In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of Blurryface, we’ve gone into the archives and dusted off this 2015 interview with Twenty One Pilots. The original chat happened ahead of their tiny headline show at London’s Boston Music Rooms, a few days before the game changing album was released. A string of singles – ‘Ride’, ‘Fairly Local’, ‘Tear In My Heart’, ‘Stressed Out’, ‘Lane Boy – were already causing a buzz within the rock world, but nothing had truly taken off. Yet.

“I don’t think Josh and I ever set out to be rebellious,” vocalist Tyler Joseph tells Dork. ’Blurryface’ builds on the band’s already established collision of rock and pop, but confidently adds reggae, indie, hip-hop and funk into their colourful playground. “To me, it’s an improved version of what we’ve been doing, but that’s just coming from a fan of my own band,” adds Josh Dun. “The goal is always to be getting better.”

Written on the road while touring ‘Vessel’, the band created ‘Blurryface’ to fill in the gaps of their already-impressive live show. “We view everything through the filter of live music,” Tyler explains. For years it’s all the band knew, building an early following around their hometown of Columbus, Ohio long before any online excitement. “We just want people to get the music however they can, so they can come to a show and experience it with us. That’s really where it all comes together and makes sense, face to face.”

The pair are fully aware that ‘Blurryface’ is a hectic record, rapidly shifting between tempos, genres and moods. “We come from a generation of kids who have the ability to get their hands on any type of music, so we’re going to write every type of music,” Tyler explains. “I want people to know there's creative freedom today. You don’t have to write a certain style, you don’t have to create a particular painting and you don’t have to fit a genre. You just do whatever you want to do.”

“We never wanted to break moulds but after going through the album cycle for ‘Vessels’ we really started to see the innards of what makes the music industry tick. You realise there’s a formula to art,” he continues. “We thought if you create something great, you’re going to be great but that’s not always the case. We felt deceived.” Rather than play the game, the pair “worked really hard to keep our heads down” and created an album that was just true to them.” We tried to get back to that mindset we had when we were writing songs and didn’t know if anyone else was going to hear them.” It’s tough to stick to your guns, especially when you’ve already had some early wins, Tyler admits. “But the whole time we had each other.”

As playlist-friendly as the record is, Blurryface is very much An Album. “There is this common thread running through it. When I hear the songs together, it makes sense because they’re all describing a moment in time. A snapshot of where we are in our lives and what we are going through,” explains Tyler. “I wanted to tackle the idea of insecurity. You might think guys who are on stage every night are really confident and full of themselves but that’s not the case.“There are a lot of times where we’ve had to push through that self-doubt. I want to be transparent about the fact we’ve struggled with our own insecurities and with the right mindset you can overcome that.”

“For me, it helped to give those doubts a name, a face and a seat at the table so I could stare across and address them,” he continues. “This record is focused on that character of Blurryface, and trying to defeat him.”

Tyler formed a version of Twenty One Pilots in 2009 but things really fell into place when he teamed up with Josh Dun in 2011. The pair played as many gigs as they could and released their second album (with the self-deprecating title ‘Regional At Best’) in 2011. 2013’s follow-up ‘Vessel’ saw them tour further afield, supporting Fall Out Boy on their Save Rock & Roll comeback tour, and earn a small but dedicated following.

“When I first started writing songs, the idea of people hearing them didn’t cross my mind,” Tyler admits. “The first time I ever wrote a song and showed it to my immediate family, I realised that as they were listening to my lyrics, they were hearing some really deep stuff that I hadn’t shared before. There’s something about the fact it was inside music that made it ok. Music is a vehicle to express those things without being judged.”

And the band has lived by that belief. Their back catalogue is full of songs that deal with depression, anxiety and uncertainty while their live shows have become a space for communal catharsis. “It’s so impactful when there are thousands of people in a room all moving to a band leading them in how crazy they’re allowed to be,” says Tyler. “We try to exhaust whatever we have physically every night. Not only do the people there deserve it, but we really use that moment to just shake everything out. I’d much rather be singing about these personal moments, where I’m working through something, than some of the content that’s out there that doesn’t have any meaning. I think it would be much more draining to sing a song you didn’t care about every night than to sing a song that means a lot to you.”

“There are a lot of things wrong with the world today but a lot of the time, someone’s worst enemy is themselves,” he continues. “I hope this album attracts people who can resonate with that struggle.”

He goes on to admit there are Twenty One Pilots songs that will never get released because they feel too exposing. “You have to balance that tension and hopefully you don’t overstep it. Even talking about it now makes me nervous,” Tyler admits. “What if we said something we weren’t meant to say on Blurryface? I don’t know. It’s out in five days, we’ll find out then.”

Being viewed as role models is “a responsibility” adds Josh. “Even realising that is totally scary because we’re just kids. I try not to think about it too much but when I do, it’s motivation for me to be a better person.”

Both Tyler and Josh are the oldest of four siblings. “We’ve understood the role of trying to set a good example,” Tyler explains. “We know what it feels like to fail at that, but hopefully it’s prepared us for this sort of pressure. At the same time, it might be something we want to step up to and be, but we also know we’re not deserving of it. We will always be humbled by the fact people will care about how we live our lives.”

Despite the building hype around Twenty One Pilots, their accidentally rebellious take on rock music has upset genre purists. “They hate us, it’s perfect,” Tyler grins. “It would really bum me out if we were creating something vanilla. To not be a fork in the road with your art is wasting your power of creating art in the first place. We’re fine with polarizing people when they hear us.”

So where next? “One of the reasons I was so excited about playing music with Josh is because one of the first times we ever hung out, we talked about our dreams,” says Tyler. “It’s a very naked feeling talking about what your ambitions are, but it’s safe to say we’re big fans of not putting a ceiling on them. Whatever you could imagine is probably what we’re going for.”