Speaker 2
The fun to gather a mentality is what they refer to it as, right?
Speaker 1
I guess. And actually, I've always argued with him like, well, I mean, you can't argue that when you become a dad, you have less time to work on that thing that you're working on. So you think that you become a better worker. And this, of course, this is like pre me being a father. I would always argue inevitably, dad, when you have a kid, time gets taken away from what you're able to pour into your craft. There's no way that you are a better worker from becoming a father. And so I kind of stood, not that I didn't want to be a dad, but for him to be so blatant and so steadfast in believing that when you become a dad, when you become a parent, you become a better worker. I just didn't understand how you could balance the time it takes to be a parent. And it's going to be extracted from the time that you would pour into that craft. When something hit me during this making of the record, how to justify the philosophy that you become a better worker when you become a dad, I realized that if I were to go into a parallel universe and we were to split off and the musician, artists, songwriter, Tyler would continue down this path where he wasn't a family guy and he just kept on creating every single day. And then or the path that I'm on right now, which is I'm splitting my time between what it is I do for a living, working on songs, but also being a part of a family. I realized that what would happen is, yes, right in the front end of that timeline on the single guy, he would probably chug away and get a lot done. But I know that inevitably I would burn out. I would hit a wall where I just don't, what's the point? If I don't have, if I'm not able to answer the question, what is the point of me working on these songs? What was the point of me creating? I don't have anything to point back to that is the point. I would just, I would burn out. I know. And so this other parallel, the universe I'm living right now where I may not be able to chug and grind as hard as I want because I have to split my time up. I believe that there's actually a longevity to that career because I'm able to stop. Anytime I'm slightly burnt out, I turn around and I know why I'm doing what I'm doing. So in a sense, my dad was right all the time and he always tends to be. So I figured that out this year. I figured that out that my dad's
Speaker 2
smart. Did you feel prepared to become a father? Was it something that when you became a dad that those instincts came naturally to you? Or did you have to spend some time working on yourself in order to identify how you could play the best possible role in your children's future?
Speaker 1
I'm a father of one. She's a little over one years old. And one of the first things you have to do as a parent before you even become a parent is you have to name that kid. And talk about the beginning of heavy decisions. That's just the cusp of decisions you have to make as a parent. That's number one. And so when someone is thinking about becoming a parent, becoming a mom or a dad or a guardian or whatever, and you start to feel like, oh my gosh, there's all these decisions that need to be made. And I don't know how I would ever be able to rise to that occasion. Something happens when it happens. What I mean by that is, I knew I wanted to name my daughter Rosie, but I was up until she was born. I was just so like, is that the right name? Is she going to like that name? Is she going to become that name? Is the name going to become her? How is it going to impact her? Her decisions, people have this philosophy that your name can actually change the course of your future. And just that being the number one decision out of an infinite amount of decisions I have to make as a father, I was so worked up about, did I name her right? And then she was born and something clicked where I was like, oh, that's Rosie. It just, that wasn't, you know, looking back, I remember that it was a tough decision, but now that the name is connected to the face, it's like there was no other option. And a lot of the decisions that I make as a parent that my wife and I make, we realize leading up to decision moment is the most stressful moment. But when the decision is made and you make a certain turn with them, you realize, oh, that's just who they are. That's who it always was going to be. And it really starts to take the pressure out of becoming a parent. And so yeah, leading up to being a parent, it is the most constricting, stressful thing. But when it happens, something clicks.
Speaker 2
I hear you when you talk about leading up to the decision and in that sense of kind of completion and ultimate relief once the decision is made. Okay. Now we get on with living with the decision, you know? And I sort of wonder whether or not that realization at a pivotal moment in anyone's life when they become a parent prepared you to handle the decision making process differently as a creative because I know that you take each decision when it comes to 21 pilots very seriously. So in going into making this record, was there a correlation between making a decision as a parent and ultimately moving forward as a creative?
Speaker 1
It's a good question. I think that one of the greatest strengths that you can have as not just a songwriter but a performer and a musician is the ability to fast forward and put yourself, project yourself onto something that's going to happen, the ability to just calm yourself and picture yourself there. So the question of, you know, as something as simple as, wait, that song, we shouldn't put it next to that song on the set list because I just ran around for three minutes and then you want, you know, then I shouldn't be just sitting down and calmly hitting those vocal notes because I'm going to be out of breath. You know, so instead of realizing that the hard way, you put yourself there and then you start working backwards. What are the, what are lessons that I'm going to learn having done this? And so having that being something that I'm always focusing on, you know, whether it's be, you know, mostly because of concerts, you know, trying to project and put yourself there before you get up on stage, doing the rehearsal before, you know, in your head, even as a parent, I've been thinking about being a parent for a long time. You know, I've been thinking about how I want to tell her. I think she's pretty even at a very young age. It's like, I know I want to tell her that all the time. To answer your question as a creative, I've always worked on trying to, trying to see something happen before it happens. And that I guess in a sense has helped me be a dad. You know, I took a video of her. She's starting to walk around and she walked up to me and she said something and I'm videoing on my phone, you know, and, and then I do the first thing I've never done this before. I play the video for her. You can see her connect. Like, that's me. And she's looking at it. She's very excited about it. But then this weird, like, concern look looks, you know, is on her face. Like, she doesn't understand why that's her and maybe, and all of a sudden it hit me like one day, she might not like what she looks like. And I'm going to have to help her realize that she's beautiful and she's, she's amazing. And I want to start that now, even when she's one years old, you know, and so you start to look, you start to project things out and try to, what are some lessons I'm going to learn and how can I start preparing for them right now? And that's one that hit me just the other day.