(and I’ve seen a lot). Tyler and Josh both put in so much passion into their performances and that is what makes them brilliant. Later that night, I started actually listening to their songs and listening to the lyrics. The lyrics hit a nerve for me. I started crying while I was listening to Vessel because it was the first time where I actually felt like I could relate to something. Those songs perfectly describe what I have been dealing with and listening to them made me realize that I’m not the only one who has these feelings. Twenty One Pilots are now my favorite band and I listen to their songs everyday. After I started listening to them, I started to feel better about myself and this whole situation is getting better and I would like to thank Tyler and Josh for giving me a reason to be here.
The first time I heard Twenty One Pilots was when I went to the 104.5 festival a couple months ago. I had originally went there to hear Paramore play but they went on a couple acts before them. I loved their live show, it was one of the best I had ever seen
(and I’ve seen a lot). Tyler and Josh both put in so much passion into their performances and that is what makes them brilliant. Later that night, I started actually listening to their songs and listening to the lyrics. The lyrics hit a nerve for me. I started crying while I was listening to Vessel because it was the first time where I actually felt like I could relate to something. Those songs perfectly describe what I have been dealing with and listening to them made me realize that I’m not the only one who has these feelings. Twenty One Pilots are now my favorite band and I listen to their songs everyday. After I started listening to them, I started to feel better about myself and this whole situation is getting better and I would like to thank Tyler and Josh for giving me a reason to be here.
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The Gold in Silence The band Twenty One Pilots has a song called “Car Radio.” One day my brother-in-law and I were talking about this song, and I still sometimes think about what he said. The song is all about how we hide from silence. We run from it, choosing any type of distraction to hide from silence. For in silence we have to face things. Our fears are there, our guilt is there, our thoughts are there. In silence we suddenly have to face all those questions—questions that are deep. Why do we run? Why do we want to be more zombie than human? Twenty One Pilots makes a very interesting point in this song when it is said “faith is to be awake, and to be awake is for us to think, and for us to think is to be alive.” We are choosing sleep and a “life” without life. In the silence we face our monsters (within and without), our regrets, our bloody hands. We hide behind the sound, too scared to face all of this. I am so incredibly guilty of this. All day I was guilty of this, hiding behind movies, music, anything so I didn’t actually have to think or feel lonely or feel guilty. But, dear friends, there is a reason why the Bible says “let him sit alone in silence” and ”be still and know that I am God.” God speaks to us in the silence. In the silence we do have to face our fears, our guilt, our questions and doubts. But when we face them, we grow. And as we are seeking, we are finding. As we ask these questions, God provides the answers. He cleanses us and removes our fears. Now, I plead with you and myself as Twenty One Pilots does. “And I will try with every rhyme to come across like I am dying to let you know you need to try to think.” I became a “pilot” after looking up the lyrics for Holding onto You. Astounded by the fact that someone new had a song with some heart in it on the radio, I posted the bridge lyrics on Facebook (being the daring, original, creative person that I am). This got the attention of my old friend Amanda who proceeded to bombard me with how awesome twenty one pilots is. At her insistence I downloaded Vessel and began to listen to it straight through. That is until I heard Car Radio. I listened to that one song at least a dozen times. Never had I heard a song so perfectly capture someone’s heart. Their frustrations, confusions, depressions, and rage. As an individual who will over analyze every possible scenario to points of destruction, Car Radio resonated within me in a way I did not think possible. It captures what the late, great F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “We write so that the people who read will know they are not alone with what they feel.” (paraphrasing) After actually listening to the rest of album and just being blown away at the best piece of art I have ever heard, I went back to Amanda to thank her and to share in twenty one pilots. She said they had an earlier album and after immediately downloading twenty one pilots I found myself again blown away by Addict With a Pen. I was not as personally touched as I had been after listening to Car Radio, but I was certain that these guys, in an age of overproduction and auto tune, were artists in the truest sense. A duo to be acknowledged and respected regardless of taste and preferences.
