Adam Thein

Interview takes place on April 3, 2025 at Grendel’s Coffee House in Portland, OR

It’s a beautiful Thursday morning, the rain has passed, and Adam Thein has awoken far away from his home in Houston, TX. How’s he feeling? “Excited, admittedly a little anxious.”

As we sit in a sun-lit coffee shop in Portland, the Houston-based musician, producer, and mixing engineer mentally prepares to embark on the biggest tour he’s ever been on. In fact, Thein is only one coffee and a few hours away from the first show on tour, where he will be playing keys in a seven-person band for Djo, or Joe Keery.

Adam Thein at Grendel's Coffee House in Portland, OR

“A lot of us have never done a bus tour before,” Thein says. “So it’s a pretty new experience across the board. And with Djo’s music, we’ve never done more than a few pockets of shows at a time, usually surrounding a festival…so this is all very new.”

Thein says he’s looking forward to finally completing the “album cycle” (of writing, recording, and touring) for the three albums he’s worked on with Djo. “And just to connect,” he says. “It’s weird–especially working remotely and being someone that’s more on the studio side of things normally–you can be kind of isolated.”

“I mean, comments online are great,” he says, thinking back to the virality of Djo’s “End of Beginning,” which he co-wrote and produced. “But it’s another thing to be in the room with people and get to experience that together.”

Adam Thein performing with Djo in Portland, OR

Besides, it’s been a while since he’s left the studio to step on stage. “As I’ve gotten older, I haven’t really gotten to play very much live,” he says. “And it used to be the only thing I did. In my 20s, I was just a musician–I wasn’t trying to be a recording engineer. So I’m excited to reconnect with that part of myself.”

The musician in him runs deep. Thein fell in love with piano at only five years old, studied music in college, and allegedly joined too many bands as a young adult. It wasn’t until his late 20s that he began to develop an interest in recording music, inspired by something that had been in front of him all along.

“[My wife and I] collected way too much vinyl,” he says, “and I was always obsessed with reading album credits. I kind of got infatuated with this idea of all these people that were so hidden behind the scenes in music.” 

So as fate would have it, Thein bought his first 4-track cassette recorder and then stumbled upon the first of a network of friends he would end up recording with. “Javi Reyes–he’s also playing in the Djo touring band this year–I met him by accident in a guitar store in Minneapolis. He just happened to be in there, and we both started jamming with each other creepily in the store,” he laughs. 

“I didn't know it at the time,” Thein says, “but [Reyes] is kind of the reason I know so many of the people that I've been friends with for ten years.” 

Javier Reyes

Joe Keery (Djo)

Javier Reyes, Joe Keery (Djo), and the whole band performing in Portland, OR

These people include Joe Keery, his songwriting soulmate, who he’s been recording with since 2017. “I love growing with people musically,” Thein says. “And [Keery and I] push each other pretty hard. We have a high bar for each other, and it makes us stronger and better at what we do.” 

Thein feels that Djo’s new album, The Crux, might even be their best work yet. “I think it’s the best songwriting [Keery’s] ever done. No stone was left unturned. I feel like we gave it everything we possibly could have…until we ran out of time,” he laughs. “I think Joe could keep going almost indefinitely.”

Now that The Crux is out, Thein is excited to be able to see the crowd reaction on tour. Beyond that, though, he’s not allowing himself to think too far ahead.

“A few times in my life already, I’ve been in a place where I’ve made plans for the future and then they fell through,” he says. “But then what always ends up happening is that something I never expect opens up,” he says. “It’s just funny.”

A big theme of Thein’s life over the past decade has been letting fate take the reins and saying yes to whatever new collaborations come his way.

“So if you’re an aspiring musician or record producer or artist, just keep doing your thing,” he says. “You never know when life is going to present an opportunity–that you may not even recognize as an opportunity–that could lead to your life changing.” 

For more on Adam Thein, follow him on Instagram @theinada or visit his website at https://www.adamthein.com/.

Photos and Story by Shelby Mathews