josh dun – Alternative Press Magazine https://www.altpress.com Rock On! Wed, 07 Jun 2023 12:44:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.altpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/24/attachment-alt-favi-32x32.png?t=1697612868 josh dun – Alternative Press Magazine https://www.altpress.com 32 32 twenty one pilots, Korn, Evanescence and 7 other things you need to check out this week https://www.altpress.com/the-latest-news-twenty-one-pilots-korn-evanescence-april-8-2022/ Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:45:50 +0000 Check out The Latest – for all the essential new music, tickets and livestreams you need right now.

twenty one pilots hit the silver screen

We’re still busy trying to pick up the pieces of our mind after having it blown by twenty one pilots’ livestream experience last year. Now, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are getting ready to detonate once again by bringing an extended cut of the spectacle to cinemas for one night only. Get ready to snag tickets to the May 19 event when they go on sale here.

Two titans of rock collide

What’s better than catching Korn and Evanescence in concert? How about catching both these superstar acts while only needing to leave the house once? Jonathan Davis and his charges are set to team up with the Amy Lee-led band for a huge month-long run kicking off this August, and you’d be foolish not to grab tickets right now.

There’s still time to grab this exclusive The Maine flexi

We’re gonna toot our own horn here, OK? We’re still pretty thrilled about our team-up with the Maine to mark their 15th anniversary with this world-exclusive flexi vinyl (featuring “Loved You A Little”) and magazine cover story, both of which can be yours with a few pushes of a button. Don’t miss out!

Everclear celebrate the past, present and future

“This is a song about Susan/This is a song about the girl next door…” We bet you’ve now got “So Much For The Afterglow” stuck in your head, don’t you? Sorry/not sorry. What better time to revisit the alt-rock stalwarts’ brilliant back catalog ahead of a recently announced 30th anniversary tour — and their debut album hitting streaming services, no less — kicking off this June. Snag tickets now!

And they call it puppy luv

You don’t need this weekly roundup to remind you how much we here at AP love chloe moriondo. You should love moriondo too. If you don’t already, then go listen to new EP puppy luv and you surely will. What are you waiting for? Stream it everywhere now.

Papa Roach invite you on their Ego Trip

Wait, how is this Papa Roach’s 11th album?! Anyway… “Throughout the process of making this record, we had some really profound conversations about life, who is at the helm of our egos and what it is that drives and motivates us,” Jacoby Shaddix says of the Roach’s latest barn-stormer. Celebrate its release with exclusive merch and a signed copy grabbed from here

HEALTH make the apocalypse sound like a dream

Spend five minutes watching the news and it’s pretty easy to get bummed out, right? HEALTH are here to remind you that beauty can be found in darkness, and the newly released DISCO 4 :: PART II — featuring collabs with Nine Inch Nails, Poppy and EKKSTACY — will have you dancing while the sky caves in around you. Grab a vinyl, CD or cassette from here.

Car Seat Headrest, live in your living room

Veeps is on a crusade to show you that you don’t necessarily need to leave the house — let alone be in the same state/country/continent — to enjoy the best gigs the world has to offer. Their latest proof of that is set to be delivered by Car Seat Headrest, who are inviting you all to join them as they stream their show from The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Pick up tickets to the May 1 event now before hitting the store to grab a night’s worth of snacks.

Travie McCoy has NEVER SLEPT BETTER

Remember when we celebrated Travie McCoy as one of AP’s “Modern Icons” just last month? Well, it’s because a., Travie McCoy is a stone-cold legend of the game, and b., because we knew just how good his upcoming NEVER SLEPT BETTER album is. You’ll find out for yourself come its July 15 release date — which gives you plenty of time to grab an exclusive vinyl from Hopeless Records.

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LIGHTS embraced confidence and self-love for fifth album ‘PEP’—interview https://www.altpress.com/lights-pep-interview-elohim-kiesza-josh-dun/ Fri, 08 Apr 2022 20:00:58 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/lights-pep-interview-elohim-kiesza-josh-dun/ When Canadian polymath LIGHTS found herself in a spiral of negative mental health, she didn’t want to dwell on her misery. Instead, she found the antidote in the form of a good old-fashioned pep talk with herself, using positivity as her motivation to get out of bed and try to feel OK again. She gave herself that pep talk through music, and the result arrived in the form of her playful, witty fifth album, PEP, arguably her most guitar-driven effort to date that boasts collaborations with Elohim, Kiesza and twenty one pilotsJosh Dun.

The last time we heard from LIGHTS, on 2017’s Skin & Earth, her art had become more transmedial than ever, with the album release accompanied by a comic book. Though the Skin & Earth narrative is still continuing, she has repeated that feat for PEP, with the accompanying comic loosely tying into the world she first introduced fans to on her previous album cycle. This time around, however, it’s even more colorful.

Read more: LIGHTS on the meaning behind ‘PEP’ single “Prodigal Daughter”

How and when did you start laying the groundwork for PEP?

I started writing a lot of the songs three years ago, and half the album was actually written when the pandemic hit. But even before the pandemic, I was going through mental health stuff, and of course, it got a lot worse during [quarantine]. But during that, I was like, “You know what? I’m gonna write these songs that make me feel like a boss. Because if I can’t tell myself I’m a boss and I can’t feel like I can pep-talk myself, then no one will. I don’t care if I’m not fucking feeling good, and I don’t care if I hate myself right now. I’m going to write a song that makes me love myself.”

PEP is this belligerent, overconfident pep talk on the back of this chaotic wreck of a time. It’s about feeling that we can fake our way to this happiness. I think if you present confidence at every corner, then you’ll eventually start to believe it, just like you start to believe it when you say negative things about yourself. It’s a bit obnoxious and overly self-aware in the way that it’s presented, and I love that.

You seem to embrace the idea of us all being products that we market to the world. Where does that come from?

It’s just facts, right? We’re all branding ourselves on social media. Every day, we’re branding ourselves every time we go to a new school, whether we start a new job or when we ask ourselves, “How do I want the world to see me?” That’s called marketing. So I think if we can be self-aware enough to know that we are branding ourselves every day with the clothes we wear, with the music we listen to, with our interests, the way we present ourselves to people, we can spin that in a way that helps us identify ourselves. It’s not necessarily a negative thing.

When I first started making music, I started a few different Myspace pages, different projects, all different kinds of music, and you slowly start to figure out the ones that you feel represent you the best. I think when we look at branding and marketing, we see it as this corporate, capitalist thing. But I think there’s an element of it that is actually self-identification. It helps us put in front of the world the parts of us we want people to see because that’s who we feel we are.