Eventually we begun a conversation about how horrible to music was and that todays “pop” music sucks. “Except Twenty One Pilots, they are cool” “Uh, who’s that?” “Here,” He reached for the laptop and signed in to his iTunes, “Listen to this song, it’ll change your life.” So I sat, and listened, said they were cool, he moved on to another band, I went home, slept, and carried out my life. February 2012 Again, I’m going to skip a lot of details about a relationship, a heartbreak, a breakup. My boyfriend of a year and six months and I broke up. It was bad.) Not even a week later, my “friends” who had supported me and made me feel happy again, turned on me. First just two of them. Spreading rumors about me, making awful tweets and facebook statuses about me, completely ignoring me at school, and making everyone around me hate me. I started to get anxiety attacks at school. I would cry all the time and I didn’t trust anyone. I turned to tumblr to vent. But even that wasn’t safe anymore. After Valentines day I logged on to tumblr to see a message on tumblr, “Nobody likes you”. At first I ignored it. And walked away. A few minutes later, another came, then another, and another. Every time I refreshed the page there would be more. Coming faster than I could read them. Some I answered, some ignored. An hour passed and there had been around 50 messages all over my blog. Each on getting worse and worse. The last one, “the world would be a lot better place if you would just drop dead”. Again, I will skip a lot of small details, but know that everything got a lot worse from there. The depression that had been hiding in the back of my head had crawled and consumed everything. Every thought was invaded and every thing I was familiar with became transparent. Somehow I remained on tumblr through this whole event. And that’s where Twenty One Pilots came back into my life. I turned on that same first song, this time clearly listening to every silly line about a boy having his car radio stolen from him. And I was hooked. I wrapped myself around thoughts of marching to the sea, praising sleep, google ing what a ‘pantaloon’ was, wanting a house of gold, pondering about a kitchen sink, and of course, becoming an addict with a pen. Twenty One Pilots was my therapy. Every time I felt the scary thoughts crawling around in my head, I turned on Addict With A Pen, Save, etc.. The lyrics racked in my brain, bouncing around the depression. I had something to look forward to every day. And I smiled when I saw Tyler and Josh tweet something absolutely hilarious. I was happy. I was healthy. I was alive.I even got my hands on a ticket to their first sold out LC show that April. The show where they announced their deal with Fueled By Ramen. Today is August 17th 2013. Five shows, meeting Tyler and Josh twice, a new school, telling all my new friends about TOP, meeting new amazing people from the fan base, an amazing boyfriend, and 600 tumblr followers later, I AM ALIVE. Not only am I alive, but I will stay alive. I really cannot express how important this band is to me. How these lyrics have helped me build my confidence, believe and trust in people again and be able to sing as loud as I would like. I know my story isn’t very unusual, bullying has become such a huge presents in all our lives, but I still talk about it. Everyone needs a pilot. Something or someone to get them through something so difficult. I recommend this band to anyone who needs help. You will get through this, you will be ok, and you will have an entire fan base to stand by your side. You will stay alive. concert-addiction.tumblr.com suchsmall-pilots.tumblr.com sopha_doph Thank you so much for the opportunity to spread my story, and others. Thank you for being not only a fan of my favorite band, but a friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. From the moment I heard "Holding onto You" on the radio I knew I was hooked on twenty one pilots. I know it's cliche but their lyrics really speak to me. As a young person, I know what it's like to be at war with your mind and to feel completely lost. These songs make me feel like I'm not alone, like I still have hope. It might seem silly to think that one band can have such an impact on my life but I know that as long as Tyler and Josh are still making music, I will be just fine. Thank you both so much. Keep it street, xoxo. "And I will say that we should take a day to break away from all the pain our brain has made, the game is not played alone. And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it and keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone." I became a pilot in 2009, I was at The Attic which is a venue in Kettering Ohio. I was with a few friends and TOP was playing on the smaller stage, the sound, the emotion and the way they danced on stage just automatically dragged me to them. We stood and watch in amazement. After that day I never heard anything from them again, I never saw a show they played and I didn't even know their name honestly. In late 2010/early 2011 that all changed. They were everywhere about once or twice a month I saw them at every local venue. With every word and every note I heard I fell more in love. I remember I would lay in my room and play their CD "twenty one pilots" over and over. I would get chills. Once they got signed I couldn't believe it, i didn't want to believe it in fear they would change. They wouldn't be the same anymore. I saw them after they were signed in Indiana, tyler and josh (and mark of course) remembered me by name, and they were genuinely excited to see me. Thats when i knew Tyler and Josh weren't just band members to me, they are real people who go through real things. They know what you're going through and they will do everything in their power to help you fix it. Still to this day almost 4 years later I still get chills listening to them, I still go to their music when I need some direction in my life. They've never let me down after almost 4 years. That's why I am a pilot. I am there for them as they are there for me. My friend Emma first introduced me to the awesome that is Twenty One Pilots. They were having a concert in Santa Ana, and she was trying to get people to go with her. When