Upside Down and Out Loud: Keeper on His First Headline Show

On the back of his latest EP, Songs that would’ve got me bullied 16 years ago, we speak to Keeper ahead of his very first headline show.

By the time Keeper steps onstage for his first headline show, with his back dramatically turned away from us in boy-band fashion, the room already feels like it’s breathing with him. After volatile opening sets from Hamartia and Sunday Best, followed by five to ten minutes of fiddling with mic settings before the main set, the only sound left behind is the collective crowd-buzz. The show begins, and the mic stutters out every few lines; cables come loose, and chaos ensues, but the crowd doesn’t seem to care. As they yell the opening refrain of ‘Taste-It’, something clicks. It’s messy, loud, and ripe with the discordance of a primary school assembly, but it’s a perfect representation of Keeper’s world right now. In an interview a couple of hours before the show, he told me that “it’s been a day”, and I’d call that the understatement of the century…

After only one live rehearsal and a car breakdown, soundcheck was pushed with the band and crew fighting against time: “There was meant to be a cool set. Unfortunately, that’s fallen through”, recalled Emanuel Andrade (Keeper) with a hint of disappointment, but an overpowering conviction that the night would be its own reward. “Soundcheck’s done. The chaos is hopefully behind us because that went so smoothly”, added bassist Torin.

This optimism was what carried the show through: the stage was adorned with a tapestry and drumhead hand-drawn by Keeper’s incredibly talented sister, a testament to hours of hard work, while remaining only a fraction of what they had originally planned. It turns out that when you put 200% into a show and it doesn’t go to plan, you’ve still got a night that reflects over 100% of your effort. In fact, I’d argue that a rough-around-the-edges DIY set almost works better for Keeper.

The energy reflects the origins of Keeper as a musical experiment, one that didn’t arrive fully-formed. The latest EP, Songs that would’ve got me bullied 16 years ago, comes four years after the last Keeper project, which was his debut.

Keeper: I fell out of love with rock and scene music, anything with distortion on it. That’s why the first project is alt-rap and pop-rap. Those were genres I loved, but they weren’t my roots. Rock music, pop-punk, and post-hardcore have always been my roots. I couldn’t find a vocalist, so I was like, fuck it, I’m gonna learn.

Pictured from left to right: Keeper, Kamil (Guitarist), Torin (Bassist), Joey (Drummer)

When the band finally spun around on the opening notes of the EP’s first track, ‘Alright // Too Slow’, that was all put to the test. The ground of the bar basement we find ourselves in starts to shake on the song’s initial drop, and the crowd warms into Keeper’s unique hyperpop-infused rock sound. “I think it’s just a kick straight away. It opens up really well”, Keeper said ahead of the show, a prophecy for what was to come.

Born as a solo project, Keeper saw a lot of firsts through its evolution, and five years on, he’s getting closer and closer to certainty. The new project particularly arises from various grievances: the fallout from a breakup, the loss of a family member, Emanuel’s dad losing his job and worrying about the house… Each factor manifested in the project’s nostalgic ‘scene’ influences, going back to childhood inspirations like Busted and McFly.

And nowhere do these feelings surface more clearly than on ‘Cynical’: “the track started the 2000s looking-back nostalgia”, Keeper remarked, ultimately setting the tone for the entire EP. Live, it lands like an exhale – a breather between the chaos – but it carries a weight that’s anything but easy. As a vocal collaboration, the song was turned down by artists like South Arcade and originally Tally Spear, until she heard the demo and changed her mind. She delivers the opening lines with such quiet purpose and personal hurt that I can’t imagine anyone else’s voice on the track. “[Cynical] really hurts me… it deserved to do so much better”, muses Keeper. Watching them perform it together, with phone flashlights shimmering across their faces, you can see why he feels that way. The song serves as an entirely human, tender understanding, and despite being the softest song on a rock project, it perfectly encapsulates Keeper.

