Biography
The Midwestern band Twenty One Pilots and their signature brand of "schizoid pop," which melded an array of musical styles, earned a massive following in 2015 on the strength of their sweetly anxious single "Stressed Out." The band coalesced in 2009 around a trio of high school friends in Columbus, Ohio; singer/keyboardist Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas and Chris Saith began writing quirky songs that merged eclectic influences (hip-hop, electro-pop) and instruments (keytar, ukelele). The group issued their self-titled debut album independently in 2009 and built a dedicated fan base through regular Midwestern tours and savvy use of SoundCloud and other media platforms. Scheduling conflicts forced the departure of Thomas and Saith, who were replaced by drummer Josh Dun of the Ohio rock band House of Heroes. The newly formed duo released a second album, Regional At Best (2011), which was accompanied by a series of well-received music videos and high-profile concerts that drew interest from major record labels. The following year, Twenty One Pilots signed with the Atlantic subsidiary Fueled by Ramen in 2012, which released a three-song EP, appropriately titled Three Songs, that same year before the band entered the studio to record with producer Greg Wells, whose previous credits included Adele and Katy Perry. The resulting album, Vessel (2013), rose to No. 21 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the single "Holding On to You" and subsequent tours with Fall Out Boy and performances at the Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo festivals over the next two years. In 2015, Twenty One Pilots released their fourth album, Blurryface, a sort of concept LP about childhood and adult insecurities. The first two singles, "Fairly Local" and "Tear in My Heart," performed modestly at best, but its follow-up, the lullaby-esque "Stressed Out," was a bona fide hit, peaking at No. 2 on the singles chart and sending the album to the top of the Billboard 200. After launching their first headlining world tour that year, Twenty One Pilots scored another hit single with "Heathens," which was featured on the soundtrack to the dark comic book adventure "Suicide Squad" (2016). "Heathens" echoed its predecessor's success, reaching No. 4 and 5, respectively on the U.S. and UK singles charts that summer.
