Josh is given an alien. "The best thing I've read lately was Hulk Hogan's tweet.

Hi Josh! Some of these questions may seem strange to you, but know that we have no complaints, these are fans tried! First of all, tell me, what are your expectations from Russia? You probably think that we are still going through perestroika and there are bears roaming the streets?

Haha, no... I've never been to Russia. This will be my first visit to you as part of Twenty One Pilots. But since the seventh grade I dreamed of visiting your country. So I am very excited that I will finally be able to come and feel part of a great culture. Of course, I have no idea what to expect from you. But I wouldn’t like to rely only on someone’s jokes, stories and videos - it’s important for me to gain my own experience. You cannot understand another culture until you have visited that country yourself. So I'm really looking forward to the trip and want to find some places, meet cool people... In general, I'm ready for an adventure!

What rumors or myths about Russia come to your mind first? For example, about vodka...

I'm trying to remember something right now, but I can't remember anything. But I met a lot of Russians, they were all very kind. So I think I'll meet a lot of good people here.

Whose idea was it to come to Russia? Your manager or you yourself decided to visit such a dangerous place? Maybe you wanted some adrenaline?

Hehe! When Tyler and I got into music, we traveled a lot around our home state of Ohio, where we were born and raised. But one day we agreed that when we succeeded, we would definitely start traveling on a larger scale. And so it happened, we began to travel around the world a lot and now we want to visit as many cool places as possible! And speaking of what Russia will be like: I think it will be amazing!

What's the first thing you do when you get off the plane in Moscow?

First of all, I’ll probably find your best coffee and drink plenty of it to stay invigorated. I love 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 definitely heard someone, but I don't remember now. Maybe you can recommend something?

No problem! "" has a tradition: when famous performers come to Moscow, we show them the best Russian videos. If you don’t 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. What kind of music have you been listening to lately?

Hmmm... I don’t know what I’ve listened to over the past year... Sometimes I turn on old records - from the bands I was crazy about in high school. I recently drove Rage Against the Machine and . Sometimes I can listen to opera, sometimes even pop. Like Green Day. Or just relaxing music, without words. In general, I listen to a lot of things.

Let's talk about words. Do you remember the lyrics to all your songs by heart?

If I remembered all our songs, it would be a little 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 the drums until I found my style.

Twenty One Pilots (the band's name is always written in lowercase) have made a lot of noise over the past few years with their experimentation in musical style and remarkable live performances.

Debuting in 2009 and signing to Fueled by Ramen in 2012, the band, comprised of vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, has released two critically acclaimed albums, Vessel and Blurryface. The latter became their calling card. Their lyrical, cheeky lyrics resonated with many fans around the world.

The upcoming Twenty One Pilots concerts in Russia will be held on February 2, 2019 in Moscow (VTB Arena) and February 4 in St. Petersburg (Ice Palace).

The name Twenty One Pilots is taken from the play by Arthur Miller.

In college, Tyler Joseph studied Miller's play All My Sons, about a man who faces a moral choice after he knowingly sells faulty Air Force aircraft parts, resulting in the deaths of twenty-one pilots during World War II. Inspired by this moral dilemma, Joseph names the group "Twenty-One Pilots." It was precisely such ethical questions and real-life situations that became the basis for many of the group’s songs.

The musicians put photographs of their grandfathers on the cover of “Vessel”

The two older men on the cover of Fueled by Ramen's debut release are the grandfathers of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. Joseph and Dan thought it would be cool because no one had done it before.

Their ski masks symbolize facelessness

After the release of the album "Vessel", Twenty One Pilots began to often wear balaclavas during live performances, and at the MTV Movie Awards in 2013 the audience even followed suit. In an interview, the band stated that the ski masks were a way to not only catch people off guard at concerts, but also to make the music more faceless and thus irrelevant—separating it from faces and names so people could make it their own.

Blurryface is the character the album was named after.

Tyler Joseph said that Blurryface is a character he made up, personifying his own complexes and the complexes of other people. To get into character on stage, he would apply black paint to his neck and arms, which he said symbolizes the fear of suffocation (paint on his neck) and the things he makes with his hands (paint on his hands). He also wears red wristbands because red is the character's color.

