Joe Keery’s Saturn Return as DJO

Thursday, Sep 15, 2022

SPIN – The ‘Stranger Things’ actor and indie rocker on his new album ‘DECIDE,’ ties to the Chicago music scene and why he’ll never be a full-time musician

It’s just after midnight and Chicago’s Bottom Lounge is packed. Some kids are wearing ‘Hellfire’ merch shirts, referring to the fictional Dungeons and Dragons club from Netflix’s multi-Emmy nominated thriller Stranger Things. It’s the rare occasion where love for a TV show spills into support for a real band — Joe Keery’s psychedelic rock project called DJO (pronounced “Joe.”) At that moment, Keery, who plays heartthrob-with-a-heart of gold Steve Harrington on the series, steps onto the stage looking like the antithesis of his character in wiry glasses and matted brown hair. The room erupts.

Before Stranger Things swept him up to Los Angeles, Keery lived in Chicago until 2018. Before fame, he was somewhat of a fixture in the Chicago DIY scene, performing in an indie band called Post Animal by night while hustling for acting gigs by day. But as much as his life changed over the course of three years, Keery never abandoned his passion for making music.

In 2019, Keery released a standalone track called “Roddy”  with keyboardist Adam Thein, under the pseudonym DJO. Their first album, Twenty Twenty arrived that fall, amassing a few hundred thousand monthly listeners. But since Season Four’s return, DJO’s listeners have more than quintupled to a whopping 2.6 million monthly listeners. The boom has led to prime music festival placements at Lollapalooza, Boston Calling, See.Hear.Now and Austin City Limits to tease a highly anticipated sophomore album, DECIDE (out September 16).

The morning after DJO’s first Lolla set, Keery was sitting in the corner of a restaurant at the Chicago Athletic Association with the remnants of a Bloody Mary in front of him. As we looked out onto Millennium Park, he sounded nostalgic. “Coming to Chicago is like location memory,” Keery says between sips of an iced coffee. “I remember touring DePaul with my dad, we stayed down here, and we walked through Millennium Park.”
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W Magazine Interview

Monday, Sep 12, 2022

Joe Keery Leans Into Nostalgia as His Alter Ego, Djo

The word is out: the Stranger Things star has a musical moniker and an upcoming sophomore album.
by Hannah Jackson

W MAGAZINE – The morning after Joe Keery’s set at Lollapalooza, the musician and actor is in the mood to celebrate. Sprawled out on a couch at the Chicago Athletic Association, he raises his eyebrows suggestively. “I could go for a Bloody Mary,” he says, glancing around to see who can be goaded to drink before lunch. And thus, a round of drinks appear.

Keery is hardwired with the Midwestern friendliness he absorbed during his time as a student at DePaul University in Chicago, where the music festival took place in July. (We spend a chunk of our allotted time together talking about beloved dive bars in our shared northside neighborhood and the absurdities of high school theater.) Between his unshakable eye contact and reciprocal conversation, it’s easy to forget that he is a global sensation thanks to his role as Steve Harrington on Stranger Things—that is, of course, until he clocks a gaggle of indiscreet fans on the hotel balcony and seamlessly lowers his sunglasses over his eyes.

Summer has been busy for Keery, who celebrated the release of Stranger Things season four and his inaugural Lollapalooza performance. But while the seasons transition, Keery finds he is just getting started. His sophomore album, the psychedelic confection Decide, which he is releasing under his moniker Djo, is out September 16th. Below, Keery talks with W about nostalgia, musical influences, and the many Geminis in his life.
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Half Life – Djo

Friday, Sep 9, 2022

Listen to “Half Life” now from the forthcoming album DECIDE out Sept 16

New “Finalmente L’alba” Details

Monday, Aug 29, 2022

Variety spoke with director and writer, Saverio Costanzo, about his upcoming film, Finalmente L’alba. He explained the plot and Joe’s character. To read about the other characters, check out the article.

VARIETY – Production has just started at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios on “Finalmente L’alba” the new film by “My Brilliant Friend” director Saverio Costanzo. It is set during the 1950s when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber.

This high-end costume drama – the title of which translates as “Finally, Dawn Has Come” – features a stellar cast comprising Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”), Willem Dafoe, and Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci.

“Finally, Dawn” is the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood.

