Twenty One Pilots‘ Josh Dun and Chainsmokers drummer Matt McGuire’s have posted an epic, 19-minute drum-off in which they work their kits together to songs by Paramore, Foo Fighters, Jay-Z and more.
The two shirtless skinsmen go absolutely nuts on songs by N.E.R.D., Red Hot Chili Peppers and A$AP Rocky during the energetic display, in which their kits are set up across from each other at an appropriate social distance so that they can just bash away on everything from Jigga’s “Jigga What” to Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” and a raging run through Underoath’s “A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White.”
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“We thought it would be cool to do some older songs that were inspirational to us in some way or another – songs that we’ve played in the past, whether it’s in our parents’ basement or in a loft in a warehouse that we rented out somewhere,” Dun said in a post-megamix interview in which he revealed that the pair met in 2014 while on tour in Australia and became fast friends.
“I think when I started playing drums it was kind of an emotional release through hitting something – it just felt really good! I also remember in middle-school, it was around the time when iPods weren’t out yet – it was CDs and Walkmans – and I had groups of friends who were rock friends, groups of friends who were hip-hop friends, or pop friends, but I didn’t know where I fit in.”
And so, he would go to his local record shop and find the most tatted-out guy he could find and ask him what he should buy that week. “He would just give me a little bit of everything, and then I took it across the street to the music store, put in my Walkman, and then put on the electronic drum headphones over the top of that and then mix the two.”
McGuire laughed at that double-up, recalling that he would take his dad’s lawn-mowing earmuffs over his earbuds in order to get a more massive sound. They also marveled at how despite growing up on opposite sides of the world they shared so many influences when it came to putting together their wish list for the session.
“What continues to inspire me is playing shows,” McGuire said, pining for the days of when that will be a thing again.
Watch Dun and McGuire’s drum-off below.