If it’s inevitable, you might as well embrace it. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, I mean, if you’ve seen any of the videos, or the branding for this whole album, it’s all over-branded bright colors, almost like you’re buying a product at a home improvement store. It looks like a product. I think I’ve had a lot of fun [with it]. Because as artists, I feel there’s this expectation to be really grassroots, but everything’s organic to a point where that’s fake. For a lot of people, a lot of careers over time have been faked as authentic, but that’s just marketing as well. So I’ve had fun flipping the narrative.

You’ve got another comic book coming out in support of PEP, too. Why did you want to do another accompanying comic book after Skin & Earth?

With Skin & Earth, the story never ended. There’re two more arcs that I’ve written. It’s just taking a long time to draw them because I do all of it. The story continues without music necessarily having to be involved. But with this album, I connected it based on just one small stream that connects it to the Skin & Earth world, and it’s through the clinic. The clinic is a metaphor for music as an escape; we plug in to escape. For me, when I put music on, it’s like being elevated out of reality, and so the clinic is a metaphor for that.

It’s existed in the comic world since the first series, so I just decided to really bring it to life on this one. So there’s a whole side comic that I did that came out that has Easter eggs for all the songs that really came out and stuff and hinted at all the song titles before anyone knew them. Each of these songs are there. You get to go and plug in and experience these different scenarios, and each song is a scenario. The most recent video in my head is the combination of all those, me going to the clinic, plugging in, trying out some different scenarios, getting to be somebody else. I wrote this script for it and directed all the talent, and it was really fun.

How did you try to evolve your sound on this record?

It’s a little bit more rock in some ways. This is my first full album release on Fueled By Ramen, and they’re so cool. They just get it. They aren’t here to try to make you go to No. 1 on pop radio. It’s just not their MO. They will make good records that represent who their artists are and build a culture around the artist. So, Mike Easterlin [Fueled By Ramen president] sits me down and says, “Hey, you like rock music, right? Just make a rock record, if you want.” The pop world is one of the hardest worlds to break out in. There’re just millions of dollars flowing through each of these artists to make them have the power that they do, whether that’s in the songwriting, the producers, in the placement to get on radio. It takes a lot of money and a lot of power.

All I wanted my label to say is, “We don’t really give a fuck about pop radio right now. Make a rock record. Make an alt record. Make the record you want to make.” So I was like, “You said it, not me.” My goal on the record was to have 50% of it worked on by women. So while I produce a lot of the record, I’m bringing a lot of female collaborators. “Beside Myself,” the first song on the record, is all made by women. I had a female engineer, female master, Jess Bowen played drums, who’s coming out on tour with me. I produced and wrote the thing. It’s nice to be able to see things through to the end. It’s very fulfilling.

LIGHTS appeared in issue 405, available here.

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LIGHTS releases ‘PEP,’ featuring Josh Dun, Kiesza and Elohim—listen https://www.altpress.com/lights-pep-josh-dun-kiesza-elohim/ Sat, 02 Apr 2022 00:05:34 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/lights-pep-josh-dun-kiesza-elohim/ LIGHTS has released her new album PEP via Fueled By Ramen. The album features artists including Josh Dun, Kiesza and Elohim.

Read more: LIGHTS on the meaning behind ‘PEP’ single “Prodigal Daughter”

LIGHTS recently spoke to Alternative Press about her “lasts.” When asked about the last book she read, she revealed the story behind the track “Prodigal Daughter.”

“It was a book about sexual confidence called Come As You Are,”she says. “It’s a very empowering book. The song ‘Prodigal Daughter,’ the first one that came out from [new album] PEP, is really about rediscovering sexuality after leaving the oppression of societal and religious expectation. I’m not religious, but I was raised a religious kid, and you have to shed all that and rediscover your ownership of self. A lot of the reading material that I’ve read over the pandemic has been really good. That’s one of them.”

Listen to LIGHTS‘ new album PEP below.

LIGHTS appeared in issue #405, available here

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10 hidden meanings in twenty one pilots lyrics you probably didn’t know https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-lyrics-hidden-meanings/ Fri, 18 Mar 2022 21:30:26 +0000 There are many reasons to love twenty one pilots. Their music is a giddy mix of alt-rock and emo that also isn’t afraid of taking influence from hip-hop, pop or folk. Their live shows are a carefully orchestrated playground of catharsis and chaos. Josh Dun even has a cute dog.

Where the band really shine, though, is in their lyrics.

Read more: Every twenty one pilots album ranked

Raw, vulnerable and poetic, Tyler Joseph’s words tackle everything from turbulent mental health and shuddering self-doubt to the media’s obsession with suicide, the power that comes from creativity and what it would be like to raise a pet cheetah called Jason Statham. His lyrics are veiled and shrouded in imagery, yet somehow, we always form a connection with his vocals.

Across twenty one pilots’ six albums, the band have offered understanding and a comforting hand in the dark as they’ve used their music to work through giddy highs and crippling lows. They’ve also littered their output with references to literature, film and their own work. You probably know the band’s name comes from Arthur Miller’s iconic 1947 play All My Sons and that the title for 2021’s Scaled And Icy is both an anagram for Clancy Is Dead (a character from the narrative surrounding Trench) and a play on “Scaled Back And Isolated,” due to its creation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below, we shine a light on 10 hidden meanings in twenty one pilots’ lyrics that you probably weren’t so clued up on…

“I can feel my saturation leaving me slowly/Broke the news on mom’s vacation” 

Good Day” (Scaled And Icy, 2021)

The jubilant opener to the band’s sixth album might be full of color, but the lyrics actually see Joseph thinking about the death of his loved ones. “There’s certain topics in songs that really make you feel alive, and man, that was one of them,” he told Alternative Press (AP 400). “I know it sounds morbid, but I was there. I was thinking specifics, talking about losing my wife, and meant it – I glazed over the lyric in the song, but I felt every bit of that while writing [it]. That’s when you know that you’re growing as a person, when you really feel that when you’re writing the song.”

“’Cause the last thing I want to do is make my people make decisions… Should they keep it on display or redecorate?” 

Redecorate” (Scaled And Icy, 2021)

The closing track to Scaled And Icy sees its narrators contemplating suicide. “Because I was writing this inverted record, there’s a lot of shininess in the middle of the record, and at the end it’s ‘but…despair.’ It completes out the idea of a record that is totally opposite from what we usually build,” Joseph explained about the bleak ending.

“[When] people talk about tragic situations, sometimes the only thing they take from it is details. In the most existential, dreadful moment, if you look around at your stuff, it can bring you back to reality. I talked to [people] that had similar situations, where someone they loved passed, and they kept their room the same way.  Their memorial [is] the room. That song specifically is exploring the stuff that would be left behind.”

