The strange and spellbinding universe of Joseph Keckler
New York’s Joseph Keckler is heading to Perth for the first time this summer, performing at Perth Town Hall on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 for Perth Festival 2025—with tickets on sale now. Operating in a mode of his own, somewhere between opera, art and rock and roll, Keckler delivers haunting ballads and spooky grooves, weaving together captivating tales of psychedelic mushroom trips, haunted houses and buying jackets. BRAYDEN EDWARDS caught up with Joseph Keckler to discuss pushing the boundaries of art, meeting holographic frogs and performing in bowling alleys with Lydia Lunch.
It’s great to have you in town for Perth Festival 2025! You came to Australia for the first time just last year; how was that experience for you, and what are you looking forward to upon returning?
Coming to Australia last year was a wonderful adventure! But we didn’t hit Perth, so I’m looking forward to experiencing it for the first time and sharing my work.
Your songs are said to cover subjects ranging from psychedelic mushroom trips to haunted houses and buying a jacket. What was the most unusual personal experience that you drew from to create music?
The most “unusual”—in one sense—personal experience I’ve drawn from is being five years old and seeing a glowing holographic frog in my bedroom. Was I hallucinating? Was it a radiant messenger from beyond? No easy answer there, but the experience gave me a tenuous grasp on reality, which I continue to exploit.
And are there any themes or characters you’re exploring in the work you’ll be performing for Perth Festival?
I write songs as well as stories. My characters and speakers tend to be in some moment of strange possibility, transition, transformation, longing for a change, or for the rules of the world they’re in to change. This tour will be in concert format—a series of songs and musical vignettes.
Opera is generally a different crowd than rock and roll; however, you have certainly had some crossover, having collaborated with the likes of Lydia Lunch and even supporting Sleater Kinney on tour. What common ground do you find you have with these kinds of artists?
I’m a writer and singer with an output and methods that reach into different forms and genres. I kind of come out of a “downtown New York” scene and tradition, similar to Lydia but a different generation. I’ve performed mostly in art spaces, live music venues, and so on, and more rarely in a classical context.
Sleater Kinney found me in a club in LA! So the individuals you mention—take Lydia and Carrie Brownstein—are not only musicians but also great writers on the page and exceptional performers: one in sketch comedy, the other in “stand-up tragedy.” Given that scope and combination of mediums, the common ground seems apparent to me.
But on a rooftop in Texas last year, the great Guillermo Gomez-Pena told me if there was anyone between opera and rock’n’roll, I was it, and I thought, “Hey, I like that!” It made total sense to me. Even though those genres sound like cleaning products that can never be mixed… without disastrous consequences.
Your career has taken you right across the world. Tell us about a particular memorable or unusual performance…
I’ve performed on the rooftop of a house as it was being demolished and also on a dangerous catwalk at a house on stilts in Miami—a vacation home for rich people who can’t be bothered with apocalyptic annoyances such as dramatically rising sea levels. Last year Lydia and I played a bowling alley. The venue manager assured us we wouldn’t even notice the sounds of bowling during our sets. I would have to characterise that as wishful thinking!
Your cult hit Cat Names was once broadcast across Australia; how did that come about?
When I was 20, I spent about five minutes writing and recording a list of cat names sung by a character who wanted to start a cat name business. It was simply to entertain my roommate. I have no idea how it made it over to Australia.
What’s next for the rest of 2025 and beyond? Any more projects in the works we can look out for?
I have been commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art to create a new performance piece, A Good Night in the Trauma Garden. I’ll be performing near the head of Medusa, singing an aria about an important squirrel, and delivering a verbal portrait of a late friend who was very wild.
Joseph Keckler performs at Perth Town Hall on Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1, for Perth Festival 2025. Tickets are on sale now from perthfestival.com.au