They tried to attract the attention of stage workers during concerts

When Twenty One Pilots were just a small band in Columbus, they tried to attract the attention of everyone in the club, even the bartenders who served the customers. In an interview, Tyler said that they tried to ensure that even the support staff would stop what they were doing for a second and look at the stage.

They are Christians, but not Christian performers

Both Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun said that they are Christians, but do not intend to convince anyone of anything through music. However, since their beliefs are important to them, they often slip into the texts and general symbolism one way or another.

Tyler once threw a patron out of a concert.

One day, Tyler Joseph stopped the show because he saw a guy in the audience hit a girl. He stopped playing and, along with several other people, pushed him off the court.

Twenty One Pilots won't say what their logo means

Tyler Joseph drew the band's logo himself, and calls it the "kitchen drain." He stated that it has a certain meaning to him, as well as the fact that he is the only person who knows what it symbolizes. And if he tells, then the meaning will be lost.

None of the band members play guitar

Twenty One Pilots usually rely on synthesizers, ukuleles and drums, which makes their music quite unique because they don't use a guitar at all. This is because neither Joseph nor Dan play it. They say that if they used a guitar, they would have to find someone to play it, and then the music would go through someone who is not part of the group.

Josh played drums in House of Heroes

Before joining Tyler Joseyaw in Twenty One Pilots, Josh Dun was the touring drummer for the rock band House of Heroes. After original members Nick Thomas and Chris Sahlin left the band, Dan, who worked at Guitar Center with Sahlin, met Joseph and they began playing together.

Tyler Joseph releases solo album

While still in school, Tyler Joseph released a mini-album of Christmas songs. He was also featured on the live performance of "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel" for Five14 Church's "Christmas with the Stars" and as backing vocalist on Dallon Weeks' (Panic! at the Disco) single "Sickly Sweet Holidays."

Tyler also appeared in videos for his church.

Before Twenty One Pilots became a household name, Tyler Joseph showed off his acting talents in short videos made by him and a few others from his church in Ohio. In the video, titled "The (moderately inspiring tale of the) Longboard Rodeo Tango," he plays an intern who discovers that his comrades are a gang of skateboarders.

The album "Vessel" was written without any special expectations that anyone would hear it

When Vessel was released, the band was still fairly unknown, so when they went into the studio to record, no one expected anything from them. However, the band said that when they recorded "Blurryface" it was hard not to think about the fact that somewhere out there there was an audience hungry for this record.

They shot a video for Will Smith's Rachno

In one of their most interesting videos for "House of Gold", the group appears before the audience in the middle of some wasteland and half of their body is torn off. But the place itself is also of interest. The video was filmed at a ranch north of Los Angeles that belongs to Will Smith.

Once they got a tattoo right on stage

Both Tyler and Josh have an X tattoo that they got on stage in Columbus. Joseph wears it on his forearm and Dan wears it behind his right ear, symbolizing the dedication of fans in their hometown.

The worldwide success of the Ohio duo Twenty One Pilots has puzzled everyone, including, it seems, its members. Adorned with tattoos and black paint, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, looking like they stepped out of a 2005 Bravo magazine poster, quietly released albums and slowly expanded their “skeleton clique” (as their fans call themselves). Suddenly their word of mouth hit “Stressed Out” sounded on all radio stations on the planet, and the song “Heathens” ended up on the soundtrack of the high-profile summer blockbuster “Suicide Squad”. In general, now they are the ones who own the hearts of teenagers, hungry for beautifully reflective idols with tunnels in their ears.

Twenty One Pilots' flagship track "Stressed Out" was released in April last year. But the hype around it began about six months late. Since then it has been viewed more than 650 million times.

About tours in Russia

In general, Tyler and I have been dreaming of coming to you for a long time. We know a lot of cool Russians, we are waiting for something unforgettable. In turn, I promise to beat the drums with all my might!

About the handshake from the “Stressed Out” video

We came up with it five years ago. We were sitting in a hotel room at about four in the morning, couldn’t sleep, and then we 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 won’t teach anyone: let you 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, personally, the film entertained me, and that’s the main thing. I generally 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 per hour.