All these songs I’m hearing are so heartless/Don’t trust a perfect person and don’t trust a song that’s flawless”  

Lane Boy” (Blurryface, 2015)

Following the success of their Fueled By Ramen debut, Vessel, twenty one pilots suddenly found themselves out of America’s basements and with an ever-growing fanbase. “Lane Boy” is a not-so-subtle clapback at people pushing them to chase radio success, but also deals with the sudden responsibility of talking directly to a fanbase. “It was amazing how calculated and contrived a lot of bands I thought I would respect were,” Joseph told Alternative Press before the release of Blurryface (AP 323).

“I assumed they were all trying to say something with their writing when really, they were trying to crank out the next big hit. That was one of the more disheartening things I carried into this record. The other thing I learned is that there are people out there who would die for me that I don’t even know. That’s a heavy thing. That’s a dramatic way of trying to describe our fans, but for the first time ever, I had an album to write an answer to them, to kind of put up against their expectations and what they were wanting.”

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink/But now I’m insecure and I care what people think” 

“Stressed Out” (Blurryface, 2015)

You don’t need us to tell you that for Joseph, the titular character of twenty one pilots’ fourth album “represents everything that I’m insecure about.” Despite the nostalgia-soaked vibe of breakout track “Stressed Out,” the song was actually written by Joseph to face his demons.  

“The idea of creating something, making a song and having the courage to show someone that song is a form of defeating that insecurity,” Joseph explained (AP 323). “Believe me, I know that Josh and I seem very confident when we get up onstage. And we emit this idea of a couple guys who don’t care about what anyone thinks, and we’re so confident. But there are so many times where I get up onstage and I feel the world is about to pressurize me into nothing. There have been times where all I want to do is walk offstage. It can crush you. So I started to try to win. I want to conquer this thing. I want to conquer this person. So I started naming him.”


“I’d live for you and that’s hard to do/Even harder to say when you know it’s not true

“Ride” (Blurryface, 2015)

 “Ride” sees Joseph struggling not only with his newfound fame but staying connected to where he came from. “Vessel was this record that I wrote in secret from my real life, this person who went down in the basement and wrote songs,” he explained (AP 323).

“Those songs never breathed the same air that I was breathing every day. Now, writing songs and traveling and playing music is my life, and these songs have been forced to breathe the same air that I am with my family, friends and the town I am from. That’s a lot of real-life things creeping into the lyrical content. There’s a specific lyric claiming to want to live for other people. But at the same time, I’m getting phone calls from family members, and I’m hitting ‘ignore’ on the side of my phone because I don’t have time to answer the phone for them. And that really hurt me. So I took those emotions and put them in that song.”

“I’m fairly local, I’ve been around/I’ve seen the streets you’re walking down” 

“Fairly Local” (Blurryface, 2015)

Detailing their struggles about coming from humble beginnings to becoming career musicians, Dun explained in AP 323 that “no matter what your circumstances are, you still have to deal with the same things. Ever since I met Tyler – and this is why we agree on so much – there are so many things to talk about. I think people can talk about these things in some relatable way. Whether or not you are a kid who grows up abused, with one parent, no parents of with a great family yet deals with depression, we all go through something. It’s harder to continue moving forward in life. I just want to write about things that are a lot more relatable than staying out until 7 a.m. and drinking. It’s really about your intentions and the honesty. Hopefully, people can pick up on that.”

I created this world to feel some control/Destroy it if I want” 

Bandito” (Trench, 2018)

twenty one pilots’ fifth album was inspired by the amount of touring the band had done on the Blurryface cycle. “Because I was seeing so many different cultures and seeing the idea of moving forward, I knew the narrative was going to be about a place – more specifically, in between two places,” Joseph said in AP 362. 

“I’m always feeling like I’m moving from one place to another, whether it is literally or figuratively, mentally and spiritually,” he continued. “And a lot of the time, when you feel like you are between those two places, it feels… uncharted. Not tame. Scary. Dark. But at least it’s not where you know you’re not supposed to be. That’s what Trench has become to me. Leaving this place, I knew I shouldn’t be anymore. But just because you leave, it doesn’t mean your problems are being solved – you have a whole new list of problems trying to survive.” 

And start a concert, a complete diversion/Start a mob and you can be quite certain/We’ll win but not everyone will get out” 

“Nico And The Niners” (Trench, 2018) 

Talking to Alternative Press after the release of Trench (AP 362), Joseph admits that while “Nico And The Niners” was originally a source of personal catharsis, it had quickly grown into something else, especially against the backdrop of Trump’s America. “I feel like I’m learning about Trench every day. But what it’s helped me with is where we talk about the political landscape our country is in. What would it accomplish if Trench was this place where it’s kind of this mirror where our culture and our country are right now?

“I could say thinking it could only help things, just because of what it’s done for me personally,” he continues. “To live in Trench, to try and go through it, feel alone and yet find people that will make me feel not alone, it’s this world that fixed me and helped me a lot. To turn up the rocket fuel on this idea and apply it to something as big as our culture and where America is, that’s exciting.”

“My shadow grows taller along with my fears/And my frame shrinks smaller as night grows near”

“Semi-Automatic” (Vessel, 2013)

Talking to Spotify, Joseph explained that “Semi-Automatic” is “very introspective, and I know I talk about the nighttime a lot. I feel like I listen to a lot of pop music today that talks about the night in a completely different way than I talk about the night. There’s a lot of writers that talk about the night like it’s an awesome time, that everyone’s partying or whatever, and usually nighttime for me is the worst — that’s when everything comes out for me. That’s when I realize that I don’t really understand why I’m here or what I’m doing, and it’s when the doubts happen. So a lot of these songs are showing you the things that I’m thinking about at night.”

“We’ve turned our hands to guns/Traded our thumbs for ammunition” 

Guns For Hands” (Vessel, 2013)

Inspired by a wave of kids coming up to him after a twenty one pilots show in Cincinnati, Ohio and talking to Joseph about their issues with depression and suicidal thoughts, he realized that a generation of people were struggling with questions about purpose and belonging. 

“When you don’t have the answers to those questions, sometimes it can lead you to do something that you ultimately shouldn’t do,” he explained.

“I feel like a lot of the older generation when they hear about someone struggling with it, their first reaction is, ‘No, you’re not. Don’t think about that. You’re just trying to get attention.’ But this song was really trying to say, ‘Listen, I know you have the ability to hurt yourself. I recognize that, but let’s take that energy, and let’s point it at something else. Let’s divert that; let’s kind of shift that momentum and look at something like art, or something like this music specifically, or even point it at me. Just point it anywhere, but don’t point it at yourself.’ That song will always be important to me. I’m not a professional when it comes to this topic, but I write songs, and I feel like someone should say something about it.”

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Look back at some of the best Alternative Press covers in honor of issue 400 https://www.altpress.com/best-ap-covers-in-history-issue-400/ Wed, 22 Dec 2021 23:00:22 +0000 Four hundred issues after the very first book to carry our name ran off the printers back in 1985, we look back on 36 years of our favorite-ever AP covers, the stories they told and the secrets behind their creation. You can pick up an issue here, starring twenty one pilots.

