Twenty One Pilots Singer Tyler Joseph Discusses How His Hard Work In Basketball Paid Off In A Successful Music Career

Twenty One Pilots singer Tyler Joseph wasn’t necessarily destined to be one of the most successful musicians of all time, but in a recent podcast with Rolling Stones, Joseph revealed how his hard work at being a successful basketball player helped form the work ethic that has made Twenty One Pilots one of the most sought after groups of 2016.

Both Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun discussed the success of the Twenty One Pilots album Blurryface and their current world tour. As previously reported by Inquisitr, Twenty One Pilots just recently accomplished a charting feat that only Elvis and The Beatles had previously achieved by having two top five singles on Billboard‘s Top 100 at the same time, and the Pilots have been selling out arenas around the globe.

During the Rolling Stone podcast, Both Joseph and Dun attributed the Twenty One Pilots’ current success to their formative childhood years. Dun admitted living a sheltered life in which his parents limited the types of music he listened to while growing up and Joseph discussed how his being forced by his mother to focus on succeeding at basketball developed a strong work ethic that helped him to be the driving force behind the Twenty One Pilots’ rise to fame.

“I had to make 500 shots every day and when my mom wasn’t looking, I’d get up closer to the basket and do lay-ups and count them and she’d be at the back window at the kitchen and knock. Then I’d have to go back and shoot from longer,” Joseph said. Tyler’s daily basketball routine was often used as motivation to get a meal which could explain why Twenty One Pilots are not starving musicians. Apparently Joseph’s on-court success paid off as well.

In a video interview with Alternative Press, Tyler Joseph discussed that his family didn’t see a rock star life in his future, but his parents did hope that he would go to college and Tyler’s best bet was to get a basketball scholarship. Check out the Twenty One Pilots’ frontman’s hoop moves:

According to a previous article by Rolling Stone, Joseph had a successful high school basketball career that landed him an athletic scholarship to Otterbein University. Even though playing basketball at a high level had always been the Twenty One Pilot frontman’s dream, Joseph declined the scholarship to pursue his music career instead — a move that even Tyler Joseph’s mother, the woman who had pushed her young son to shoot 500 baskets a day, jumped on board with. Tyler recounted Twenty One Pilots’ early years in which his mother would stand outside of Ohio State giving away tickets to their live shows. “She’d be like, ‘Come see my son play music,'” Joseph said.

But these days, Twenty One Pilots doesn’t need anyone to hawk tickets to their events. The duo is selling out large arenas such as Madison Square Garden and has been touted as one of the most entertaining live acts in the world. Their enthusiastic fans have come out in droves and, as previously reported by Inquisitr, got a little overly enthusiastic when Twenty One Pilots played the Reading Festival last month, manhandling Joseph while he attempted to crowd surf. Though Tyler made it to the top of the platform he was attempting to get to, he called an end to the show after losing a shoe and having his shirt nearly ripped off by the crowd.

Twenty One Pilots will be hitting the U.S. leg of their world tour beginning in January. The duo recently announced that singer Jon Bellion will join them as their opening act for those 33 shows.

For the entire Twenty One Pilots Rolling Stone podcast, listen below:

[Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Turner]