You never quite know what to expect from Twenty One Pilots. The Columbus, Ohio, duo of singer/ multi-instrumentalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun are virtually impossible to categorise. They often perform different musical genres within the same song.
“Our music has been described as schizophrenic pop or schizoid pop,” smiled 27-year-old Tyler. “I suppose it’s as good a name as any. Our whole purpose of creating music is to make people think. I guess anyone trying to come up with a name for the style of what we do is thinking about our music so the objective has been achieved.”
Many people have been thinking about Twenty One Pilots music during the last few months. Blurryface, their second album on the Fueled by Ramen label, hit top spot on the Billboard 200 and is currently at number three. This was perhaps no great surprise as their last album, 2013’s Vessel, had been the duo’s breakout record peaking at number 21.
But none of their singles had previously made any significant impression on the mainstream charts. There had been three top ten hits on the Alternative Songs chart but Tear In My Heart, the second single released from Blurryface, was their biggest Hot 100 hit reaching number 82.
This situation was changed dramatically by the release of Stressed Out. The single topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts and has now climbed to number nine on the Hot 100.
“I think the lyrics have really struck a chord with a lot of people,” Tyler remarked. “The song is about the pressures of being an adult and the nostalgia for those carefree childhood years that I think so many of us feel.”
Their US and international success now is a long way from the roots of Twenty One Pilots at Ohio State University. Tyler’s life changed as a teenager when he simply decided to become a musician.
“I’d seen a singer / songwriter performing and just thought that was what I wanted to do. I’d been given a keyboard as a Christmas gift some years earlier but didn’t really have any interest in playing. I dug it out and started mimicking song melodies. It wasn’t long before I was creating my own songs.
“I was doing singer / songwriter performances at college but decided I wanted to form a band. I asked two of my musician friends, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, to join me. I got our name from Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons. It’s a moral dilemma about a man who caused the deaths of 21 pilots during World War II because he knowingly supplied their aircraft with faulty parts.”
The band gradually built a following in Columbus before venturing further afield in Ohio and beyond.
“Our songs could be heard world-wide through the Internet but we wanted to keep concert expenses to a minimum by only performing locally. As our popularity grew, we could afford to play bigger venues in more distant places.”
After two years together and self-releasing their eponymous debut album, Nick and Chris decided to leave the band in 2011. Although Nick was never replaced, former House of Heroes drummer Josh was the obvious replacement for Chris.
“I was a good friend of Chris and he invited me to a Twenty One Pilots show,” explained Josh, 27. “I met Tyler and Nick after the show and became friends with them. Chris actually suggested me as his replacement when he left.”
Tyler and Josh created a second self-released album, Regional at Best, and continued to increase their following through a solid concert schedule. Less than a year later, they inked the deal with Fueled by Ramen.
“We were actually part of a bidding war,” Josh laughed. “Quite a few labels wanted to sign us.”
An EP, “Three Songs,” became their first release on Fueled by Ramen. More EPs have followed. Tours with Neon Trees, Walk The Moon and Fall Out Boy led to their own headline tour and numerous music festival performances.
“It’s been a continual building of our fanbase,” Josh stated, “All the concerts and TV appearances have brought us to where we are today with a chart-topping album and top ten single. It just shows that if you have a degree of talent, all the hard work really does pay off in the end.”

IN BRIEF

Kanye West

Kanye West’s seventh studio album, Swish, is scheduled for release on February 11. It will be previewed by a one song per week posting on (no www.) soundcloud.com/kanyewest though future releases will hopefully be posted more smoothly than the first track.
“A slight distortion in the main loop” caused “Real Friends,” which also features singer / rapper Ty Dolla Sign, to be taken down just ten minutes after being uploaded. Numerous uploads and take downs were to follow until Kanye was happy with what his fans were finally allowed to hear.
A snippet of a second song, No More Parties in LA, follows Real Friends. Featuring guest artist Kendrick Lamar, this track is almost certain to be on Swish.
Three other songs can also be found on Kanye’s SoundCloud page. Clean and explicit versions of FACTS were posted a week before Real Friends while Say You Will and When I See It appeared around two months ago.

Sia

Kanye West was also heavily involved in the creation of Reaper, the latest track released from Sia Furler’s forthcoming seventh studio album, This Is Acting.
The Australian singer / songwriter issued Alive as the lead single. It was originally written with and for Adele and intended for inclusion on the English singer / songwriter’s record-breaking latest album, 25.
But like all but one track on This Is Acting, it was rejected by the artist for whom the song was written. Adele was probably wise to do so. Sia’s version of Alive has gone top ten in Belgium, Finland, Croatia and Australia but proved rather less successful elsewhere.
The music for Reaper was written and produced by Kanye while Sia wrote the lyrics. It was intended for Rihanna, who enjoyed massive world-wide success with the Sia penned Diamonds, but Sia eventually decided to keep the track for herself.
An audio posting of Reaper can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeM0lzQhigg. The video for Alive is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2NgsJrrAyM.

David Bowie

Fans were unprepared for the recent death of David Bowie. The music legend had kept secret his 18-month battle with liver cancer.
Shocked as they may have been, many of David’s followers reacted in a positive manner by setting up an event to mark his passing. An evening street party was held outside The Ritzy cinema and music venue in David’s birthplace of Brixton, south London.
The celebration of his life and music lasted well into the early hours of the following day with fans performing mass singalongs to David’s most popular hits. Several videos filmed during the event have been posted on www.youtube.com. They can be found by typing David Bowie Street Party Brixton in the website search box.

The Last Shadow Puppets

It was 2008 when The Last Shadow Puppets released their Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut album, The Age of The Understatement. A second album was supposedly being recorded the following year with more indications of a sophomore set in both 2011 and 2012.
None of these reports were true. But Miles Kane, Alex Turner and James Ford did finally reunite last year to record their as-yet-untitled second album. It is scheduled for release some time in the spring.
Available now though is the lead single, Bad Habits. The song has drawn a mixed response from fans and critics. Make your own judgement by viewing the official video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGbOF4UPpfs