Read more: In issue 400, twenty one pilots reveal the importance of their community

 

Rancid #79, 1995

UNDER THE COVER: Perhaps the most iconic Alternative Press cover image ever accompanied a story that went in search of punk rock’s soul at a time when the scene was going platinum off the back of Green Day’s Dookie and the Offspring’s Smash. “Kids are such sheep, and they think there’s a punk-rock rulebook” was the damning assessment of Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen. “Punk rock was about doing anything you wanted, anytime you wanted. If you looked like a freak, you were in it. Now it’s all cliquey, and every move you make is being watched by these little 15-year-old kids that get checks from mom and dad to go to school, making little fanzines on their laptops. They have no idea where I came from. It’s easy to worry about other people’s problems when you’ve got everything.”

 

Nine Inch Nails #31, 1990

UNDER THE COVER: Before there was Trent Reznor, Academy Award-winning composer, there was Trent Reznor, the kid who “[gets] harassed because [I] don’t look totally normal,” the then-24-year-old frontman told Alternative Press on his band’s first-ever national magazine cover. “Somebody up the street says they’re going to get us because we’re hippies,” he continued. “We get insulted pretty regularly.” On show, however, was the frontman’s singular vision for his fledgling outfit. “It’s not a band,” Reznor stated. “It’s not, ‘Here’s an idea for a song — let’s all work on it.’

I would hope someday that it would be more of a collaboration, but it isn’t right now. It’s basically if you don’t like what you’re playing, come up with something better. If I like it, you can play it. If I don’t play what I did.”

 

Panic! At The Disco #330, 2016

UNDER THE COVER: As far as logistics go, few locations require as much planning in which to shoot than underwater. “We shot this cover at Brendon Urie’s then-new house, which he had just moved to that summer,” photographer Jonathan Weiner recalls. “I pitched a handful of ideas, including shooting underwater, which is something Brendon had apparently been wanting to do for a while.

“I did a test shoot the weekend before in another pool to sort out any problems and how to light something underwater. As you go deeper into water, the color and lighting get more blue and muddy, and I wanted it to be punchy in order to be cover-worthy,” he continues. “We were able to figure out how to light with strobes from above the surface shooting into the water, rather than find underwater lighting that was not really designed for photography at the time.”

That’s not where the challenges ended, though. “I discovered that it’s very difficult to not float to the top, even with a heavy camera, so I had to wear a scuba diving weight belt to hold me down while shooting,” Weiner says. “Brendon kept his eyes open the entire time to get the shot, too, so by the time we moved on to shoot other images, his eyes were completely bloodshot. We had to constantly give him eye drops to even out for the rest of the day.”

Rage Against The Machine #96, 1996

UNDER THE COVER: “If they only had a clue about some of the things that we were thinking of doing,” laughed Tom Morello to Alternative Press as we joined them at what transpired to be an infamous last performance for the band on Saturday Night Live. Having attempted to drape two inverted American flags across their amplifiers just moments before a rendition of “Bulls On Parade,” RATM were duly invited to leave the building upon the song’s conclusion. They’ve never been allowed back since.

Garbage #156, 2001

UNDER THE COVER: “l’m of the school that believes it’s still necessary to draw people’s attention to the creative output of women in society in general,” Shirley Manson said upon her arrival onto the Alternative Press cover, with words that would ring true if they were spoken last week, let alone in 2001.

“I think women are still operating at a mild disadvantage. I would prefer it wasn’t an issue. But the fact that it is an issue, an opportunity like this is a wonderful thing. Equality would be nice. But sometimes it’s great to hit people over the head with a hammer.” The forthrightness, boldness and confidence on which Manson has based an entire career weren’t, perhaps, on show when asked how she felt about her AP cover debut, however. “I have no idea [why I’m on the cover]. I’m very uncomfortable with it, to be honest. l’m sure it’ll offend millions of girls the world over — though somebody’s got to be in the front.”

 

Bad Brains #20, 1989

UNDER THE COVER: Charting the comings and goings in the Bad Brains camp as the 1980s gave way for the ’90s would necessitate a full cover story in its own right. But timing is everything in this game, and so AP lucked out when, during the making of 1989 album Quickness, the Brains’ iconic pairing of frontman H.R. and drummer Earl Hudson rejoined the ranks of the band they had helped found over a decade prior. H.R. would rewrite and rerecord the lyrical compositions on Quickness. “I went into a fast isolation, a metaphysical transformation, and hid myself in a little motel room way up in the woods in upstate New York, listened to the music and didn’t go to sleep for three or four days and totally engulfed myself to come up with the lyrics,” he explained to AP of his process.

 

L7 #107, 1997

UNDER THE COVER: “No dogs were harmed in the shooting of these photos,” declared L7 vocalist and guitarist Donita Sparks a few years ago while recalling the band’s one and only Alternative Press cover appearance 20 years prior. The idea (Sparks’ own) was born of simplicity: “Dogs like sniffing women’s crotches.” The execution: less so. In order to get their canine friends to play ball — these were no animal actors, after all, but rather pets borrowed from friends and partners — the L.A. quartet taped wraps of peanut butter to their legs.” Which, come to think of it, probably isn’t even in the top 10 strangest things that have taken place to capture an AP cover. 

 

Nirvana #44, 1992

UNDER THE COVER: “If only there were a way for Nirvana to be a celebrated rock group and veritable unknowns at the same time,” asked Alternative Press on the Seattle legends’ first-ever national U.S. magazine cover story, mere months after the release of Nevermind. Few could have guessed how hauntingly prescient those words would later become.

“I’m becoming frustrated with having to deal with the kind of people who come up to me after the show and say, ‘You guys fucking rock, dude,’” Kurt Cobain admitted in our interview. “I don’t need that at all. I’ve been sort of hiding out in the back room a lot in fear of having to hear people like that. I’m just having a hard time dealing with that right now because I feel guilty for wanting to hide out in the dressing room. I feel like a rock star. And I can almost understand why rock stars act the way they do.”

 

Smashing Pumpkins #61, 1993

UNDER THE COVER: For their cover debut, Alternative Press joined Billy Corgan and company in their hometown of Chicago, as the then-quartet stood on the verge of releasing their acclaimed Siamese Dream album. Over cooked breakfast and record-flipping at Corgan’s house a stone’s throw from Wrigley Field, the band discussed influence, inspiration and the process of creation — the latter of which clouded the interview with a sense of tension that would play out with the band’s original lineup until its eventual dissolution at the turn of the new millennium. “I won’t work as a band anymore,” Corgan was quoted as saying. “Nowhere near the way it was before. That’s over for this band. It’s just constant disappointment, to beg and plead and cry for someone to help you.”

