Q&A: Twenty One Pilots On Doing ‘MTV Unplugged,’ Their Favorite Live Bands And Songwriting

Twenty One Pilots — the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun — have become one of the biggest live draws in music over the last decade based on their electrifying and riveting concerts.

Whether doing covers of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" on ukulele, bringing out their various opening acts to jam with them, or breaking their live anthem, "Car Radio," into a full-on electronic song in the middle, Twenty One Pilots deliver passion, joy and creativity at every show.

So when the duo were approached to join the long legacy of great artists — from Elton John, Aerosmith and Erykah Badu to Alanis Morissette, R.E.M. and Alicia Keys — who have taped MTV Unplugged shows, they knew they had to come up with something special.

What they came up with for their taping at L.A.'s Exchange was brilliant. And something any Twenty One Pilots fan cannot miss when it premieres this Thursday, June 9, on MTV.

Prior to their taping I met with Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun at a L.A. hotel to discuss how they came up with their sound for Unplugged, their favorite live bands, and a great deal about songwriting.

Steve Baltin: When you got the call to do this is there one Unplugged that you thought of from back in the day as a favorite? I think the one that everybody goes to is Nirvana, but for some reason, when I started thinking about these, I was thinking about both Alice in Chains, just 'cause I love that band, and Bruce Springsteen.

Tyler Joseph: I do feel like the Alice in Chains one doesn't get as much recognition as the Nirvana one. I kind of feel like they're up there together. So yeah, MTV Unplugged is important to just several generations of musicians and to be able to be a part of that now and add our names to that list is pretty incredible.

Baltin: Were there songs that you guys were particularly interested or excited to strip down. My favorite song live is "Car Radio" but how do you do that one acoustic.

Joseph: That's a good question actually. When we were tapped to do this I did my deep dive into MTV Unplugged's of the past and realized that, "Yes, the concept is that it's stripped down, you grab an acoustic guitar and you sing your song." But I think more than more than that it turned into an opportunity to see an artist or a band in a different way than they traditionally present themselves. So I kind of took that and came up with a concept where we're actually not very unplugged at all. We're very plugged in. But it is very different than anything we've ever done before. Usually Josh and I performed at prerecorded tracks so that we can focus on our performance and all that. And we're proud of our tracks we made them ourselves, but still prerecorded nonetheless. What we're doing for MTV Unplugged though is we're actually gonna be building out those tracks and looping and playing every sound that you hear and watching what chemistry is required in order to make those backing tracks. Where in the past we would be playing to prerecorded ones, we're actually gonna be building them out. So it's kind of a looping function. And then by the end of each song, you'll have really a different version of the song than, than anyone's heard before.

Baltin: Do you guys see this as a little bit of a litmus test for possibly doing something like this going forward?

Joseph: Exactly that actually. So we took a deep dive into the technology of being able to sample something real time. And then being able to import that sound that you're capturing into an instrument and triggering that in different ways. I can't think of a cooler way to involve an audience than to ask them to sing something or be the kick drum or give us a clap or a woo and building out a drum kit that he will be playing of the audience noises. And so that's something that we tackled specifically for the MTV Unplugged set. But we think this is actually such a cool technology and such a great way to connect with an audience maybe we will try to bring this in on our arena runs.

Baltin: Are there songs that you're particularly excited to think about reinterpreting?

Joseph: It is a bit of a fine line. You want to consider that a fan coming to a show wants to hear the version that they fell in love with. And just because you as the artist or the performer are sick of it, someone in that audience may not be as sick of it as you. So you always want to consider that. But at the same time, you're right. I think that it does lend itself to you start to realize Josh will be playing the drums slightly different in certain songs. And I might even approach a vocal in a different way and we'll do it for years and years and years and then hear the original and go, "Oh yeah, I forgot I did that." Sometimes we get so disconnected from our original version of the song that it just naturally morphs into something slightly different when you're playing it live every night. And then the way that we've approached this set with really kind of like deconstructing and reconstructing the song it's almost like adding jet fuel to that evolution to what the song could be. And now what we're gonna end up with a handful of songs that are very different from the original, which is exciting and gets our creative juices flowing.

Baltin: So are there one or two that you've done in rehearsals that really stand out?

Joseph: Yeah. I think if we beat it, like it's cooler than the originals. I guess that's kind of a good litmus test of whether or not it's good or not.

