There is a lot of people at the Bottom Lounge. Some kids are wearing t-shirts with the words “Hellfire” written on them. When love for a TV show spills into support for a real band, it’s rare. At that moment, Keery, who plays hunky-with-a-heart-of-gold Steve Harrington on the series, walks onto the stage and looks very different from his character. The room is loud
Keery lived in Chicago until the end of the year. He was in a band called Post Animal that performed at night while he was working as an actor. Over the course of three years, Keery’s life changed a lot, but he never stopped making music.
Keery and Adam Thein collaborated on a track called “Roddy”. Their first album, Twenty Twenty, was downloaded a million times. Since the return of Season Four, DJO has more than tripled the number of monthly Listeners. A highly anticipated sophomore album, Decide, will be released on September 16 and will be teased at a number of music festivals.
Keery was sitting alone outside of the Chicago Athletic Association with the remnants of a bloody Mary in front of him. He sounded nostalgic as we looked out. Keery said that coming to Chicago is like a location memory. I remember walking through Millennium Park when I was younger.
Keery just turned 30 and is figuring out what comes next for him after he saved Hawkins, Indiana, which is why the song decide is called.
The conversation has been edited to make it clearer.
In the past, you have said that music is a fun project. Is that still the case? How do you make music enjoyable? There is a lot of pressure to make it good. I enjoy it because I don’t depend on it financially. The music industry is so messed up. It is difficult for a touring band to make a living. It just grinds you down when you play for a long period of time. Being in the studio is one of the reasons I love music. If it can fuel the writing and the recording, that’s fine with me.
It was nice to have your after show ready for Lolla. We never did a traditional string of dates, and I was pretty nervous for Lolla, so I was glad we had the show before.
Your song “End of the Beginning” talks about going back to Chicago where you used to live. If it was different because you were working, what did you think about the nostalgia you expressed in that track? It’s like location memory when you come to Chicago. There’s a memory associated with random street corners or people I’ll see. The phrase “End of the Beginning” came up unintentionally. “The beginning of the end” is a phrase that is more troubling. I just turned 30 and this is where I grew up. It’s a sad thing to say goodbye to a certain part of your life, but also look onward.
I noticed that DECIDE is poppier than [your last album] Twenty Twenty. Do you consider yourself a pop musician now?I don’t know… I mean, yes, I really do love pop music, and I think there are elements of boy band-ness in there, like NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys, especially when I’m doing stuff with falsetto. The Beatles were a pop band, and they’re the greatest band of all time. That’s an influence. I just, I guess, have a love and appreciation for a lot of different music. When I’m listening to an album, I enjoy hearing a bunch of different influences, and that’s what I’m trying to bring in. I like being able to hear Daft Punk and also the Backstreet Boys.
The street boys The street boys are called The Daft Street Boys. It can be our own project.
It will be worked on later. We’re looking at that.
A lot of people compare your single “Gloom” to something by DEVO or Talkingheads. That is really cool. The ethos of that was kind of like that. When I was at home, I recorded the guitar part and chopped it up and used it as a sample to make a new song. I tried to play into that character because it has a frenetic attitude to it. It helped me find the characters for the songs in the album. A place close to my heart is what inspired the title of the song. The performance took on its own personality.
That is intriguing. It seems like your two careers are not completely separate. It’s not at all. It helps and makes it easier to make perfect. Trying to find the easiest way in and going with my gut is what I try to do. I used to think about that character a lot.
There is a lot of anxiety in the lyrics, but the instruments are mostly positive. What happened that made that difference? The question is a great one. The Strokes are an influence on me because they do that well. Casablancas is a character from the film Casablanca. I feel like he almost created a style that brought angst and turmoil to these traps. I’m not sure. It was just what happened for a lot of the record that I was not thinking about. Agency is what the record is about. I don’t know what to do with my life, so that’s kind of a theme.
What are the pros and cons of being a musician and an actor? There are a lot of benefits. I appreciate the fact that a lot of people watch the show because of the music. It’s cool that the show was able to get more ears to listen to my stuff. I was concerned about why people were listening to it. Artists want to be taken seriously. I feel really thankful for everything that I have been given in my life.
Being an independent artist is important to you. That is very important to me. It allows me to make music without feeling pressure from anyone.
You worked from many places on the album. Is that what it was? It wasn’t normal. I spent most of the time in Switzerland.
It’s cool. I had a lot of evidence.
It’s not nice. It was cool to haveVID there. That tells it. I have a lot of ideas but it can be a weakness because I can be disorganized. Being able to have these ideas and see them through is great joy.
You were part of a band for five years. Do you like working alone or with others? I’m a control freak. The challenge of being in a band is that it is a democracy, and that can be a positive thing. You are like the bass or guitar player in a band when you are an actor. I am grateful to be a part of that thing, but I don’t have final say on what takes are chosen or what it looks like. The DJO project is satisfying because I have control over it. We talked about her all weekend and I am starting to want to work with her. She works with a lot of different artists. It makes me really proud to see someone do that. It would be great to do that in the future.