 

Beastie Boys #72, 1994

UNDER THE COVER: If every day truly is a school day, then the lesson Alternative Press learned when hooking up with Beastie Boys for this 1994 cover story was a simple one: Don’t try to conduct interviews in the middle of a busy deli (Adam “MCA” Yauch’s order: rice and beans). Cue in-depth conversations about whether the UPS delivery uniform is better than the FedEx uniform — and where the UPS fits into the power rankings, too. Helpfully, the trio also found time to take AP inside the inner workings of their chart-topping Ill Communication album, too.

 

WILLOW #395, 2021

UNDER THE COVER: “I was honored when I was asked to do this shoot because I grew up reading AP,” photographer Atiba Jefferson reveals. “I was so stoked — already being a fan of WILLOW, it was a perfect fit. I really love when the talent has an idea because [it means] they are already excited for the shoot, but the fact [that] WILLOW trusted me to make my own changes was awesome. When she got to set, she was so on point. It made my job so much easier!”

 

Slipknot #142, 2000

UNDER THE COVER: The Slipknot that Alternative Press found on arriving in the band’s hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, were certainly a world away from the all-conquering metal behemoth they would go on to become. Among the venues The Nine treated us to on our guided tour of their world? Their basement practice space, insulated with an old pet shop 

carpet that still reeked of puppies’ urine. Photographer Chapman Baehler’s portrait of a masked Corey Taylor captured what would soon become one of the most iconic looks in music history. “To us, this is like a uniform,” the frontman described of their image. “When we go onstage, we’re individuals — but we’re also like one complete monster that just wants to destroy everything.”

NOFX #189, 2004

UNDER THE COVER: “We figured we could use it for our political message” was NOFX’s Fat Mike’s explanation for breaking his band’s seven-year-long media silence with this exclusive Alternative Press cover story, just months prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. “Our political agenda is, by the way, to get [George W.] Bush out of office.” If those words weren’t blunt enough, the “Fight Bush Not War” message that adorned the frontman’s arms on this famous cover photo certainly got his point across loud and clear.

 

Outkast #153, 2001

UNDER THE COVER: Finding time in the diaries of artists at the height of their fame is never an easy feat; you’ve got to take your moment when you can get it. And so it was that Outkast’s AP cover story interview was conducted at the duo’s Atlanta HQ during the half-time interval of the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV demolition of the New York Giants. “I think that any time you’re out of your mind, you’re closer to God,” André 3000 mused in an interview that took in everything from funk’s decreasing prevalence in hip-hop to the highs and lows of drug-taking.

Paramore #282, 2012

UNDER THE COVER: “This was my first cover ever,” photographer Lindsey Byrnes remembers. “I got the call from AP and was told that Hayley [Williams] had asked for me specifically. So, I got on a plane for NYC, where the band had a day off on their tour. Hayley styled herself top to bottom for that shoot. It was wild [that] she did all hair and makeup changes herself. I didn’t realize until my next cover shoot that she was helping me understand what needed to be done. She’s so punk and, at the same time, so professional. Hayley wanted me to thrive, and since then, our relationship has grown into a collaborative creative mishmash of life and art and all the things.” 

And as for the “Trouble Maker” shirt Williams elected to wear for the cover? “I just texted and asked about that,” Byrnes says, “and here’s what she had to say: ‘Everyone [the public and press] thought I was the root cause of all of Paramore’s issues. I thought I’d just sarcastically play into that.’ I think you call that trolling, but I just call it funny.”

 

Poppy #387, 2020

UNDER THE COVER: “I think this version of Poppy, I just call her 3.0, is the best and the truest Poppy that anyone has seen,” Poppy announced as part of her Alternative Press cover story — shared with fiance Ghostemane — last October. Her revealing interview brought fans closer than ever to the true person behind the persona. “Parts of who I was playing on screen and at shows was starting to seep over into who I actually was as a person,” she explained of her growth. “I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is not what I want to be a part of anymore.’ It scared me. I refound myself after that and realized that I needed to start making places for me, as a person, and be able to sleep with my decisions.”

 

twenty one pilots #316, 2014

UNDER THE COVER: “I’ve had the pleasure of shooting probably 10 to 20 covers for Alternative Press over the years, and this was probably the most collaborative shoot I’ve done with a band,” photographer Douglas Sonders recalls. “If you ever have the pleasure of working with this band, you’ll quickly learn that they are very creative and collaborative. The band really wanted to do this one particular crazy portrait where Josh hung upside down while Tyler stood next to him. They even brought and engineered this crazy apparatus where Josh could safely hook his feet in and hang there. If you look at that photo, you’ll see Josh’s face starts to turn bright red from the blood rushing to his head!

“[For this cover], I think it helped that the band had been integrating the balaclava into their style and performances at the time,” he continues. “We played with a bunch of concepts where they were half on and half off. I shot a series of images of each of the guys as they slowly pulled the balaclavas off so we could play with the options in post-production. I’m super happy with how the cover came out. The black background and the pops of color from the balaclavas. I lit them with narrow gridded portrait lighting so the focus was on their eyes.”

 

blink-182 and Green Day #167, 2002

UNDER THE COVER: One of the most famous covers in Alternative Press history saw Green Day and blink-182 brought together to celebrate the pair’s Pop Disaster tour; an event that Green Day drummer Tré Cool admitted his band used in a bid to reestablish their fading reputation two years prior to American Idiot, giving them a new lease on life. Before all that, though, there was this recreation of the Damned’s debut album sleeve to complete — with the detail taken as far, photographer Sean Murphy revealed, as dressing the bands in clothes matching the original inspiration.

My Chemical Romance #221, 2006

UNDER THE COVER: The Black Parade remains to this day a standard-bearer for creativity and world-building in modern rock, but such yards aren’t easily gained — it requires an unshakable vision. Such was in evidence when My Chemical Romance teamed up with Alternative Press for this series of 2006 covers. Photographer Dave Hill was the man charged with helping bring the brothers Way’s ideas to life. “They were both like a team, but it was all Gerard’s vision,” Hill recalled years later. “It wasn’t like some guy from the label made all this up — it was all him. He had a very specific outline: the look, the costumes, the extras. He had a notebook of his sketches and stuff. I have never seen that [attention to detail] before or since then.”

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twenty one pilots discuss their roots, their fans and ‘Scaled And Icy’ https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-scaled-and-icy-interview-issue-400/ Wed, 15 Dec 2021 23:45:15 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-scaled-and-icy-interview-issue-400/ twenty one pilots appeared on the cover of Alternative Press issue #400. During the conversation, the band discussed their Ohio roots and why they have such a deep connection with their fans. Our twenty one pilots interview also saw them explore their newest album Scaled And Icy and their deeper artistic goals.

