"I would never rule it out entirely…"
In a recent conference in St. Louis, twenty one pilots took part in a great panel where they answered some insightful questions from fans – from their strangest fears, to their favourite place to travel.
One such query was if Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun ever considered adding more members to help them out during their intricate gigs. "Do you ever find it restricting to be a two-man band when playing live shows, and have you ever thought of adding additional members for live tours to play other instruments – sort of like a Nine Inch Nails approach?" they were asked.
Tyler's answer was very interesting (and also typically funny): "There's something very easy, logistically, about it being a two-person band. Still today, but also even more so when you first start out. When someone's late to band practice, it's only one other guy – so you only have to have one conversation! I've always talked about some of the negatives, or… like, a lot of bands huddle before a show to fire up, [but for us] it's really just an animated hug for us, I guess. It's just two of us.
"And then, a few other things: we never want to be too comfortable onstage; we never want to feel like, 'Oh, I've been here before and this is very easy.' And there's something about adding members that feels like it'd be solving a problem. Having that struggle every night… kind of helps to motivate. All of that being said, I think it's really special when a group of people are on the same page, musically, and I think it's something that obviously we get a bit out of just playing with each other, but the more you add it can be quite magical as well.
"I would never rule it out entirely, but for right now we like the challenge."
Check out the full clip below – the additional band members question comes up around 13:30, but the whole thing is well worth a watch.
Catch twenty one pilots live at the following:
November
9 Talking Stick Resort Arena – Phoenix, AZ
10 The Forum – Inglewood, CA
11 Oracle Arena – Oakland, CA
13 Vivint Smart Home Arena – Salt Lake City, UT
15 Moda Center – Portland, OR
16 Tacoma Dome – Tacoma, WA
17 Taco Bell Arena – Boise, ID
19 Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
20 Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, NE
21 Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO
December
7 Perth Arena – Perth, Australia
10 Adelaide Entertainment Centre – Adelaide, Australia
13 Rod Laver Arena – Melbourne, Australia
16 Qudos Bank Arena – Sydney, Australia
18 Brisbane Entertainment Centre – Brisbane, Australia
21 Spark Arena – Auckland, New Zealand
January 2019
30 Palace of Sports – Kiev, Ukraine
February 2019
2 VTB Arena – Moscow, Russia
4 Ice Palace – St. Petersburg, Russia
6 Ice Hall – Helsinki, Finland
8 Ericsson Globe Arena – Stockholm, Sweden
9 Telenor Arena – Oslo, Norway
11 Royal Arena – Copenhagen, Denmark
12 Barclaycard Arena – Hamburg, Germany
14 Mercedes-Benz Arena – Berlin, Germany
15 Atlas Arena – Lodz, Poland
16 The O2 Arena – Prague, Czech Republic
17 Wiener Stadthalle – Vienna, Austria
21 Unipol Arena – Bologna, Italy
23 Hallenstadion Zurich – Zurich, Switzerland
24 Hanns-Martin-Schleyerhalle – Stuttgart, Germany
25 Lanxess Arena – Cologne, Germany
27 Genting Arena – Birmingham, United Kingdom
March 2019
1 3Arena – Dublin, Ireland
2 SSE Arena Belfast – Belfast, UK
4 The SSE Hydro Arena – Glasgow, UK
5 Manchester Arena – Manchester, UK
7 The SSE Arena, Wembley – London, UK
8 The SSE Arena, Wembley – London, UK
9 The SSE Arena, Wembley – London, UK
11 Accorhotels Arena – Paris, France
12 Ziggo Dome – Amsterdam, Netherlands
13 Palais 12 – Brussels, Belgium
15 Bizkaia Arena (BEC!) – Bilbao, Spain
16 WiZink Center – Madrid, Spain
17 Altice Arena – Lisbon, Portugal
