Thursday, January 17, 2013

Twenty One Pilots - New Fave Group of 2013

I recently came across a musical duo named Twenty One Pilots. After youth group (A|Zero) last night I was playing it and several students were asking who was playing. After a few listens I fell in love with their eclectic style. I've now listened to their new CD "Vessel" dozens of times. My original thoughts were they were an amalgam of Eminem, Rufus Wainwright, .FUN, Matt & Kim, Owl City and Passion Pit. Every once in awhile they have a Mumford & Sons vibe on the song "Heart of Gold" and on my favorite song "Screen" there is a little bit of light Reggae. It would have to be light Reggae, because more than that I wouldn't have cared for it as much. The song's great, but the lyrics are amazing. I imagine a crowd of believers at a conference like CIY, singing the refrain...

"We're broken"
"We're broken"
We're broken people"

Over and over again with arms outstretched to God.

Here's a great answer to why they chose that name! "Ok so, I (Tyler) was in theatre class and we were studying a play called "All My Sons" written by Arthur Miller in the 40's. It was about a father who ran a company that provided parts for airplanes used in WWII. He then found out that his parts were faulty, so he comes to a moral crossroads:1. He can take the parts back and not send them out, but he will lose a lot of money in a financially tough situation. He would also taint his business and his name and be known as 'unreliable' in his trade. But this would ultimately be the 'right' thing to do. or,2. send the parts out, make the necessary money to provide for his family, not taint his name, etc. He ends up sending the parts out and twenty one pilots died because of it. His son was a pilot in the war who had lost his life. There was no evidence to prove that it was directly related but his daughter blamed her father for her brothers death. He ended up committing suicide at the end of the play. Here's how we make it relevant: I feel like we are all constantly encountering moral crossroads where the decisions that benefit the "now" will have consequences down the road; but the decision that might seem tough and tolling right away will ultimately be more rewarding. What is our purpose for playing music? We are constantly asking ourselves that question. The answer can change all the time, but for right now we are just going to stick with something as simple as "we want to make people think."