection that is going to be your hippie summer roadtrip kind of vibe, but all old-school throwback. Also some very limited high quality products in addition. In the fall I have my long gone collection which will be your folky western sad mountain cowboy vibe.
AW: I want to start working on other canvases and not just my face. I’ve been reaching out with other musicians and saying “hey I would love to work together whether that’s a look for you to go on stage with or maybe a music video.” I would love to work with anyone that’s willing to have their makeup done.
Layne’s work on Instagram and TikTok: @layne_ewing
Marie’s work on Instagram and TikTok: @gretavanbeads
Alexis’ work on Instagram and TikTok: @slaygracefully
