It's always a pleasure when the artist takes the interview with a spoonful of sugar. 21 Pilots didn't even wait for TCP to ask a question. We should have expected as much—their extroverted drum-and-keyboard power-pop just keeps earning them legions of fans—as well as, more recently, an opening slot on Fall Out Boy's fall reunion tour. They shared their exuberance with TCP during this interview at this summer's Bonnaroo Music Festival.
T: Hi, I'm Tyler, and I'm the one who sounds most like a girl.
J: I'm Josh, and I sound less like a girl.
You don't have a girlish voice on record—your singing range is quite masculine.
T: Hi, I'm Tyler and I can pick up when people are lying to me. [laughs]
J: I'm josh and i have no idea when people are lying to me.
T: You look really cute today.
J: Thanks man!
So this is tour first festival of this size, right?
J: This is one of the biggest for sure.
Is it the largest crowd?
T:Eight thousand? hm. We've done shows in front of more before in Florida once. But look, We can just say this is the biggest?
It's no skin off my back, but those fans out there? what if you hurt their egos.
T: It was the biggest crowd ever I've ever dreamed of.
You don't see the kind of ascendant rise that you guys have seen from bands from Ohio. At least not often.
T: I don't know. we;re lucky. we know so many bands from growing up in our scene. We have so many friends in so many scenes, and we were fortunate enough to really rise up out of being a local band in our home state. We will always be grateful for that. And we will always remember where we came from. It sounds cliché but you really can forget. We're some ohio boys and that's what we will always be.
Do you think there was anything you did to tip the scales in your favor? one intelligent decision?
T: I say that we're lucky, but it's more that we're honored to be in a position that in some way represents all the cool music coming out of ohio. At the same time there is a very strategic intentional way that we've gone about things in terms of: how to approach a live show, how to release your own music, how to approach booking, how to approach touring when you're unsigned, especially compared to bands around us. a lot of bands said their goal was to get on the road and travel around. That was not our goal. Our goal was to cultivate a following where we were from, which is hard because you can't draw from the same well too many times. you need to be strategic about when you play, what venues you play, to maintain a sense of demand, you know? you can't wear yourself too thin by traveling round when you're nobody. Those were decisions that we can look back on and say they got us to where we are today.
But you do put on a very high energy live show—a lot of showmanship and acrobatics. Was that something that you saw in other people and wanted to emulate? I'm talking about dangerous backflips!
J: When we started playing together, we would look at each other and ask what we could do that would be different. What could we do to stand out. When you're really starting out and nobody knows who you are, maybe you're playing a lineup with a lot of other bands, you try and thonk of things that will make people remember the show. Not only that there's only two of us, so we feel that we have to be as energetic as possible to make up for the lack of band members. So it's a mixture of that and making supra people leave the show knowing who we are, and perhaps feeling inclined to talk about it and bring a friend next time, sort of expand the show.
It's got to take a lot of fitness and stamina to perform your show. Is it hard to stay fit on the road? I know you were an athlete, Tyler.
T: I think our set is pretty tolling, physically, so i look t that as cardio, if you would. there was a while there where we were trying to do a lot of upper body stuff on the road. It's tough because you're tired from traveling. To really carve out time to work out is not only potentially endangering the set—because you don't know if you're going to work out too hard so you're tired on stage—but now that we're headlining we play later at night. By the time we're off stage and done meeting people it's late and we're tired. It's tough. We're going to have to find a way to do it. At some point we will figure out, maybe work out at the hotel, or just run more during the show.
You need a personal trainer onstage
J: And a chef! a lot of it has to do with your diet.
Are there any dietary issues with turing?
T: Late at night. I mean when you''re touring your schedule is from noon till three in the morning, so late at night when you're supposed to have your dinner, there's nothing open as far as restaurants except for horrible food, so we're going to have to be smart about what we put in the fridge and stuff.
J: We eat a lot of soft tacos.
Any particular fridge disaster stories?
T: Just that it's always empty.
So you guys are signed to Fueled by Ramen, which has a reputation as a hit making label—Paramore and Fall Out Boy started on the label. Were you fans of the music or did they approach you?
J: I listened to all or most of those bands for a little while, so it was interesting when they approached us.
They approached you?
J: Yes. There was a moment where some labels expressed interest with the fan base we were able to cultivate in our home town, and they were one of those labels. What was cool was that from the very beginning we were very intentional about trying to create a brand for our band. that was a priority. fueled by Ramen stood out to us because they had created a brand for themselves. And now people will come up to us and say "I heard about you guys because you're signed to Fueled By Ramen," That speaks for the label—people are into what they do because they've branded themselves.
