Josh Dun of the band Twenty One Pilots performs at Rams Head Live on Monday, December 16, 2013 in Baltimore, MD. Photo By: Anthony Washington
Twenty One Pilots played to a sold out Rams Head Live on Monday, December 16. The concert was part of the 15th edition of HFS 97.5’s “HFSmas Nutcracker”. The HFSmas Nutcracker included four nights of performances by twelve bands. On this night, joining Twenty One Pilots on the bill were, NONONO, MS MR, and The 1975.
Formed in 2009 in Columbus, Ohio, Tyler Joseph (lead vocals, piano, ukulele, keytar, synthesizer) and Josh Dun (drums) make up the band Twenty One Pilots. Joseph has been with the band from the start and Dun joined the line-up in 2011 following the departure of bassist Nick Thomas and drummer Chris Salih. The bands name has one of the deepest meanings behind it than any other band name that I have ever heard. Publishing only an excerpt of Tyler Joseph’s explanation would not do it justice. So here is the entire explanation…
Ok so, I (Tyler) was in theatre class and we were studying a play called “All My Sons” written by Arthur Miller in the 40’s. It was about a father who ran a company that provided parts for airplanes used in WWII. He then found out that his parts were faulty, so he comes to a moral crossroads:1. He can take the parts back and not send them out, but he will lose a lot of money in a financially tough situation. He would also taint his business and his name and be known as ‘unreliable’ in his trade. But this would ultimately be the ‘right’ thing to do. or,2. send the parts out, make the necessary money to provide for his family, not taint his name, etc. He ends up sending the parts out and twenty one pilots died because of it. His son was a pilot in the war who had lost his life. There was no evidence to prove that it was directly related but his daughter blamed her father for her brothers death. He ended up committing suicide at the end of the play. Here’s how we make it relevant: I feel like we are all constantly encountering moral crossroads where the decisions that benefit the “now” will have consequences down the road; but the decision that might seem tough and tolling right away will ultimately be more rewarding. What is our purpose for playing music? We are constantly asking ourselves that question. The answer can change all the time, but for right now we are just going to stick with something as simple as “we want to make people think.”
In just four years, the band has quickly become one of the “must see” concerts of any band I can recently remember. The bands show is entertaining, engaging, active, and polished. One minute Tyler Joseph is leaping 15 feet in the air off of a piano and the next minute Dun is playing the drums as the crowd holds him up on a platform.
The band has three studio albums [Twenty One Pilots; Regional At Best; Vessel] and one EP [Three Songs]. Twenty One Pilots and Regional At Best were both self-released. Three Songs and Vessel were both released by their label Fueled By Ramen. The band singed to the label in early 2012.
Currently, the band is working on a follow up to their first full length release Vessel. In addition, now that the band has completed touring here in the states, they are now headed overseas for a 28-city tour that will take them to Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom starting on January 9, 2014.
Enough of the words, enjoy the photos!
More Photos:
Twenty One Pilots – Images by Anthony Washington
