- Keery was in psychedelic rock group
- His Djo moniker explained
- World tour announced
Joe Keery is best known for his breakout role as heartthrob Steve Harrington in Netflix’s Stranger Things. However, outside of Hawkins he has been carving out a different career altogether, proving his creative skills go beyond the screen.
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He has won over audiences with Harrington’s unexpected transformation from a stereotypical high school jock to one of the most beloved heroes in Stranger Things. In season 2 Harrington turned into everyone’s favorite babysitter, taking Dustin Henderson under his wing and protecting the kids from the horrors of the Upside Down.
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Keery’s role in the hit series has propelled him into other acting roles, such as the small indie film and dark comedy-thriller, Spree (2020). He also led the cast alongside Ryan Reynolds in the big-budget Hollywood production and video game-themed action comedy, Free Guy (2021). Keery is also part of the Fargo season 5 main cast, playing a grittier role than we’re used to seeing from him.
With a career spanning horror, comedy, action, and drama, Keery continues to prove that he’s much more than just the charming, yet a little arrogant Steve Harrington. But what about pre-Stranger Things? And why does he now carry the moniker Djo in some circles?
Post Animal Band Member
Before his Stranger Things fame, Keery was guitarist and vocalist for the psychedelic rock band Post Animal. The Chicago Tribune described the band as “if Tame Impala listened to a lot of Black Sabbath and were signed to Elephant 6”.
Post Animal has released three albums to date; When I Think of You in a Castle (2018), Forward Motion Godyssey (2020) and Love Gibberish (2022). Keery played drums and guitar on the debut album, before moving to vocal duties for their follow-up.
He was forced to step away from the band in 2019, due to scheduling conflicts with his blossoming acting career. Not only that, but he was aware that his new found stardom could overshadow the band. Speaking to Alternate Press, Keery commented “It’s important to disassociate Steve from Stranger Things to the band because I think it will eventually hurt the band. Those guys are such talented musicians… I think it’s important that they’re hitting the pavement for a while and making a name for themselves and it’s not necessarily associated with Stranger Things.”
Why is Joe Keery known as Djo?
In 2019, Keery re-launched his music career as a solo artist, using the stage name Djo. The moniker is quite simply pronounced ‘Joe’. He cleared confusion over the pronunciation speaking on SiriusXM. “Joe. It’s my name. What is the most confusing way to spell my name? And that’s it….I came up with it maybe like 11 o’clock. I had finished the first record that I did and was trying to, uh, I was uploading it to AWAL myself and was not sure what I was going to call the project and sort of last minute kind of ended up on that. And the rest is history”
He self-released his first solo single Roddy under his new stage name, followed by a second single titled Chateau. The music is described as modern indie psychedelia, with heavy uses of synths and delicate melodies.
After the success of both singles, Djo then released his first album, Twenty Twenty in September 2019. It attracted high praise, with NME calling him “a musician of very high calibre who… dabbles in the kind of inventive, warped psychedelia that gently twists your melon and constantly shapeshifts around you.”
Djo’s second album, Decide, released in 2022, solidified his status as a serious musician. Track six on the album, End of Beginning, went viral on TikTok after it was released as a single in early 2024. The trend saw users post travel videos soundtracked by song.
As reported by Dork, Djo is set to release his third album The Crux, in April 2025 and will coincide with an extensive world tour that sees support coming from his former band, Post Animal.
Whether on screen or on stage, Keery continues to surprise and delight fans with his talents. He is one of the rare actors with a successful music career on the side of Hollywood fame.