Twenty One Pilots sat down for a soul-bearing interview detailing the meanings behind their record-breaking album Blurryface. They discuss the origins of their band name and fan name "Clique", and how they promote individuality and being yourself. Blurryface represents the inner struggles and dark thoughts that plague Tyler's mind. The duo enjoy touring the world and experiencing success with their fans, called the Clique, and plan to continue making music while enjoying their current lifestyle.

1. Twenty One Pilots
The Tell All Interview
Not all bands are cut out for mediocrefame; somecan’t capture the audience’s attentionin their performances,somefailto remain level
headed,and manyloseappreciation for their fans. Yet, as Twenty One Pilots dominatetheworldthey remainto betheexact two people
they were beforethey roseto internationalstardom. Theduofrom Columbus,Ohiosat down withus for an exclusive, soul-bearing
interview detailing the heart-wrenching meanings behind their record-breaking album; Blurryface…
Starting offwith the most asked question,whereare theother 19pilots?
Tyler: ‘laughs’ Well, It’s actually quitea boring storyreally.I was studying a play inschool by Arthur MillercalledAll My Sons, andit was
about a guy whomadeplane parts for themilitary inWorldWarII, andthis guy knowingly sentoutsomefaulty parts, because hedidn’t
have timeto makesomecorrectones ifhe wereto getpaidthehighrate.So he was doing it in thebest interest ofhis family andpaying
for food and such, howeverhis faulty parts caused thedeath oftwenty-onefighterpilots.I hadto writean article onwhy thosetwenty-
one pilots weresosignificant, andthephrasekindofstuck withme…andthat’s it,that’s the amazing story ofour bandname’s origin.
Your fansare called the clique, isthere any particular reasoning for that or did it just feel right?
Josh: This was morefor me than Tyler...but whenI was incollegeI didn’treally fitin,I was thejuxtaposing religious kid that had a Mohawk
and stretchedears, I didn’t belong in a group ora ‘clique’ as somepeople call them. When westarted making music wefound outmore
and more thatthemusic wewere making alsodidn’tfit in, itdidn’thave a genre ora specific placeinthemusic industry, weweremaking
our own genre,soas we weregaining fans whowereinthesame positionas us –peoplewhodidn’tfit into a box,we decidedthat we
would be theleaders ofour owngroupand ourmovement. Weareour ownclique, and wedon’t need to belabelled as ‘jocks’ or ‘gamers’
because weare mixedup ofso many groups that it wouldbe impossibleto puteveryoneunderonelabel.And becauseofthat we became
the Clique, us and our fans areone. Weare part ofa movementandwe aremaking a stand. TheCliqueis hereto stay and wewont be
limitedby thewalls ofa stereotype box. Peace willwinand fear willlose.
So what is the movement you guysare backing?
Tyler: Uniqueness. Wearebacking themovementofjust being yourselfyou know? As I grew up I was always quite anxious anda shamed
to say I liked whatmusic I did, becausethatwasn’twhat you’dexpect ofsomeone in thechurch chorus,and I don’t believe that’s how it’s
supposed tobe.Yes, I amreligious, I amanavid church goer, but that doesn’t mean thatI can’t listento somegoodpunk music!
Josh: Definitely tobe yourself, everyoneis outtherejudging people andtelling everyone what they canand can’t do andit’s crazy! You do
you. Be sick as frick!
Tyler: Be UNLIT!
Sick as Frick, Unlit, What? Wherehave they comefrom?
Tyler: Wellwe used to callthings sick,as in awesome,as a comedything, sinceeveryoneusedto call Josh a skater boy and to call
something sick is usually something they woulddo. So westartedsaying thatas a jokebut wekind ofhaven’tstopped…and we say frick
because it’s notrude.
Josh: Unlit is my word!It’s quite an oddstoryreally…wellnotreally… I was on twitter and I meant totyped ‘Ican’twaituntilyou seethis!’
and I tweetedunlitinsteadofuntil, so thenI decidedunlitwould beourown inside word tosay something is amazing,sothat’s what we
mean, to beunlitis to beawesome, and sick as frick.
Onto your album. That wasbeen highly accreditedworldwide, how do you guysfeel?
Josh: Oh man, it’s amazing.It’s soincredible tohave peoplelisten toour musicall over the world, and tolike listening toit just as muchas
we enjoyedcreating thealbum.This album is differentto ourother albums, every song is a new song apartfrom one,we’ve donesomuch
experimenting with sounds and melodies andI really feelthis albumencapsulates us as a band. This albumis us.
Tyler: I agreewith Josh. Theonlyalbumthatisn’t100% new is goner, wedidhave a versionofthat upon ourYouTubebutit hadnever
been releasedofficially. Theoneon the albumis where wearevictorious, it’s almostlike a battlecry,whereas the one onlineis much
shorter,Blurryfacewins in thatone.
Who isBlurryface?
Tyler: Blurryfaceis a partofeveryone. Blurryface is me, Blurryfaceis you, Josh, theClique…Blurryface is inevery oneofus. Italsomay
have a different meaning to eachindividual. To me, Blurryface is mymind. I’m constantly battling my mind,struggling to keep control, to
keep my grasp on realityandconvincemyselfto wakeup every morning. Everyonehas a dark partin their mind,and minejust happens to
be ratherlarge, anyone who’s read any ofourlyrics knows that I havebad thoughts. I just feel liketheworld is better offwithoutme
sometimes…andthereis nothing I can do tostop thosethoughts,soI detached myselffrom them.Those thoughts aren’tminenow,
they’re Blurryface.By making thethoughts things that aren’tspecifically mine, it’s easierto overcomethem, becauseit’s notme versus
myself, it’s be versus Blurryface.This struggle has beenlong and hard, and it’s still going –it doesn’t look likethereis any letting upany
time either. Butthat’s who Blurryfaceis.For me, Blurryface is my bad thoughts, my darktimes,my tunnel with nolight at the end.Just
black, and that’s wherethewholeblack face paintconceptcamefrom.