Josh Dun: Yeah, I think exactly what Tyler said, you go and see an artist and you don't want every song to be totally different than what you're used to. But in this sort of environment, as a standalone thing, I think this is something for people to take in and enjoy, whereas a live show you want them to be a part of what's happening. And when something's totally different, it's hard for them to be as much of a part of it.

Baltin: Are there artists that you've seen that really were the best at merging the two worlds, making songs evolve live but still maintain the sound fans fell in love with?

Joseph: Actually what we're finding is as our career continues and we keep on releasing music, it's harder and harder to come up with that set list. There's songs that we love, songs we know we should play because overwhelming consensus is that should be on the set list. So where we really get to be creative is trying to figure out how to kind of like mash two together or reference a song quickly. So that chord progression could work with another song that we have that maybe isn't the same key, maybe a really quick tempo change all of a sudden. And then you start to get kind of nerdy about it. Like how can you actually get this song that's in this time signature, maybe like moving into a three, four or the other way around? Changing things up and it all starts because all of a sudden we've got too many songs to fit into a decent set, and you gotta get creative to try to get to those. So that's where I think that we have a lot of fun.

Baltin: As you start thinking about this format and rebuilding the songs, were there any in particular that you are really excited to play?

Joseph: Do you have one, "Ode to Sleep?"

Dun: Yeah, we did play "Ode to Sleep." In the fall,our first shows back from COVID, we did a ramp up of shows in different cities. So we'd start out in the club and then work our way up to an arena. Some of those club shows, we threw in a couple of older songs that it would be a little tougher to play in a bigger room. And these shows in the clubs were kind of like throwback to 2013 when we were touring. And yeah, that was really fun. "Ode to Sleep" was one that we opened with, just a song off of our older record Vessel. And it is fun to bring back an old song sometimes, especially one that's just filled with energy.

Baltin: Are you able to look at the songs differently, almost with the perspective of a fan, after stepping away from it for a while?

Joseph: Yeah. It kind of feels like there's different seasons that you'll go through in your relationship with your songs. Obviously the honeymoon phase in the beginning, when you're writing new ones, you're excited about those. Most artists that you ask, like, "What songs are your favorite one to play live?" They almost always default to something that they're working on currently. Which is just indicative of hopefully an artist or songwriter or a band is continuing to create. And that excitement is what fuels the continuation of that creativity. So it's usually what the answer is. Now, then there's kind of this like purgatory in between, like it's not new, but it's not really old yet. And your kind of like, "Ah, whatever." I think that as our career moves forward, more of those songs are leaving that kind of middle purgatory spot and becoming songs where we can, like you just said, see it from a fan's perspective. I think of a song like, "Tear In My Heart," that was on Blurryface. I listened to the other day for the first time in probably since it came out, I thought, "Man, this is a good song." And you know, this is weird to say it like that, but it does take time. You do have to distance yourself from it to see it a little more like a fan would see it.

Dun: Yeah, and I think music is also such a stamp on your life for a specific time and songs can be so tied with emotions and memories and feelings. And I think a lot of times that's why there's like a cycle where like I'm listening to music and my dad's like, "What the heck are you listening to? Why are you listening to this?" And we're gonna become that at some point because at a certain point that stamp starts to run out. And you're just like "I want to continue listening to things that I'm used to." But like Tyler said, when an older song, like "Tear In My Heart" comes on it brings you back. It's like looking at that stamp of feelings or emotions that you felt when you listened to it or created it then. And when we're able to play an older song, to me, it's kind of bringing back to life or revisiting some of the feelings and experiences that we were having at that time.

Baltin: Are there songs for you guys now, and especially in a format like this, where you hear them almost in a different way?

Joseph: Yeah, a lot of that. The reason why I picked up songwriting in the first place was it was a way for me to express myself in a way I felt like you just can't express yourself any other way, at least for me. And I think that a lot of what inspires a song is searching, almost like in the same way that you're searching for melody, you're searching for something lyrically and spiritually at the same time. And so yeah, there are songs you can look back and be like, "I found what I was looking for."

Baltin: Hey, you're beating U2 then.

Jospeh: Yeah [laughter]. So yeah, we're fortunate to have a career that's been long enough to be able to look back on songs in that way. Not many people get to do that.

Baltin: I'm such a fan of the live show. What's the best concert each of you have seen?

Dun: Ooh. We both love the band called Mutemath. And it was just a band in a show that we would go see and feel a similar energy to how we like to see a show and also perform a show. That's one that I think of.

Joseph: Yeah. Killers stick out to me too.