WALLS, WAXES AND STICKER WALLS: NEIL KEATING ON SOUNDTRACKING KEYSIDE’S RISE
The Liverpool visual artist has been quietly embedding his work into one of the city’s most exciting new bands. He tells us how a viral video, a WhatsApp group and a walk down Lark Lane led to one of the most organic creative partnerships in the city right now.
There’s a neat symmetry to how Neil Keating ended up working with Keyside. Before a single word had been exchanged, before any brief was written or contract signed, the band had already found their way into his world — literally. One of their early street sessions, the kind of spontaneous performances that were racking up thousands of views online, was filmed in front of Keating’s Sound of Freedom mural in Liverpool city centre.
“I first became aware of Keyside through Instagram,” he says. “They’re a Liverpool band and I noticed a couple of their videos had gone viral. They’d set up their gear on the streets of Liverpool in various locations — and I noticed one of them was shot in front of my mural.” He pauses. “Strangely enough, it was Dan who reached out to me.”
That initial message led to a meeting at Elevator Studios, where Keating got to know the band properly. What drew them together wasn’t a mood board or a marketing strategy - it was a shared interest in process. “They were interested in my live art approach,” he explains. “And they loved my characters.”
LISTENING TO THE TRACK
For their first collaboration - the artwork for Rock My Love, the single that anchored last year’s tour - Keating proposed something that had become a signature of his practice. He would create the artwork live, in real time, listening only to the track for its duration. No revisiting, no second takes. The same discipline he’d applied to his 100 Collective Vinyl Vision and History of House series.“Before the drawing session, Dan gave me a few indicators of what iconography they wanted - in particular a rose, which was the symbol of their tour. But other than that, I had free rein.” The results were shared with the band in an unlikely way. “The lads couldn’t be at the studio, so I shared them live on WhatsApp. They picked their favourite from the bunch.” He smiles. “It was a really enjoyable process.”
STICKER WALLS AND SECOND LIVES
Lemon and Lime, the band’s latest single, called for a completely different approach. This time, Keating and the band met on Lark Lane - one of Liverpool’s most characterful streets - to talk ideas over properly. What emerged was a concept rooted in the visual language of the city itself.“We liked the idea of using graffiti and sticker walls - like you see all over Liverpool, in clubs and bars,” he says. “That was the idea we ran with.” The execution, though, took an unexpected turn. “I found it would be difficult to recreate the sticker wall aesthetic in the same style, so I had the idea of bringing characters and illustrations back from my collections - work I’d created over the last decade - and turning them into stickers.”
What followed was something he describes as genuinely moving. “It was a really cathartic experience, going back through my past works and seeing them get a second life.”
The result is an artwork that feels like a love letter to Liverpool layered, reference-rich, alive with the kind of accumulated visual history that only a city like this produces.
WHAT’S COMING
Keating is tight-lipped about what comes next, though his eyes suggest there’s plenty to be excited about. He’s working closely with Keyside across the coming year on merch and tour artworks, with more information to be released over the coming months.
What he will say is this: “I’ve been looking for a Liverpool band to get behind with my artwork as front and centre for a couple of years. This is the band’s breakout festival year. Hopefully they’ll do well.”
Given what’s already been created together, the smart money says they will.
Interview by Keith Nealing | Studio Editor