Columbus is situated right in the center of Ohio — not quite the heart, though the state border bears a striking resemblance to one — but the nucleus, an isolated center orbited by tentpole cities of the Midwest. To the north is Detroit; west lies Indianapolis; east sits Pittsburgh. Then there are the capital’s Ohio neighbors Cincinnati and Cleveland, the latter of which is where this very publication, celebrating its 400th issue this month, began as a fanzine in 1985, with the ambition of highlighting all things alternative, underground, punk.

To most of the country, however, Ohio is a flyover state: the kind of place you only go to because you are from there, or you know someone who is from there, and, miraculously, they have a good relationship with their family. The state flower is the common carnation; the fruit, a tomato. In most elections, it is politically divided — half conservative and half liberal. It is, on paper, nothing more than a microcosm of American averageness.

Read more: The 20 most underrated pop-punk albums from the last two decades

And yet, Ohio is a breeding ground for anything but. In music history, Ohio is synonymous for left-of-center geeky art rock, like DEVO and Pere Ubu, indie-rock progenitors Guided By Voices, hip-hop (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Kid Cudi), R&B (John Legend), funk (Parliament-Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins), metal (Nine Inch Nails) and beyond.

It is the birthplace of the PretendersChrissie Hynde and Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, and home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You can isolate in Ohio. You can create there — free of the industry pressures of major coastal cities Los Angeles or New York. You can befriend your neighbors without asking them what they do for a living or who they know. You can absorb and embrace the geographic precarity of a place like Columbus.

You could do it, whatever it is. You can be like Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. You can become twenty one pilots

If there is one ethos associated with pop-punk, emo or alternative music in general, it is, well, I’ll let Dun explain. “‘Get me out of here! I gotta go experience something else. I am so sick of this town!’” he intones over Zoom, half-mocking the sentiment. “I never really felt that. I was born and raised in Ohio. I liked it my whole life.”

Read more: Korn have announced tour dates for 2022 with Chevelle and Code Orange

“People want to get out from where they’re from, and I think Josh and I were really fortunate in the way that we were raised, in the families we were born into,” Joseph adds. Today, the band speak to AP not from their hometown, but a rental house 350 miles northwest, in Chicago.

Here, the frontman is catching his breath before resuming the band’s U.S. Takeover tour, which rolled through four near-consecutive nights in both Denver and Los Angeles. Illinois’ most populous city is up next. “Of course, there were things that we wanted to break out of there. Of course, there were things we wanted to escape, but overall, our experience was flying the flag rather than trying to find a new citizenship.” Take it from twenty one pilots: It’s totally fine to like where you’re from. Cool, even.

In that regard, the “getting out of your town” thing is a misnomer: what we tell ourselves we need to start living, to become who we’ve always wanted to become. twenty one pilots didn’t have to go anywhere to find themselves, or their people.

Instead, the duo retreat into songs of their own creation, giving fans the tools for a different kind of escapism: on record, in the meta musical worlds they create.

Read more: Avril Lavigne has announced plans to make a “Sk8er Boi” movie

Their multiplatinum singles double as good vs. evil allegories, treatises on anxiety and depression, diaristic truths that speak to the listener’s most hidden insecurities. In those songs, as it turns out, you don’t have to get out of your town to find solace.

And it is because of that fact that to know twenty one pilots is to know Ohio, an appreciation they carry in everything they do. “When you get up on a stage, you need every bit of confidence that you can get. I mean it. It’s imperative, or else you’ll crumble. No one’s truly meant to stand up onstage in front of thousands of people at one time,” Joseph says. “It’s overwhelming, and so you try to collect as many pieces of ammunition as possible to sustain that pressurized situation. Flying the flag [of Ohio], it gave us another boost of confidence. Rather than trying to come up with a completely new identity, we knew where we were from, and we were taking that with us.”

In the decade-plus since the band formed (more on that later), Joseph has never flown his home state’s nest. Dun moved back earlier in 2021 following a seven-year stint in Los Angeles and marrying actor Debby Ryan.

With the exception of that high-profile relationship, the guys tend to keep their inner circle tight and celebrity-less. They are close with their families. They don’t curse. Joseph doesn’t drink. Both members have previously discussed growing up in conservative, religious households — making them parent-friendly role models for music fans at a time when very little feels moral, or even sensical.

Read more: Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante joins Knocked Loose for live performance

“I want to step up, to try to be a good example,” Joseph explains. “Josh and I are the eldest siblings in our families. We both come from a family of four, and we’re the oldest brothers in both of our families, and so I think that [comes] naturally.” He pauses, taking a swig of coffee, measuring his thoughts. “But it’s a push and pull — I want to go to social media to interact with our fans, to be that example. Our fans have done so much for us. Sometimes I feel like I owe them at least to get on here and tell them the life that they’ve given me. They deserve it. But it’s hard to negotiate with my happiness. It’s still something I’m working on.”

There is an endearing earnestness to Joseph and Dun. At times, it is easy to forget that they make up one of the most successful, popular and innovative rock bands on the planet, credited with creating dynamic concept albums for listeners to find sanctuary in from the comfort of their own homes. When they say they cannot believe the life music gave them, you believe them. But then again, that’s just a couple of good boys from Ohio for you.

For a band as pioneering as twenty one pilots, one that inspires die-hard fans (known as The Skeleton Clique) to build communities around their imaginative rock narratives, TOP’s origin story is fairly straightforward.

For the uninitiated: Tyler Joseph, the group’s mastermind and principal songwriter, formed a band with his childhood friend, bassist Nick Thomas, and a musician he met while attending Ohio State University, Chris Salih.

Read more: IDLES drop “When The Lights Come On” video, explain creation of ‘Crawler’

In 2009, Joseph dubbed the group twenty one pilots after “All My Sons,” the 1947 Arthur Miller play in which a World War II airplane-parts supplier is told his products are faulty, and he’s tasked with an ethical dilemma: Is he ruled by ego and sends the parts out regardless? Or does he recall them and suffer the consequences? (Here’s the 74-years-late spoiler: He sends them out, resulting in the deaths of 21 pilots. It’s assumed, too, that among the dead is his son.)

The modern-day iteration of the band use the name as a sort of gut-check. With each decision they make in their career, how can they avoid sending out the parts?

The trio released a self-titled record, gigged locally and dissolved: Thomas leaving to pursue his degree; Salih, to work. Before Salih left, however, he introduced Joseph to his Guitar Center co-worker, Josh Dun. Their creative chemistry was immediate and gainful. Joseph and Dun toured for two years straight, and in 2011, the duo self-released a second TOP LP, Regional At Best. That year would prove to be pivotal. 

