Josh is given a face. Twenty One Pilots won't say what their logo means
The worldwide success of the Ohio duo Twenty One pilots puzzled everyone, including, it seems, its participants. Painted with tattoos and black ink Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn, as if descended from posters from the 2005 Bravo magazine, quietly released albums and slowly increased their "clique of skeletons" (as their fans call themselves). When suddenly their word of mouth hit " Stressed out”Sounded on all radio stations of the planet, and the song“ Heathens ”appeared on the soundtrack of the loud summer blockbuster“ Suicide Squad ”. In general, now they own the hearts of adolescents who are hungry for beautifully reflective idols with tunnels in their ears.
Program composition Twenty one Pilots, track "Stressed Out", was released last April. But the hype around him began with a delay of about six months. Since then, it has been viewed over 650 million times.
About tours in Russia
Actually, Tyler and I have dreamed of coming to you for a long time. We know a lot of cool Russians, we are waiting for something unforgettable. In return, I promise to beat the drums with all my might!
About the handshake from the video "Stressed Out"
We invented it five years ago. We sat in a hotel room at four o'clock in the morning, could not sleep, and here they were like: “Let's come up with a secret handshake? All best friends should have it, right? " Since then, we say hello every time. After the video, however, this is no longer a secret. But I will not teach anyone: come on, you yourself will come up with your own version with your best friend.
About the film "Suicide Squad", the main theme of which was the track "Heathens"
Listen, well, the film amused me personally, and this is the main thing. In general, I love superhero movies. And I never approach them overly critically: it's just an opportunity to disconnect from reality for a couple of hours and relax.
About superpowers
I would like to be able to run very fast. At least 50 miles an hour.
About reading
The best I've read in recent times, there was a tweet from Hulk Hogan: “Kevin Owens and A.J.Stiles, remember: in order for the WWE to demolish the tower for everyone, you need to rip off Eric Young's pants and leave him in some speedo (American wrestlers are listed. - Approx. ed.).
About fear and uncertainty
The older you get, the more you worry. Anxiety grows over the years - my doctor once likened it to a volcanic eruption. Generally, the main problem in the fact that it is often, in principle, difficult to understand what exactly you are worried about. For me, music has always been the best antidepressant and replaced psychotherapy. I am sure that I am far from the only one.
The funniest colleagues
We've toured with many artists from Fall Out Boy to Echosmith. Who is the most fun with? Last summer I celebrated my birthday in New Hampshire with the bands Mutemath and ChefʼSpecial. So I ate pudding from "Oreo" and seized it with a cake from "Oreo" - and this was probably my very wild day birth in life.
How to maintain healthy relationships in a team where there are only two participants
What do we do if we fight? To be honest, we just don't fight at all. The important thing here is that we have already been good friends when they started playing together. We respect each other wildly, which is very important when you spend so much time together.
Twenty One Pilots will perform in Russia for the first time on October 22 and 23. Tickets for the Moscow concert at the Sokol club (formerly Stadium Live) have long been sold out; in St. Petersburg, the organizers have moved the performance to the more capacious "Ice".
Hi Josh! Some of these questions may seem strange to you, but know: no complaints about us, these are fans tried! First of all, tell us what are your expectations from Russia? You probably think that we are still undergoing perestroika and bears are wandering the streets?
Haha, no ... I've never been to Russia. This will be my first visit to you with Twenty One Pilots. But from the seventh grade I dreamed of visiting your country. So I'm very excited to finally be able to come and feel like a part of great culture... I certainly have no idea what to expect from you. But I would not want to rely only on someone's jokes, stories and videos - it is important for me to get my own experience. You cannot understand a foreign culture until you yourself visit this country. So I'm really looking forward to the trip and want to find some, meet cool people... In general, I'm ready for adventure!
What rumors or myths about Russia come to your mind in the first place? For example, about vodka ...
I'm trying to remember at least something right now, but I don't remember anything like that. But I met many Russians, they were all very kind. So I think I'll meet a bunch of good people here.
Whose idea was it - to come to Russia? Your manager, or have you decided to visit such a dangerous place yourself? Maybe you wanted adrenaline?
Hehe! When Tyler and I took up music, we traveled extensively around our home state of Ohio, where we were born and raised. But once we agreed that when we succeed, we will definitely start traveling on a large scale. And so it happened, we began to travel abundantly around the world and now we want to visit as many cool places as possible! And to talk about what Russia will be like: I think it will be amazing!
What will you do first thing when you get off the plane in Moscow?
