GET TO KNOW: Twenty One Pilots
- Ben Blissett
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
TWENTY ONE PILOTS, The Alternative two-piece band hailing from Columbus, Ohio, return to their much-loved London, England, to headline their own version of All Points East, called East Is Up. With such a huge show on the way that will be their last for an indefinite time, here is everything you need to know about the band before they rock your socks off.
So what are they like? it’s honestly hard to describe the kind of music this band makes, an insane level of genre blending goes into their work but if you like anything from rock, pop, rap or alternative, they’ve definitely got something in store for you.
Starting in 2009 originally as a three-piece, Tyler Joseph only ever had two careers he could choose, basketball or music; he decided to pursue music and after the other two members, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih left, Tyler decided to bring in close friend and fan of the band Josh Dun in 2011 and TWENTY ONE PILOTS as we know it today was born. These two gained some serious traction through their incredible live shows, utilising the spectacle of the songs to elevate their performance with wacky audience interaction and pure passion.
Within 4 years and 3 albums, they became a Grammy award-winning band, with Stressed Out becoming a hit you couldn’t escape in 2015, skyrocketing them in popularity and taking their dedicated fan base to the next level. Everyone went feral for this band with a crazy obsession that was only more intoxicating as the band started bringing in a story to accompany their music. Which is going to be quite important to this final show, as many speculate it may be the final chapter of the story, like how The Clancy Tour in London had a fan theory confirmed for the second follow-up album Breach.
It wasn’t apparent at first, only dropping hints, clues and some imagery in 2015’s Blurryface; The story truly began with the last music video they released for this album for the song Heavydirtysoul. In the video Tyler’s character, which we now know as Clancy, escapes from the villain of the story, Blurryface AKA Nico, through a fiery diversion (they blew up a car).
After that, the image of a red eye began to close on their social media. Once closed, we had radio silence for over a year, greeted only by a yellow eye slowly opening. This is where the Trench era began, the new logo was revealed with a new single, Jumpsuit, continuing the story, with Clancy being chased by Nico and finding the Banditos, a group of rebels, opposing Nico and the Bishops of Dema, who have brainwashed the world into submission with their religious control of media. If you wanted an allegory for the politics of the music industry, you’ve got it here in this story.
At the end of Jumpsuit, we see Clancy dragged back to Dema, trapped again until freed by the Banditos in the next video Nico And The Niners, before being taken back to Dema at the end of Levitate, if you couldn’t see a theme here, it’s a story of endless cycles and relapses, Nico represents that anxiety and depression that always creeps back to you.
After some time inside Dema during Scaled And Icy, performing for the bishops and another escape, Torchbearer (Josh Dun) and Clancy, alongside the banditos, spend the album Clancy preparing for the final battle with the Bishops, where many fans speculated that the song Paladin Strait could not be the end to this story, a cliffhanger for the end? The fans wanted more.
After lots of cryptic messages and changing imagery on tour, the fans knew that certain action would show the way to a double album, they predicted right and Breach was released with two more video for the story, The Contract taking place in Clancy’s head as he’s being subdued by Nico and the final piece of the story, City Walls which depicts the final fight; Clancy defeats Nico but then himself becomes a Bishop, so it’s up for interpretation whether he won or not, the Torchbearer leaves and moves on to continue the cycle.
It’s anyone’s guess what’s going to happen at this final show of the story. Will more lore be revealed, or will we see one final send-off to these characters? All will be revealed at All Points East on the 30th of August.
Words: Ben Blissett
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