“There was a specific show that was played in Columbus, at a place called the Newport Music Hall,” Dun explains. “Growing up, we knew we wanted to end up on that stage. Fast forward, and we played there a few times. But there was one show in particular — our hometown show, after traveling around Ohio and not really promoting any shows — this one, we promoted.” Consider it their “Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, on June 4, 1976” gig: the kind of show that begins a revolution.

Read more: The 10 best punk drummers of the ’90s, from Dave Grohl to Tobi Vail

It sold out. Then the venue opened up the balcony. That, too, sold out. According to The New York Times, 1,700 fans stood shoulder to shoulder — a near impossible feat. Among that number were 12 record label A&R reps. They left confounded and impressed by the band’s ability to draw such a massive crowd on little more than their talent and confidence.

“Everyone came together and sold out this show. That was the moment where we looked at each other, like, ‘I think we’re doing something that could be working,’” Dun says, smiling. “The next morning, we started getting phone calls from labels. The next month-and-a-half was a whirlwind, just flying across the country and meeting with different labels.”

In 2012, Fueled by Ramen signed the band, and their ascent was swift. First came the boomy Vessel, the 2013 album the duo largely consider the true beginning of the band, and its Warped Tour-friendly rap-rock hits “Car Radio” and “Guns For Hands.”

Upon closer inspection, the band were flirting with a variety of genres, an agonistic and eclectic approach to music that would become their most indelible feature — a rock band that didn’t actually have a guitarist but had a hell of a lot of other stuff. A decade later, with the rise of genreless popular music, it’s become increasingly clear that the music industry has finally caught up to them.

Read more: Oli Sykes’ Drop Dead Clothing releases Rival Schools winter collection

 Then there was 2015’s Blurryface, the group’s biggest record — a triumphant conceptual release centered on the embodiment of Joseph’s greatest insecurities, a character named Blurryface (“My name is Blurryface/And I care what you think,” as he sings on “Stressed Out,” the band’s biggest single that has since gone 10 times platinum).

In 2018, the album became the first ever to have every song on the release certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), meaning every track has gone gold, platinum or beyond. The following year, Vessel earned the same distinction — making them the first band to see two records achieve such a feat.

In a time when most artists are lucky to have a few gangbuster singles, twenty one pilots’ fans examine every contour of every corner of their albums. They are the listeners most bands would kill to accrue.

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2018’s Trench followed — if Blurryface was an entity, the thunderous Trench built a world for him and others to navigate, called Dema. (If you’re looking to lose a couple of hours, expert Clique theorists on YouTube and Reddit are well worth a deep dive.)

Trench, like Blurryface and Vessel before it, traversed genre, a post-hardcore/rap/rock/synth/electro-pop/reggae amalgamation that the band dreamed up, and their fans love to dream in. It is unlike anything else.

twenty one pilots’ closest musical ally is a group like Linkin Park — an alternative-rock band that bent the four-letter genre term to their liking — or My Chemical Romance, an alternative-rock band whose ambitiousness only rivaled their ability to write a hook, and in whom fans found sanctity.

Read more: IDLES drop “When The Lights Come On” video, explain creation of ‘Crawler’

Like those groups, TOP are truly in a camp all their own, writing albums that more closely resemble book or movie trilogies than records — fictional worlds that allow fans to better understand themselves.

“I am a big fan of Lord Of The Rings,” Joseph says, leaning in slightly, like a studied narrator aiming to grab attention.

“I realize that there is such an opportunity inside of the music to provide that storytelling…Not so much a concept album or concept song that you can’t extract your own experience from it. But for it to be grounded in some bigger story always felt more impactful.

“When you’re creating something, you want to make sure that you’re tethered to reality still,” he continues. “Even if you’re venturing deep into this abyss, tie rope around your waist. [You] keep it tied back to where you came from.

These characters and the things talked about; I can’t not be talking about something that I’m personally going through. This person sitting right here, wearing this jacket, this person—” he taps his chest “—is also going through whatever is being written about. In some ways, there is escapism, but I like to believe that all those themes are tied back to reality.”

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It’s also the reason he composes alone, in isolation, like a novelist might. “You just can’t co-write a song with a story behind it that is as deep as some of the stories I’ve fallen in love with,” he says. “There’s something also very powerful about being able to say, ‘Hey, this is me.’ If this fails, it’s me. If it does well, it’s me.”

 “When Tyler and I first met, and when we started playing music together, we both realized that we were not musicians that ever really enjoy jamming,” Dun says, laughing, describing a mutual appreciation for separatist writing. “He has a studio in his basement. He likes to just go down there and create. It feels like that would be a little bit dysfunctional, but it’s not.”

He takes a beat, searching for the right simile. “It’s like when you walk into a room, and you smell everything. An hour later, you don’t really smell it anymore.

‘I’ve been around for so long that it’s just what feels normal.’ I’m walking into that room for the first time, and I’m like, ‘I think I like this, or I don’t.’ We both listen objectively and find that glue.”

When the world shut down due to the COVID-19 health pandemic, a new, imaginative album, Scaled And Icy — a play on “scaled back and isolated” and an anagram “Clancy is dead,” a Trench-era character — flowed out. Optimism, however, did not.

Read more: 20 songs that transformed punk, from “Raw Power” to “Rebel Girl”

“There were times when I really felt like, and Josh will attest to it, I told him, I really felt like we played our last show,” Joseph reveals.

“There were times while writing the record, pushing the record over the finish line as far as mixing and mastering, where we’re thinking, ‘This may never see a stage. This may never come to life in the ways other records have for us.’ We were floundering a bit. Getting in front of those fans is what grounds us. I will always look back on the creation of Scaled And Icy as the most uncertain I’ve ever been, when it comes to music in general.” 

This interview comes from Issue 400, available to purchase here.

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twenty one pilots drop ‘Scaled And Icy’ livestream version ahead of tour https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-livestream-icy-tour-2022/ Sat, 20 Nov 2021 01:45:30 +0000 twenty one pilots are celebrating nearly six months of Scaled And Icy by releasing the livestream version of the album’s tracks. The duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn also announced a 2022 tour.

TØP performed tracks from their album during a livestream concert back in May, which took place at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Read more: In Issue 400, Twenty One Pilots reveal the importance of their community

The band announced a tour,  launching in support of the new album. The tour will go across multiple cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, starting in Saint Paul, Minnesota Aug. 18 and ending in Seattle, Washington Sept. 24.