First things first, I'll probably find your best coffee and I will refuel them abundantly in order to be energetic. I like coffee, you know.
We approve! What do you know about Russian music? Have you listened to any of our performers?
Good question... I'm sure I heard someone for sure, but I don't remember now. Maybe you can advise something?
No problem! "" Just has a tradition: when famous performers come to Moscow, we show them the best Russian videos. If you do not mind, we will invite you to this program and you will get to know Russian music as closely as possible.
Yeah, cool!
Okay, we will contact your manager and try to arrange a meeting. And what kind of music have you listened to yourself lately?
Hmm ... I don’t know what I listened to Last year... Sometimes I turn on old records - those bands from which I loved in high school. I recently drove Rage Against the Machine and. Sometimes I can listen to the opera, sometimes even pop. Type Green day... Or just relaxing music, without words. In general, I listen to a lot of things.
Talking about words. Do you remember the lyrics of all your songs by heart?
If I remembered all our songs, it would be difficult for me. By heart, of course not. But I'm getting ready for the show.
Which drummer do you consider your idol?
A lot of those. A bunch of professionals helped me master drums until I found my style.
Josh Dunn is the drummer for the Twenty One Pilots. While many are trying to expand the scope of their hobbies and do several things at once, Josh from a young age improved exclusively in playing the drums and achieved the greatest professionalism in this matter.
Josh was born June 18, 1988, the same year as Tyler Joseph, in Columbus (Ohio, USA), he has two sisters and a brother. Tyler is not his brother, contrary to rumors appearing on the internet at times 🙂
Josh grew up in a religious family (by the way, like Tyler), which did not stop him from making music. Parents have always supported their son's hobby and even allocated him a room in the basement under music studio where Josh would sit for hours pounding his drums.
Josh has no music education and everything he learned, he achieved on his own, using videos from other musicians found on the Internet as a guide. There was a time when he didn't even have his own drum kit and he went to train at the nearest music store.
Josh's aggressive drumming threatened him with the prospect of going broke on drum beams, and then Zildjian, a musical equipment company, invited him to custom-made reinforced (and slightly elongated) drumsticks. Later, the model was put into mass production.
In the Russian-speaking crowd, Josh received the nickname "Kazakh", with light hand one Internet user who wrote a message in the style of “help to identify the clip”, where he called the main characters of the video “a boy with dirty neck"And" Kazakh "🙂 After that it started ...
At all concerts, Josh performs his signature number - a back flip from the piano. Regular visitors to the band's performances are so used to it that everyone is already waiting for this number and Josh has no choice ...
Josh admits to natural modesty and this explains that at first he performed at concerts in a variety of masks (including a balaclava). Later he managed to partially overcome this shyness and in this moment only red eyes and bright hair were left of the old suit.
At concerts, in addition to somersaults, Josh has one more signature number - crowdsurfing with drum set... Those who have seen it say that the sight is outstanding.
Tyler and Josh are occasionally trolled about homosexual preferences. The guys show complete indifference to these hints, and sometimes they begin to make fun of them and add fuel to the fire themselves. What can't you do to let the audience scratch their tongues ...
American group Twenty One Pilots is one of the most high-profile new names in contemporary music... Videos on their main hit Stressed Out received 700 million views on YouTube, tickets for the Moscow concert in the Stadium were sold out six months before the show. The price for a ticket to the dance parter from dealers reached 30 thousand rubles. Before the performance "Lenta.ru" met with the band members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dan and discussed their sudden popularity.
"Lenta.ru": When you started, you probably thought about success. Twenty One Pilots are now one of the most sought-after bands in the world. How do you like the current success? Did he turn out to be the way you imagined him before?
Tyler Joseph: There is a lot in all this that we simply could not expect. We couldn't even imagine some aspects of popularity. But me and Josh - we have always believed in our group. Everything that we talked about with him before - what we want, what we would like to become - it all happened. This is very good feeling... Feeling confident. An artist always doubts his art, and this doubt always accompanies the creative process. But when people appreciate what you do, it really helps.
And our daily life pretty crazy now: all these endless journeys and so on. None of us traveled that long until we started performing. See different countries is a dream come true. We are in Russia for the first time, and I must say, it was worth it.
What are the unexpected consequences of popularity?
Josh Dunn: It's hard to imagine what your normal daily life will become. When we discussed our ideas and dreams before, we only thought about playing on stage in front of a lot of people. This was the main thing. But what life consists of before and after performing on stage - we somehow did not think about it. And we are still learning how to live in this new situation for us. Here even take our conversation with you. I would never have thought that we could end up in Russia and someone would be so interested in our group that they would ask us about our life there.