About reading

The best thing I've read lately was Hulk Hogan's tweet: "Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, remember: for everyone to blow their minds in WWE, they need to rip Eric Young's pants off and leave him in nothing but Speedos." wrestlers. - Note ed.).

About fear and uncertainty

The older you get, the more you start to worry. Anxiety increases over the years - my doctor once compared it to a volcanic eruption. In general, the main problem is that it is often difficult to understand what exactly you are worried about. For me, music has always been the best antidepressant and replaced psychotherapy. I'm sure I'm far from the only one.

About the funniest colleagues

We've toured with a lot of artists, from Fall Out Boy to Echosmith. Who's the most fun to be with? Last summer I celebrated my birthday in New Hampshire with the bands Mutemath and Chef'Special. So I ate Oreo pudding and topped it off with Oreo cake - and it was probably my wildest birthday ever.

How to maintain healthy relationships in a team with only two members

What do we do if we have a fight? To be honest, we just don't fight at all. The important thing here is that we were already good friends when we started playing together. We respect each other wildly, which is very important when you spend so much time together.

On October 22 and 23, Twenty One Pilots will perform in Russia for the first time. Tickets for the Moscow concert at the Sokol club (formerly Stadium Live) have long been sold out; in St. Petersburg, the organizers moved the performance to the more spacious Ledovy.

The American band Twenty One Pilots is one of the biggest new names in modern music. The video for their main hit Stressed Out collected 700 million views on YouTube, and tickets for the Moscow concert at the Stadium were sold out six months before the show. The price for a ticket to the dance floor from resellers reached 30 thousand rubles. Before the performance, Lenta.ru met with band members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun and discussed their sudden popularity.

Lenta.ru: When you started, you probably thought about success. Now Twenty One Pilots are one of the most popular bands in the world. How do you feel about your current success? Did he turn out to be what you previously imagined him to be?

Tyler Joseph: There is a lot in all of this that we simply could not expect. There are some aspects of popularity that we couldn't imagine. But me and Josh, we always believed in our band. Everything that we talked about before - what we want, what we would like to become - it all happened. It's a 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 is pretty crazy now: all these endless trips and so on. None of us traveled that much until we started performing. Seeing different countries is a dream come true. This is our first time in Russia, and I must say, it was worth it.

What are the unexpected consequences of popularity?

Josh Dun: It’s hard to imagine what your normal daily life turns into. When we discussed our ideas and dreams before, all we thought about was playing on stage in front of a lot of people. That was the main thing. But we somehow didn’t think about what life consists of before and after performing on stage. And we are still learning how to live in this new situation for us. Just 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 dance on stage with you in chemical protection and with the inscription “success” on their chests. Does this mean that you think success is poison?

T.D.: I said that success can give confidence. This is his positive side. But there are also many negative sides. There is a temptation to do things just for the sake of success and fame. When this comes to the fore, the art suffers. We have seen from our own experience 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 be famous. With this song we kind of protected ourselves from this negative side of success. These two guys in chemical protection symbolize exactly that. At the end of the video, they fall to their knees in front of me - this is our way of showing that we are overcoming all this.

This song also contains the line: “I can only truly create at concerts.” What does it mean?

T.D.: Good question. I was trying to say that I feel most creatively free on stage. At this moment, no one can tell us what to do. Everything happens so quickly when you're in front of people. On the one hand, this is a great nervous shock, pressure, and on the other hand, complete freedom.

Concerts are the most important thing for us. Yes, we write and record songs, but we focus primarily on performing. We write songs precisely in order to play more concerts. Lane Boy is 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 go through phases: what's written gets recorded in the studio, and we can't wait to go on tour so we can play it live. But after playing enough on tour, we think about new songs - such is the cycle.

How does songwriting happen?

T.D.: I try to write more lyrics separately from the music so that they are more meaningful and rich. When you then combine this with music, something completely unexpected comes out in the end. Now we are forced to compose on the road. This is our life now. Our last album, Blurryface, was written entirely on the road. The shows we play and our fans have a big influence on the music because we often write right after the show.