You can listen to the livestream version of Scaled And Icy and check to see which cities twenty one pilots are playing below.

twenty one pilots 2022 tour dates

08/18 – Saint Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
08/20 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
08/21 – Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Center
08/23 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/24 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena
08/26 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
08/27 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
08/30 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
08/31 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
09/02 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
09/03 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
09/04 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
09/07 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
09/09 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
09/10 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
09/13 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
09/16 – Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
09/17 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
09/18 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
09/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Arena
09/22 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
09/24 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena

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In issue 400, twenty one pilots reveal the importance of their community https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-cover-issue-400/ Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:00:26 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-cover-issue-400/ With Alternative Press issue 400, we celebrate a major milestone for the magazine. AP has continued to change with the times, staying in touch with the evolution of music and culture at large. However, we’ve never forgotten our commitment to championing “New Music Now.” In many ways, this issue looks back to our roots. As always, we insist on pushing forward into the future.

This month, beloved AP cover stars twenty one pilots make their return. They are joined by Knocked Loose, IDLES, SeeYouSpaceCowboy and many other artists. As always, we continue to highlight the broader culture that makes up the alternative world. The magazine highlights a number of multi-talented musicians such as skating legend/Urethane guitarist Steve Caballero, Avenged Sevenfold vocalist/NFT advocate M. Shadows and H2O leader/podcaster Toby Morse.

Read more: LILHUDDY and Joel Madden on new-era pop punk and owning who you are

In TØP’s latest cover appearance, the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun spoke to Maria Sherman about everything from their early years to the present. Shot by the inimitable Ashley Osborn, the cover has four variants, all of which capture the personality and energy of the band.

One of the key points of conversation was TØP’s most recent album, Scaled And Icy, released in May. The project came out of the forced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. One might expect the record to reflect the very reasonable uncertainty that many artists felt at the time.

Resisting the temptation to lean into negativity, they constructed a vibrant and uplifting album. The project flies in the face of a pervasive sense of despair that can at times feel insurmountable. It shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel, both for the band and for those of us who yearn for contact with the outside world.

During the interview, the band also revealed the hard work that has defined their career since the beginning, infusing every song they write. They also returned to their deep love of Ohio, a favorite topic for the Columbus, Ohio natives and our own Cleveland-born magazine. (“I was born and raised in Ohio. I liked it my whole life,” Dun reveals.)

Read more: Pierre Bouvier on collaborating with Beckett to write “Weirdo”—listen

Most of all, the discussion revealed the emotional depth that fuels the band on each and every project.

“When you’re creating something, you want to make sure that you’re tethered to reality still,” Joseph explains. “Even if you’re venturing deep into this abyss, tie rope around your waist. [You] keep it tied back to where you came from. These characters and the things talked about; I can’t not be talking about something that I’m personally going through. This person sitting right here, wearing this jacket, this person—” he taps his chest “—is also going through whatever is being written about. In some ways, there is escapism, but I like to believe that all those themes are tied back to reality.”

“It’s really important for Tyler and I to create and release music that we would listen to and that we do listen to and that we would be a fan of,” Dun adds. “That’s something that I don’t know if a lot of bands do. ‘Is this something that I personally would put on in my car? Would I enjoy this? Would I show my friends?’ All the songs eventually pass that test for both of us.”

Also in this issue:

  • AltPress highlights some of our favorite covers, from our early years to the present. We also hear from the creative minds who helped make our photoshoots jump out of the page.
  • Knocked Loose tell us about their surprise EP A Tear In The Fabric Of Life and why they went even deeper into seclusion to make it, recording the project in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.
  • Lindsey Jordan, the mind behind Snail Mail, reveals how she fought the “sophomore slump” with her new album, Valentine.
  • After taking Britain by storm, IDLES reveal the vision behind their upcoming album Crawler and why they don’t want to be boxed in by the label “punk band.”
  • SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s vocalist Connie Sgarbossa recalls her roots in the hardcore scene, how she forged her own identity as a transgender woman within the genre and how the band’s The Romance Of Affliction is pushing back against the ways we romanticize struggle and pain.

Plus, get to know your new favorite artists Kid Bookie, Static Dress, Holly Humberstone and more.

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twenty one pilots have announced the 2021-2022 global Takeøver tour https://www.altpress.com/twenty-one-pilots-2021-2022-global-takeover-tour-dates/ Wed, 16 Jun 2021 22:15:54 +0000 twenty one pilots are heading back on the road this year for a massive tour. The 2021-2022 Takeøver tour will begin Sept. 21 and travel through the U.S. before taking a brief intermission in November and picking back up for several U.K. dates in June 2022. While tour dates for Mexico City have not yet been announced, the group have shared that dates are coming soon on their tour admat.

Each stop of the tour will feature multiple dates and shows, from intimate venues to large arenas. You can purchase tickets here through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform now. These first-access tickets will be available until 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on June 19.

Read more: Bob Dylan announces first broadcast show in nearly 30 years with Veeps

The pair headed to Twitter to announce the Takeøver tour with a tweet that read, “we come for you ψ starting this fall. the TAKEØVER TOUR spends one week in each city, moving venue to venue, from the small club to the arena. register for access to tickets at twentyonepilots.com/tour

Read more: Meet Me @ The Altar release “Feel A Thing” ahead of ‘Model Citizen’ EP

Drummer Josh Dun also commented about how he felt in regard to the much-anticipated tour in a press release. 

“Wow,” Dun says. “We’re playing shows again. I couldn’t visualize taking another break like we did before Trench, but then we were forced to. Live shows coming back is something I think we’ve all really been waiting for, and we can’t wait to see you again soon.”

The news of an upcoming tour follows the release of twenty one pilots’ latest album, Scaled And Icy. Scaled And Icy was primarily written and produced by lead singer Tyler Joseph at his home studio in Ohio during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Dun was able to expertly engineer his drum sessions from across the country. Despite the difficulties the pair faced over the course of the year, Scaled And Icy pushed them beyond their boundaries to create a collection of music that propels them to the next level of their musical journey.

Read more: twenty one pilots release “Saturday ahead of ‘Scaled And Icy’ —watch

This will be the first tour for twenty one pilots since the Bandito tour in 2018 after the release of their fifth studio album, Trench. However, it won’t be the first time they’ve played live since the pandemic—well, kind of. To celebrate the release of Scaled And Icy, the duo performed a special “Livestream Experience” May 21. 

The livestream featured songs off Scaled And Icy as well as throwbacks from previous releases. The livestream also contained a few set changes, including a snowy winter wonderland. You can watch the duo’s “Shy Away” performance here or below.

Let us know what tour date you’ll be attending to see twenty one pilots live this year!

twenty one pilots tour dates

09/21 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
09/22 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
09/23 — Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
09/25 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
09/28 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
09/29 —Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
09/30 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
10/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
10/12 — Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
10/13 —Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/14 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
10/16 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/18 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/19 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
10/20 — Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
10/23 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/29 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
10/30 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
11/02 — Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
11/03 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
11/04 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
11/06 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
06/21/22 — London, UK @ The Camden Assembly
06/22/22 — London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
06/23/22 — London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
06/25/22 — London, UK @ The SSE Arena Wembley

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