In the video for the song Lane Boy, two people are dancing on stage with you in chemical protection and with the words "success" on their chests. Does this mean that you think success is poison?
Etc.: I've said that success can give you confidence. It is his positive side... But there are also many downsides. There is a temptation to do something just for the sake of success and fame. When it comes to the fore, art suffers. We have been convinced by our own experience of the veracity of these words. Lane Boy is a song where we spoke frankly about writing, about pop culture, about wanting to get on the radio, to become famous. With this song, we kind of protected ourselves from this negative side of success. These two guys in chemical protection symbolize exactly her. At the end of the video, they fall to their knees in front of me - in this way we show that we are overcoming it all.
This song also has a line: "I can only really create at concerts." What does it mean?
Etc.: Good question. I tried to say that I feel the most creatively free on stage. At this point, no one can tell us what to do. Everything happens so quickly when you are performing in front of people. On the one hand, this is a great nervous shock, pressure, and on the other, complete freedom.
Concerts are the most important thing for us. Yes, we compose and record songs, but we focus primarily on performances. We write songs just to play more concerts... In Lane Boy it comes about what kind of songs we want to write. This song itself was born out of longing for the freedom that I feel on stage.
We're going through phases: what's written is recorded in the studio, and we can't wait to tour the day to play it live. But having played enough on the tour, we think about new songs - such is the cycle.
How is songwriting going?
Etc.: I try to write more lyrics separately from the music, so that they are more meaningful and rich. When you then combine it with music, you end up with something completely unexpected. Now we have to compose on the road. This is our life now. Our last album, Blurryface, was written entirely on the road. The concerts we play and our fans have a big impact on the music because we often write right after the show.
Sketching on a laptop?
Etc.: Yes, there is a laptop with all my sounds, and when we are on the bus, we have a mini-studio there. And the microphone is always with me. And there is always a phone to which I hum and talk ideas. I write down all sorts of interesting phrases and words, and they pull various images with them. Then it all can take shape in a song.
When there are only two people in a group - is it easier or more difficult to play?
D.D.: Probably so and so. Sometimes it gives more freedom... We can rely on technology: among other things, it frees our hands on stage. The show should entertain, captivate people - and sometimes it has nothing to do with playing the instruments at all. We can afford more than just playing instruments. But on the other hand, be in our group more people, we could have made the sound even richer. Yes, and fill the scene itself: because when there are only two of you, you sometimes feel very vulnerable and too open. All the audience's attention is focused only on you. But it makes us look really cool ( laughs).
Could you tell us more about this character - Blurryface ("Blurred Face"), whose name your album is named after? Maybe someone will be surprised by your appearance on stage and in clips with hands and neck painted black.
Etc.: I had the idea to make an album that would be a story about someone. But I didn't want it to be just some kind of real existing person... I wanted to plunge deeper into myself. There is something I am constantly working on and constantly struggling with, and that is insecurity. This is what I don't like about myself. I think every person is like that. But I wanted to give this uncertainty a name, a face, a history. Something I can focus on to try to figure it out. Blairface is a character who embodies insecurity - whether it's a live concert or everyday life. I paint my neck black - this is how I show that Blairface, insecurity, suffocates me. Black hands are a symbol of how insecurity can paralyze creativity and, in general, everything you do. Someone will see this as a familiar situation for themselves and will try to defeat Blarriface. The album captures several of these attempts. I liked focusing on something specific while writing new album instead of just recording a bunch of scattered songs. A certain thread runs through the entire album. And this is what is happening to us right now. And we wonder what will happen next.
Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for CBS Radio
That is, there will still be a Blurryface?
Ect..: Yes, because the story must have some kind of denouement: whether everything continues as before or is it all over with this character. Either he turned into someone else, or some kind of new character... We don't know exactly which direction everything will go, but there are already some ideas.
What were your ideas about Russia before you came here?
D, D.: I saw the photographs of Moscow, I understood that this is a city with beautiful architecture. All the Russians I met before were very cool. It feels like everything is completely different here than in the States. But that's great. We have already managed to see something here, very cool. And you know, this crowd in front of the club entrance, people who came here for a few hours to see a group that they've never seen before, it's amazing.
Etc. A: Those who come long before the show are the most dedicated fans. And they are the ones who make our concerts so cool.