Messed!Up
Drawing on everything from ’90s grunge and shoegaze to alternative rock, Keo combine raw guitars and a pounding rhythm section with Finn Keogh’s powerful, vulnerable vocals. Influences including Radiohead, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Jeff Buckley can be felt in their music, but Keo’s sound is distinctly their own- restless, melodic and deliberately unpolished.
The band first began attracting serious attention with their 2025 debut EP Siren, recorded largely live and featuring tracks such as “Thorn” and “I Lied, Amber”. Their commitment to capturing the immediacy of a live performance has remained central to their identity. Keo subsequently took that philosophy into the studio for their debut album, Put A Smile On For Me, released this year via Island Records.
Written and recorded during an intense ten-day creative burst, the 11-track album is considerably more than a straightforward guitar-rock debut. Its songs explore shame, guilt, relationships, memory and vulnerability, while retaining the spontaneity and emotional impact of Keo’s live sound. Rather than polishing away every imperfection, the band deliberately searched for the point where studio precision meets the electricity of a performance.
Following a remarkable rise that has included sold-out UK headline shows and an increasingly devoted fanbase, Keo are now ready to take their visceral alternative rock beyond Britain. In 2027, Keo will bring the Put A Smile On For Me era to Germany, promising audiences the same raw energy that has made them one of the UK’s most talked-about emerging live bands.
GIG DATES
- 9 April at Molotow, Hamburg
- 10 April at Hole44, Berlin
- 17 April at Strom, München