For the mostpart, Blurryfaceis in my mind, my thoughts,but sometimes Blurryfaceis morevisible,in my looks,in my actions, so I decided
to show it. I’mnotashamedthatI strugglewith keeping my mental health steady, I’m notgoing to hideit.WhetherI be shaving my head
like in theCarRadiovideo,or reminiscing ofwheneverything was easier…Blurryfaceis a partofthat. My hands andmy neck arepainted
back to symbolisehow Blurryfacecan touchanyone andeffectanyone,it canbe purely vocal orphysical, butunavoidable. Some day’s I
might haveonlyoneblack hand,somedays I mightfeel as ifmy whole body is engulphedby the neverending abyss. Theblack isn’t
consistent,Blurryfaceisn’t consistent, mythoughts aren’t consistent; noone’s are,andthat’s why I’mmaking my issues sucha big deal, I

2. want to make people stand upand nothide,notbe ashamed,becausethey aren’talone, I struggle, Josh struggles, wearen’t perfect.
Perfect is notsomething tostrivefor, it’s a figmentofyour imagination, controlledby Blurryface.
If the black paint hasameaning, what about theski-masks?
Josh: The skimasks were initiallyus hiding, wedidn’t wantpeoplejudging our music onhow welooked –which was pretty dorky –we
wanted peopleto judgeour musicpurely on it’s quality. Wewere alsoterrified. I didn’t know whatit was like toperformin a duo,being
the drummer I’musedto being in the back, hiddenby themembers infront, butin this band…we’rebothofequalimportance, weget
equal attention…and that’s scary as frick. I woremine tohide myveryunattractivedrumming faces, Tyler worehis for aesthetic…
Tyler: I wore mineto boostmy confidence. Everyone has their preconceived opinionon whatsomeone ineachgenre should look like,and
I don’t fit into that stereotype, soI kept my mask on in orderto justrelax and not feel likepeoplewere judging meso much. Thefun part
is though, the firstfew masks wereones wehavebought ourselves, butsince then, every single night, weweara different ma sk offoneof
our fans, it’s truly amazing. Wedon’t justreceivethem andkeep them, wewearthem every night for shows,we show ourappreciation,
we show how muchour cliquemean to us.
Every show? Man that’salot ofmasks!
Speaking ofshows, what’syour favourite song to play live?
Tyler: There areso many favourites for somany differentreasons.For me, oneofthem has tobe Screen,thereis just something so
electrifying abouta crowdsinging ‘we’rebroken people’. How allofthesepeoplearefrom allover the place, fromall thesedifferent
backgrounds, yetthey’re there in thatroom, singing the samelyrics andfeeling thesame emotions, it’s trulyindescribable. Inthat
moment everyoneis singing thatthey’re broken,yet in thatinstancethey willneverfeelmore accepted andlikethey belong there,they
aren’t broken, simply a littlemisshapen, andin the jigsaw ofthis society, weall fit together somehow; in a concert it’s a perfectexample
of how we can all cometogether, thousands ofus,all differentshapes and sizes, yet still fitwithin those fourwalls andcelebrate themusic
that brought us all together and it’s justhonouring to knowthatthemusicis ours.
Josh: I loveCarRadio, it’s oneofour mostwellknownsongs and thatreally does makea difference, hearing the wholecrowdsinging every
single lyricatthetop oftheir lungs and from thebottoms oftheir hearts, it’s breathtaking. To seeeveryonemoving their arms insync,
thousands of people becoming one entityknownas ourclique…I cannever get tired ofseeing that every night.
What do you think your fans’ favourite live songsare?
Josh: Thoseguys love Lane Boy! There’s a partwhereTyler tells thecrowd tostay low andit gets really intenseand people crouch down
and it’s awe-inducing athow muchcontrol hehas overthecrowd withouteven intending…butthen there’s the breakdownand-
hotdamn…the crowds just-they go /crazy/ it’s exhilarating just towatch, it’s like they’veneverjumped up anddownin their lives, likethe
music is pumping throughtheirveins, compelling themto move tothebeatand justlet lose. I think thatwould betheir favouritelivesong,
they just get to havefun.
Tyler: I dunno man,I think thatthecrowd’s favouritewould havetobe Holding Onto You,becauseduring theinstrumental Joshgets upon
my piano and wedancefor a little beforeJosh does a backflip ofthepiano, andevery singletimepeople justlosetheir minds. Even people
that know it’s going to happen, they stillgo crazy: I always herescreams, cheers,gasps…allbecausehe back flipped offofa piano, it’s just
an occurrence that sets that song apartfrom any other on our setlist and the song itselfis just a true crowdpleaser.
What isnext for Twenty One Pilots?
Josh: To haveUnlit put inthedisctionary!
Tyler: World Domination!
Josh: Truthfully? I have noidea, we’reboth blessed tobe able toplay shows all aroundtheworld for our fans,to visit so many places and
see so manythings it’s magical, I’mquitehappy living as we are, why ruin a perfectthing youknow?
Tyler: I agree, I’mfocusing on touring the world, andspending sometime withmy gorgeous wife,creating a homewith her and living the
dream, I wantto bask in this lifestylefor a whilebefore wedo anything else…but wewillhave a newalbum soon, we’renotgoing to stop
making music. I havea messagefor allofour fans tonevergiveup, always have faith and hope, you’vegot us.
We’re Twenty One Pilotsand so are you!