“And I will say that we should take a day to break away,
From all the pain our brain has made,
The game is not played alone.
And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it,
And keep it frozen and know that
Life has a hopeful undertone.”
A special euphoria accompanies the discovery of a fresh-faced young band poised to make it big. Such was the case when I stumbled upon Twenty One Pilots, who, once upon a time, were small enough to open for Neon Trees at a free street show at my school.
I wasn’t and am not particularly fond of Neon Trees, but a free show is a free show, you know? The school had blocked off the street, erected a temporary stage, face painting, cornhole, a caricature artist, a photo booth, the whole nine yards—all for us diligent little undergrads busy studying for finals. No matter where I might have sequestered in an attempt to studiously cram, I was going to hear the concert anyway, so I decided a hiatus was in order and waltzed over to Bigelow Boulevard in time to catch the opening act.
An exquisitely temperate spring day was the perfect backdrop for the burgeoning Ohio band’s candy-coated blitz of alternative rap, indie pop, and heartfelt balladry. The fan-winning performance included both members of the duo climbing down from the stage for an extended drum solo inside a circle of students all obscuring their view of the spectacle by trying to video it on their cell phones. By the time Josh Dun backflipped off of the piano I was enamored.
Indeed, over the next several years, I saw the band enough times that the shows have blurred together in my memory. One time I helped hold up Dun’s platform as he “crowd surfed” with his drum kit in tow. Another time Tyler Joseph requested that everyone in the pit take their shirts off so he could take a selfie. “My mom tells me this is weird, but I’m like ‘Mom, this is sick!’” he said. They almost always took the stage in some costume or another. Back then they’d play at Stage AE for twenty bucks and reply to Facebook messages. Now they have multiple platinum albums under their belt and twenty bucks gets you half of a nosebleed seat at PPG Paints Arena where they play with a full backing band that includes Paul Meany (MuteMath).
Faith is to be awake,
And to be awake is for us to think,
And for us to think is to be alive,
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think.
The cool thing about those early tours is that they had just released Vessel—their record label debut with Fueled by Ramen after two independent releases—and so the setlists were more or less dominated by material from that single album (note that about half of Vessel consists of re-recorded songs from Regional At Best, which was pulled from circulation when they signed with Ramen). These were glorious experiences because Vessel is overflowing with songs that lend themselves to the live setting.
Though Tyler Joseph is not the best rapper, or the best punk screamer, or the best pop balladeer, or the best indie folk oracle, he’s one of the few songwriters who combines all of these disparate musical strains into a viable product. Take a song like opener ‘Ode to Sleep,’ which captures a large swath of the band’s sound with a manic, genre-shifting knockout that begins with hip hop swagger before morphing into a peppy indie pop gem, then a rousing synthpop chorus, then does it all over again. Somehow it all manages to hang together and sets expectations for the rest of the album. Whether it’s the stream of consciousness spiel of ‘Car Radio’ that ascends into a dubstep climax, folk pop numbers like ‘Heart of Gold’ and ‘Screen’, respectively laced with screamo and confessional rap, or seamless rap-verse/rock-chorus songs like ‘Holding Onto You’ and ‘Migraine’, Vessel remains unpredictable and musically effervescent throughout.
As a point of comparison, can you imagine Eminem picking up a ukulele and singing falsetto? Of course not. But when Tyler Joseph leaps off of his piano ten feet into the air during ‘Ode to Sleep’ and then later picks up a stringed instrument for a cute tribute to his mother or an earnest prayer to God, his sincere and spirited approach elevates the band’s sets into transcendent communal experiences.
I’m not free, I asked forgiveness three times.
Same amount that I denied, I three-time MVP’d this crime.
I’m afraid to tell you who I adore, won’t tell you who I’m singing towards,
Metaphorically I’m a whore, and that’s denial number four.
Moreover, the songs here find Joseph embracing his idiosyncrasies and insecurities—singing and rapping about them, yes, but also allowing them to dictate the actual musicality of his flow. So while his verses are marked by inward-gazing lyrics and endearingly oddball metaphors about self-consciousness, suicide, faith, doubt, and so on, his actual song structures are equally charming. He’ll cut his flow off mid sentence and alter his voice, as if talking to himself. He’ll change his cadence and affection in the middle of a verse, or sing on one verse then rap on the next. These tendencies, matched with the emotional authenticity of his lyrics and delivery, establish a connection with the listener that feels very personal. It’s no surprise that fans of more sophisticated music have a soft spot for the band’s unpretentious panache, and that legions of mainstream pop fans dress up for shows and sing along to every word.
My affection for Twenty One Pilots stems partially from the fact that they caught me in a certain phase of life. Vessel especially was a constant balm used to soothe the anxious fears of a young college student, and the camaraderie of their shows offered similar comfort. While my tastes have changed and I haven’t faithfully followed their ensuing career, I’ll always cherish those early days of small, sweaty shows, and getting to introduce people to a new band that was sure to connect. Listening back through Vessel—which I’m not quite willing to consider a guilty pleasure—I found myself regurgitating lyrics I wouldn’t have guessed I knew by heart. Maybe it’s time to check out what Tyler and Josh have been up to the past few years.
Favorite Tracks: Ode to Sleep; Holding Onto You; Car Radio; Guns for Hands.