Do you sketch on your laptop?

T.D.: 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 on which I hum and talk ideas. I write down all sorts of interesting phrases and words, and they bring with them various images. Then all this 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 both. Sometimes it gives you more freedom. We can rely on technology: among other things, it frees our hands on stage. The show is supposed to entertain, to captivate people - and sometimes that doesn't involve playing instruments at all. We can afford to do more than just play instruments. But on the other hand, if there were more people in our group, we could make the sound even more rich. And fill the scene itself: because when there are only two of you, sometimes you feel very vulnerable and too open. All the attention of the audience is concentrated only on you. But it makes us look really cool ( laughs).

Could you tell us more about this character, Blurryface, whose name your album is named after? Maybe someone will be surprised by your appearance on stage and in videos with your arms and neck painted black.

T.D.: 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 real person. I wanted to dive deeper into myself. There is something that I am constantly working on and constantly struggling with, and that is uncertainty. This is what I don't like about myself. I think it’s like that for every person. But I wanted to give this uncertainty a name, a face, a story. Something I can focus on, try to understand, make sense of. Blurryface is a character who personifies uncertainty - be it at a live concert or everyday life. I paint my neck black - this is how I show that Blairface, uncertainty, is choking me. Black hands are a symbol of how uncertainty can paralyze creativity and, in general, everything you do. Someone will see this as a familiar situation and will try to defeat Bluerface. The album captures several such attempts. I liked focusing on something specific when writing a new album, rather than just recording a bunch of disparate songs. There is a thread running 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

So, Blairface will still appear?

T.D.: Yes, because the story must have some kind of outcome: does everything continue as before or is it all over with this character. Either he has turned into someone else, or some new character will arise. 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 photographs of Moscow and realized that this is a city with beautiful architecture. All the Russians I had met before were very cool. It feels like everything is completely different here than in the States. But that's what's great. We've already seen something here from you, it's very cool. And you know, this crowd in front of the club, people who came here several hours in advance to see a band that they had never seen before - it's amazing.

T.D.: Those who come long before the show are the most loyal fans. And they are the ones who make our concerts so cool.

Josh Dun is a popular American musician, as well as a member of the famous group Twenty One Pilots. He was born on June 18 (according to the horoscope, Gemini) 1988 in Columbus (USA, Ohio). Full name: Joshua William Dun.

Josh Dan was born into a completely ordinary family. His father, William Earl Dun, was a physical therapy assistant at the time, and his mother, Laura Lee McCollum, was a social worker. In addition to Josh himself, his sisters and brother, Ashley, Abigail and Jordan, were also raised in the family. From an early age, Josh loved music, as it gave him the ability to feel more confident and calm. Together with her, he seemed to gain strength and was transported to a completely different world, where no one could find or disturb him. During his school years, he played the trumpet until he came to the conclusion that this instrument did not fit at all with his musical preferences. It is for this reason that he soon begins to play drums.

In the Dan family there was a ban on various music; as Josh himself recalls, he could not fully listen to modern music, since parents always controlled the personal preferences of each child. It was for this reason that he secretly went to local music stores and learned about styles of music that were completely unfamiliar to him, and also found idols for himself.

Music career

Josh initially worked at a Guitar store for three years until he decided he wanted to start his own music career. He made his debut as a drummer when he joined House of Heroes in March 2010 after drummer Colin Rigsby decided to take some time off to spend some time with his family. Josh continued to play with this group until October 2010, when Colin returned and joined the group.

In 2011, Josh met Chris Salih, the former drummer of Twenty One Pilots. A little later, Josh develops a friendly relationship with Tyler Joseph, the lead vocalist of the group. In the same year, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih left the group and gave Josh Dun the opportunity to try his hand. He eventually becomes a permanent member of Twenty One Pilots. Together they released an album, as well as several popular tracks.

Relationship

In 2013, he began dating American singer and actress Debby Ryan, but soon, due to personal reasons, the couple separated in September 2014. In 2015, there were suspicions that the singer was dating the popular American singer Ashley Frangipane, better known under the pseudonym Halsey.