I first heard their music I thought it was strange and I didn’t really get it, but I did like it. I hadn’t been to many concerts so thought it would be a fun experience. I began to listen to more and more of their music in preparation and I was getting really excited for the concert even though I’d only known about the band for a few weeks. That night in Santa Ana was honestly one of the best experiences I have ever had. The room was just buzzing with excitement and Tyler and Josh’s passion was contagious. I will never forget what Tyler said during the show. He talked about how there was no other place in the world he’d rather be, and I believed him. Then he asked the crowd who was happy to be there and be alive and the room erupted in cheers. It was a really cool thing. Tyler told everyone to remember that, that if things ever got dark, we could think back to this huge crowd of people all happy to be alive, and know we had been a part of it. It was my freshman year at college and I wasn’t really having the best of times and something about that night just made something click inside me. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but the music and the experience just made me realize that there was so much possibility out there I guess? Anyway a few weeks later Twenty One Pilots had added San Diego to their tour so we went to see them again. By this time I had all their songs memorized and I felt like I belonged to it. After the show we got to meet them and talk a little bit. In my excitement before going to their San Diego show, I’d drawn this Car Radio/Twenty One Pilots symbol fan art thing and I took it with me. It was this really cool feeling to have them look interested by this thing I’d drawn. They signed my drawing and it is definitely my favorite wall decoration. Honestly I have never been so completely taken by music before. I love that their songs don’t follow any sort of blue print. They’re strange and unusual and that’s what makes them feel real. All of Twenty One Pilots songs have this undeniable truth to them that can be unique to each individual who interprets them. The more I listen to their songs, the more I fall in love with them. I am very excited to see them again in September! I can never decide what genre of music is my favorite, but I think whatever the music is that Tyler and Josh make, that’s my favorite. The first time I ever heard twenty one pilots was on fuse they were showing one of their favorite videos and the video was holding onto you. Suddenly I felt like I was paralyzed by the whole experience the drums,the lyrics, and the way the video was done. Something about it was strange but completely relateable seeing a white boy rapping about all the things we as people face on a day to day basis was just mind blowing. I thought this guy is real. The next day I went to school and youtubed them and found Car Radio this time I was totally different I just broke down I lost it. The honesty of the lyrics and it was like Tyler had been narrating my life story. I just knew that this was a band that I was always going to listen always. I found out they were under the fueled by ramen label which made me happier because thats the same label Fun. is under. Through them I’ve met so many people and its a cool feeling knowing that I’m no alone struggling with the troubles of life. Watching their interviews and reading their backstory I just thought wow like how can two people just vibe like that. Then the way that the music takes you on an adventure is so new to me you never know where its going to go and that keeps fans interested. I don’t know what life would be like without Twenty One Pilots so thanks guys all of you who help make twenty one pilots. There are plenty of reasons as to why I became a fan of the band twenty one pilots and I have yet to share my story until now. Pretty much every song off of vessel explains a portion in my life and ill explain why. Growing up for me was difficult I was always an outsider with my thoughts controlling what decisions I've made in life. Some good and some bad. Ode to sleep explains my life because I've spent countless nights awake because I never wanted to fall victim to any terrible thoughts or I just stayed awake because of the thoughts. Holding on to you shows that I'm not alone in all of this mess and migraine is again a battle with my thoughts. House of gold explains me well because I hate to say it I'm a momma's boy. I love my mom and that's all there is to it. Guns for hands is something more personal to me than probably any song on the album. Not only is it my favorite but I've had plenty times where I've had suicidal thoughts or helped a friend stop having suicidal thoughts. I mean I've spent so many nights staying awake and refusing to sleep just to make sure a friend of mine would not do anything they would regret. Guns for hands is by far my favorite song on the album. The song trees explains the social awkwardness that I have always struggled with. Just knowing I could talk to someone but was too scared of the outcome unbeknownst to me that they could possibly feel the same way I do. Finally, truce explains me because even if today wasn't a good day despite all my flaws I know I have plenty of other days to try again. I can sit here and write pages upon pages of why I became such a huge fan of twenty one pilots. I've never been so close to a band in music and I myself am in a band. If I ever got a chance to just thank them for writing such relatable material and for having then save me from my terrible thoughts and anxiety, I would. I would thank them for all they have done even though I am just one kid. Thats why my first tattoo will be their logo. They understand who I am and the whole moral crossroads aspect of the whole play that Tyler has explained the name has stemmed from explains my life. I have never and will never have so much respect for a band and I will support them in anyway I possibly can. It's just great to know I'm not alone in all of this. |
AuthorI run a |-/ tumblr. This blog is for your stories. In September, I will make a book, compiling all our stories, and give it to the boys! ArchivesCategories
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