Keli Holiday, aka Adam Hyde, who first rose to fame as one half of Sydney electronic duo Peking Duk, is the new face of Bonds, taking over from Robert Irwin in a baton-style swap that coincides with the 25th anniversary of the iconic trunk dubbed the Guyfront.
Hyde, who has been on tour in Europe, was relaxing in Mykonos on a day off when he spoke to Rolling Stone AU/NZ about his new role. He’s king of the jungle in a new Guyfront campaign, with the video shot at a familiar stomping ground — the Enmore Theatre in Sydney.
Hyde says being on the stage filming the campaign felt natural, as his chest-beating masculinity and larger than life smile sees him proudly become the new king of the underwear drawer.
“I’ve been rocking Bonds ever since I was a young boy, from chesty singlets and tanks to the Guyfront,” he says.
It was while hanging out with his predecessor Irwin some years ago that the idea to manifest the campaign crossed his mind.
“Robert Irwin is such a lovely guy; a bright shining light of joy — a beautiful human,” he says.
“I love what he does, and loved the campaign he did with Bonds. I look at a guy like that and think if we all had a bit of what he’s got and what he shares, the world would be a very beautiful place,” he says.
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“I remember telling my manager, ‘Man, I’d love to do something like that.’ You know, I already wear Bonds, it was a very natural conversation – a form of manifestation and before I knew it, we were in talks with Bonds. It came about in a very gracious and not gung-ho way,” says Hyde.
As the confident, gyrating Keli Holiday, Hyde is known to perform bare chest with leather pants or in a Bonds black tank – he’s purposefully primal, and sees no shame in deterring from his alpha-male instinct.
His girlfriend Abbie Chatfield declared him “the manosphere’s favourite obsession” right now, and for all his tough guy image, he’s not one to shy from his emotional side.
While Tom Cruise improv-danced in his underwear in the 1983 film Risky Business, his tighty whities forever etched in ‘80s film pop history, Hyde brings his own singular moment to Bonds, letting his curly hair down with confidence.
“That joy and simplicity of dancing in your underwear brings about a confidence that I love to act out,” he says, “and celebrating Bonds with a dance makes sense when honouring a staple garment in Australia.”
It’s all thanks to the lead single “Dancing2” from Hyde’s latest album Capital Fiction, which has helped him sell out shows across Europe during his appreciation and abundance era.
“I’m grateful that I get to wake up each day and share music, revel in music, and get to live it and talk about it,” he says. “It’s a privilege and blessing that’s not lost on me.”
Born and raised in Canberra, Hyde grew up skateboarding and listening to rock, punk, and metal music that shaped his playlists ever since, from Motörhead to Wu-Tang Clan, Patti Smith to the Misfits, but it was working with Peking Duk co-founder Reuben Styles that would see him pivot into the electronic-dance spotlight in the 2010s.
“I’ve always been a show-off as a kid and was a loud kid,” he smiles. “Skateboarding was my first kind of performance — trying to nail tricks, being with a big crew of people who are watching you do the trick, celebrating you when you land, and trying to be better if you didn’t,” he says.
“I think all these things I’ve done in the lead up to Keli Holiday have amalgamated into my personality and brought me to where I am today.”
Credit: Supplied
Hyde never anticipated a second career pivot after Peking Duk, but he just signed an exclusive global publishing agreement with BMG for his Holiday project.
“It’s been such a beautiful thing to see the Keli Holiday music embraced with open arms, I’m really grateful,” he says.
“It’s not lost on me that it’s very rare to see this kind of celebration from two different projects and different styles of music from the same person, and for it to be met with love. I do count my lucky stars.”
Hyde is currently getting his next album mixed, has written a book of sorts, and spends his days writing poems.
“To be on tour and met with [open] arms over this side of the world is just a real shock — a beautiful, pleasant shock,” he admits.
“Playing to rooms filled with big, shining, smiling faces that know the words to every song and going crazy, it’s a trip — like a fever dream of joy.”
