Post Animal’s Wesley Toledo discusses the return of Joe Keery on their new album 'Iron,' experiences from touring, and how their long-standing friendship influences their sound.
Listen to: “What’s a Good Life” – Post Animal
Friendship has overshadowed nearly everything – ambition, pride, and even time itself – leaving only the reliability of connection.
Even some literary greats have acknowledged its silent power. C.S. Lewis once remarked that friendship, “... is one of those things which give value to survival.” To have a friend is to traverse through time, merging your thoughts and identities as individual entities become one, enabling creativity to flourish.
After spending some time with Post Animal’s Wesley Toledo, these truths about companionship are vibrant and prominently inscribed in the essence of the band. Clearly, friendship is central to their identity and their journey together.
Toledo joined a Zoom call around noon from his home in Chicago, a beam of sunlight illuminating his subtle smile. “Sorry for the noise; I live near a school, and they’re currently on recess, playing loud music,” he chuckles as the music becomes more pronounced. I settle back in my seat, chuckling too, as what sounds like a Bruno Mars Kids Bop cover provides a backdrop for our conversation.
The past few weeks have been particularly thrilling for Toledo. Post Animal – consisting of Dalton Allison, Jake Hirshland, Javi Reyes, Matt Williams, Toledo, and Joe Keery (before his solo debut as Djo) – had recently completed the first leg of Djo’s Back On You World Tour and were gearing up for the European leg. This was the first full tour the band had experienced with Keery, and although they were opening acts – with Toledo only joining Djo's main set as drummer – the experience felt anything but secondary.
Picture the pulsating lights and a lineup of indie rockers on stage. Fans are shrieking, phones raised high, while the syncopated strumming of electric guitars creates a mesmerizing rhythm. This was just a snippet of their performance in Toronto last April. Keery had invited the band along with his Stranger Things co-star Finn Wolfhard to join him in a rendition of his 2019 song, “Flash Mountain,” and the energy on stage coursed through the audience like a sonic wave. It was a moment of pure joy; a group of friends simply enjoying making music together.
As we discussed the highs and lows of life on the road, along with the well-deserved respite, Toledo wore a broad smile, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. He reflected on the packed venues in Pomona and the euphoria of rocking out with his friends in Washington, D.C. He humorously remarked on how quickly the shows seemed to fly by. Despite the whirlwind nature of it all – with Coachella and Glastonbury among many stops this year – he felt grateful for the clarity of the memories, as if they all happened just yesterday.
“Touring is something special, but touring with your friends – the rewards are greater, if not equally so, than the effort you put in,” Toledo expressed. “I went in wanting to remember every single show since sometimes I look back on our earlier tours and certain nights are a blur. After so many gigs, they tend to blend together, but this tour, every night, I soaked it all in.”
I inquired about his favorite show. He laughed and replied, “One from more recently stands out – we played Pomona, just an hour from LA. It fell between the two weekends of Coachella, and I remember that night everything clicked for both Post Animal and Djo.”
He continued, “Prior nights had been good, but we were still finding our footing. However, in Pomona, the crowd was electric. Everything came together that night, and from that point on, every show was just really good.”
Post Animal © CJ Harvey
This moment of clarity on stage echoed a deeper connection within their music – a shared background among close friends that resonated with both the artists and the audience, blending the lines between creator and creation.
From songs like “Gelatin Mode,” which enveloped the audience in its dreamy, psych-inspired warmth, to “Ralphie” in all its chaotic, riff-driven might, Post Animal fully recaptured the magic that first united them.
But that vibrant energy on stage is merely the latest chapter in a story that began ages ago. Long before tour buses and sold-out venues, their introductions unfolded in a much more intimate setting: Chicago.
Their history is as follows: Allison and Williams connected in high school before meeting Hirshland in 2014. In 2015, Williams met Keery at the restaurant they both worked at, and shortly after, Toledo and Reyes joined the group. They recorded their first EP in a shared, windowless apartment in Boystown (which they maintain was haunted), and by the summer of
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Wesley Toledo from Post Animal discusses Joe Keery's return on their latest album 'Iron,' life while touring, and how their enduring friendship continues to influence their music.