Another collaboration on the EP is ‘Upside Down’, a track that brings a sharp, exhilarating focus to the project. Keeper lights up talking about collaboration, differentiating his work from the often non-collaborative pop-punk and rock scenes. Being a pop-rap artist, “people [are] constantly featuring and collaborating”, and Keeper carries this energy forward despite genre. ‘Upside Down’ is proof that it works.

Despite being sonic antitheses, the track began as ‘Cynical’ did:

Keeper: I sent it to Lake Malice. They said no. I also sent it to Tropic Gold and they said no. And then, as a giggle, I sent it to Kellin Quinn…

And the rest is history: Keeper sings on a track with his personal childhood hero and emo-legend, best-known as the frontman of Sleeping With Sirens. Aside from the collaboration, though, the track truly shows fans what Keeper is capable of. Kellin particularly noted the seamless fusion of hyperpop and rock, rather than those elements being stapled on afterwards: the unique pop-rap melodic verses and pop-punk choruses show the project at its finest. Performed solo, these aspects landed even better, reframing the emo nostalgia and heavier aspects of the track without relying on Kellin Quinn as a crutch. Keeper leans into the song in his own way, blending his voice around Kellin’s unique tone. The result is a heavily textured second verse, replacing Kellin’s famous high notes with lower-inflected, menacing fry screams. Holding the mic upside down, the performance becomes a perfect metaphor. Everything flipped, landing exactly how it’s meant to.

Another highlight on the setlist was ‘He’s On The Fence’, an emotional crescendo nearing the end of the show. Being his first headliner, Keeper isn’t used to playing one-hour sets. Most would lose momentum, but the track spewed out effortlessly, the crowd screaming every line. It’s Keeper’s favourite track. It’s my favourite track. And I can say with certainty that it’s the crowd’s favourite track too. Lyrically, the song melds emotional vulnerability and coming-of-age energy, heavily inspired by the show Heartstopper.

Keeper: So much of that time is having silly crushes, and even now, man, I’m 27 and I still have silly crushes. You don’t grow out of that.

However, the net of the song catches wider, encapsulating the entire experience of being young. The constant questioning (“Should I quit? Should I stop? Should I go to Uni?”) and the prolonged, seemingly never-ending coming-of-age process set off by the pandemic.

Keeper: We’ve had years stolen from us. When I entered COVID, I was 20 or 21 and I missed out on the early 20s experience. I spent all my time working at Tesco, pushing shopping trolleys, so I’m almost reliving that time now.

And I think some of it also goes into nostalgia: it’s harder to get a flat. It’s harder to pay your bills. It’s harder to go on holiday. It’s hard to break away from the mundanity, from the 24/7 drive that you have to create to be able to sustain yourself in this modern culture. As a result, people, I think, are dependent on nostalgic hobbies to help them get through.

They’re going back to their roots. Some of that is definitely represented in the song, dealing with, essentially, modern-day slave labour.

Onstage, all of that context burns through – the collective exhale of a frustrated generation who’ve had entire livelihoods stolen from them. Every lyric lands with the conviction of something lived-in rather than performed. Nostalgia, frustration, and relief come crashing together in a cramped basement too small to hold it, the air thick with a coming-of-age story that refuses to end and a crowd that refuses to let it.

The final track played, ‘Here We Go’, expands on this cathartic release, and leaves us wanting more. With the EP barely a week old, Keeper’s already plotting what’s next: pop-rock momentum carried forward from ‘He’s On The Fence’ and ‘Taste-It’, the rogue nu-metal moment of an unreleased track ‘Float’, and the post-hardcore sting of ‘Talking Fast’, which made its live debut mid-set. The latter, a collaboration with artist Synsy with a chorus penned by Tally Spear, promises big things for 2026.

I will continue to stand in awe of Keeper’s grit. Even as wires malfunction and the day falls apart, he turns the chaos into something communal and cathartic, already jumping toward whatever’s next. Soon enough, a bar basement won’t be able to contain him. And when that day comes, I’ll be seeing it through the eyes of his first headliner…

Find Keeper on all streaming platforms, and on Instagram and TikTok (@guessimkeeper).

Images by Niall Mirza.