Written and directed by Costanzo, whose previous films include “Private” and Adam Driver-starring “Hungry Hearts,” the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, which is a Fremantle-owned company. RAI Cinema will release it in Italy via its 01 Distribution unit. Fremantle has a long-term rental deal with Cinecittà.
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Joe for Billboard

Friday, Aug 26, 2022

Joe Keery Is Turning Expectations Upside Down With Music Project Djo

BILLBOARD – With second album ‘Decide’ out Sept. 16, the ‘Stranger Things’ star will reach new heights in his musical career, too.

When Joe Keery performs as his musical solo project, Djo, he looks nothing like the character that millions of TV watchers have come to know — and that’s the point.

If not for an all-caps sign in the Lollapalooza crowd that read “Listening To Djo All Day Keeps Vecna Away,” for instance, festivalgoers likely wouldn’t have been quick to associate the artist with a shaggy wig, glasses and stark-white painter’s jumpsuit onstage with Steve Harrington, the bully turned beloved chaperone from ­Netflix’s Stranger Things.

In addition to his prominent role in the worldwide phenomenon, Keery, 30, has recently starred in Free Guy and Spree as he has simultaneously reached new heights in his acting career. Currently, he’s working on a project in Italy, ahead of a few others coming in the fall. But that’s Joe Keery, the actor. Joe Keery, the musician — Djo — is its own separate entity. There’s hardly a trace of the everyday Keery, and no mention of characters associated with a film career, on Djo’s social media accounts or digital service provider profiles.

“There’s a level of comfort being in this alternate look, where I feel more free to do what I want,” he says. “I think about David Bowie or Marc Bolan dressing up. Devo is another great example. Something that started off with that intention has opened this door to make me realize that it can be more than just that.”
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Figure You Out – Djo

Friday, Aug 26, 2022

Joe Keery Joins “Finalmente L’alba”

Thursday, Aug 18, 2022

DEADLINEEXCLUSIVE: Joe Keery is set to join Lily James and Willem Dafoe in the indie drama Finalmente L’alba (Finally Dawn) sources tell Deadline. Rachel Sennott and Rebecca Antonac are also on board with Saverio Constanzo directing the pic.

Plot details are currently unknown and production is set to start sometime this month in Italy.

Keery is best known for his role of Steve in Netflix’s Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated series Stranger Things, which recently completed its fourth season for Netflix. Not only did the series become the biggest show in Netflix history, it landed 14 Emmy nominations including Best Drama.

He recently wrapped production on romantic drama film, Marmalade, where he stars alongside Camila Morrone and Aldis Hodge. Based on O’Donnell’s script, Marmalade centers on a naive small-town man who ends up in jail and narrates a tale of a romantic bank heist to his cunning cellmate to escape and reunite with the love of his life. Keery has also joined the cast for the Fifth Installment of FX’s Fargo from Acclaimed Series Creator and Executive Producer Noah Hawley. He also recently was seen in the 20th Century pic Free Guy.

He is repped by Gersh and 3 Arts.

Joe Keery is Ready for His Next Chapter

Monday, Aug 15, 2022

Leaving ‘Stranger Things’ Behind

THE DAILY BEAST – Playing crush-worthy teen Steve on the Netflix hit turned Keery into a star. With the final season coming, he’s ready for a new phase: a brand-new album as his music persona, DJO.

Joe Keery won’t stop talking about Stanley Tucci. We’re 20 minutes into our coffee in the Lower East Side, and because the Tooch is one of my favorite topics of conversation as well, it physically pains me to steer the conversation back on track.

Directing. Let’s talk about directing. We were talking about getting behind the camera when Keery began to gush over Tucci, whose 1996 movie Big Night inspired the young Stranger Things actor to pursue filmmaking. Then, there’s Tucci’s new memoir, Taste, a mix of recipes and autobiography, which has brought Keery to the idea of a cookbook-album concoction—as in maybe one day, somehow, creating a project that blends recipes and his music.

“Well, not a cookbook,” Keery says. “How can you blend genres? What he does there, in a really great way, is: How do you blend a cookbook and a story about your life? Nobody’s done that in the same way, not that I have read.” (As a devoted rom-com lover, I tell him to read Heartburn by Nora Ephron.)

Keery rattles off a long list of movies he’d like to make one day. A moving family affair like Big Night. An original adventure movie. Or even a sizzling thriller like Nightcrawler. I tell him to combine all three for something original—genre-blending like Taste—and he seems eager for the challenge.

Still, as exciting as this all is, and as hyped as I am about Keery’s passion to direct, we’re here to talk about his new album DECIDE—yes, the popular actor makes music, too—and Stranger Things.

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