Culture
Twenty One Pilots talk Ohio roots, rise to stadium shows, White Stripes’ Rock Hall of Fame induction
By: Ian Saint
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LOS ANGELES, California (WOUB) — When WOUB last interviewed Twenty One Pilots, it was just before they played Athens’ 250 person capacity Union Bar & Grill (18 W. Union St.) on January 12, 2012; telling correspondent Jay Campbell that they were on the cusp of signing a record deal they subsequently announced in April.
Last month, WOUB’s Ian Saint caught up with the Columbus-born duo just before they performed The White Stripes’ signature song Seven Nation Army at the latter’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction — weeks after their Clancy World Tour: Breach leg opened and closed with stadium shows in Cincinnati and Los Angeles respectively.
The new interview was also weeks after Saint spoke with Jack White himself about the legacy of Seven Nation Army at Nashville’s Americanafest, their discussion published for a Buddy Magazine cover story.
On the surface, Twenty One Pilots’ frontman & drummer twosome configuration may have made them the obvious choice for performing Seven Nation Army in lieu of The White Stripes — as Meg White declined to attend their Rock Hall induction — but the Pilots’ instrumentation deviated significantly. Tyler Joseph opted to play the 2003 anthem’s distinctive riff on bass guitar, which was absent from the original record, instead of the searing six-string that sizzled rock radio; and for the final verse, Joseph and drummer Josh Dun switched to piano and synthesizer, which heightened the emotional intensity of lines like “all the words are gonna bleed from me, and I will think no more.”
Both bands honed their live performances at dive bars, tiny clubs, and house parties. In fact, Josh Dun told WOUB that a 2011 Athens house party at 3 Elliott St. spurred Joseph’s invitation to join Twenty One Pilots: “I was called by Tyler to come and fill in because the previous drummer quit. So I quit my job and drove here straight from Wisconsin. So I got here in time for the show, and after one song, the fest was shut down by the police.” Tyler Joseph’s announcement of the Athens house gig’s swift quashing remains on the band’s Twitter account, below.
Likewise, Jack White and Twenty One Pilots have bucked the record industry’s swing to digital streaming distribution by emphasizing physical album sales in the last decade. White’s Third Man Records focuses heavily on vinyl production, and his 2024 No Name album was released exclusively on vinyl weeks before uploading to streamers. In September, Twenty One Pilots’ Breach album topped Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart; and Billboard reports that Breach notched the highest first-week vinyl sales of a rock album since modern tracking began in 1991 — spurring NPR to acclaim “Twenty One Pilots prove rock’s not dead.”
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun spoke to WOUB’s Ian Saint on the 2025 Rock Hall induction ceremony’s red carpet in Los Angeles. A transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
IAN SAINT: What is your first memory of The White Stripes, and how did it feel to have this great rock band emerging from the Rust Belt region in your adolescence?
TYLER JOSEPH: I remember seeing a video of them playing, paired with an interview where Jack was talking about how he likes to intentionally make things a little more difficult on stage — to have something to conquer every night — and I think that as a two piece, we saw that as permission to do it our way. Even though it’s a little tougher to accomplish sometimes, with just two people on stage, that struggle is kind of what the show is all about — trying to figure out how to conquer that moment. Meg and Jack, they pioneered that whole idea.
Because you didn’t intend to be a two-piece band, right? Twenty One Pilots was a trio, and then band member attrition reduced it to two?
JOSEPH: Yeah, we just wanted to play music for a living. We didn’t know what the plan was. Everyone knows the struggles of a band trying to make it.
What are your thoughts on Meg White’s drumming, Josh?
JOSH DUN: I think she’s awesome. As we’re playing Seven Nation Army, I’m like “oh man” — the way it starts with just the bassline, the kick comes in, then the snare comes in… it’s simple, but perfect. It’s iconic.
What was it like to open the Breach leg of your Clancy World Tour at a stadium in your home state of Ohio?
JOSEPH: Pretty amazing. I don’t know; we talk about whether or not we would do (stadium productions) again — we didn’t realize how crazy it was to be able to thread the needle and make it happen. Honestly, it’s hard to even describe how fortunate we are to be able to do this for a living. At that level, too? It was incredible.
In your perfect world, who would be performing your songs at your Rock Hall induction?
DUN: Aw, man…
They can be living or dead.
JOSEPH: Or not alive yet. That’s probably what it would be; I think it’s someone who hasn’t quite been born yet. (turns to camera) But I believe in you.
For Twenty One Pilots tour dates and tickets, visit their official website. The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is available for streaming on Disney+, and a primetime special of program highlights will air on ABC at 8 PM Eastern on New Year’s Day.