Josh Dun (born June 18, 1988), is an American musician and drummer best known for being the drummer for the band Twenty One Pilots.
Early Life
Josh Dun was born in Columbus, Ohio, and comes from a family of six with two sisters, Ashley and Abigail, and a brother, Jordan. At a young age, Dun taught himself how to play drums. Dun recalls that he was not allowed to listen to secular music in his childhood, but would often sneak to the music store and ask for suggestions. "I'd hide albums like Green Day's Dookie under my bed. Sometimes they'd find them and get real mad. They'd find a Christian alternative like Relient K and make me listen to that." Dun worked at the Guitar Center alongside former Twenty One Pilots drummer Chris Salih, through whom he would eventually meet Tyler Joseph.
Career
House of Heroes
Dun's first foray into the music industry was with alternative/Christian rock band House of Heroes. He joined the band through their drummer, Colin Rigsby, who was taking a break to spend time with his family. Dun played alongside the band on tour from March to October 2010 when Rigsby returned to his role.
In 2011, upon the invite of co-worker and the band's drummer Chris Salih, Dun attended a Twenty One Pilots show after listening to their original first album. He notes that he was impressed with the performance of the band. After the show he met lead singer and future band mate Tyler Joseph, and a couple of days later began to build a friendship with him.
After the departure of Nick Thomas and Chris Salih in May and June 2011, Dun quit his job at Guitar Center to play a show with Joseph. They managed to perform one song before being shut down by the police. Following this, Dun became the band's permanent drummer.
In July 2011, the band released a second self published album, Regional at Best, which saw the band gain traction with the music community and garnered the interest of record labels. In 2012 the band signed with Fueled by Ramen and released an EP later that year.
On January 8, 2013, the band's first album, Vessel, signed to a label was released and received mainstream exposure.
On May 17, 2015, the fourth album, Blurryface, was released and saw the band receive international success, with the album charting highly in several countries, and became a No. 1 album in the US.
In July 2017, Twenty One Pilots went on hiatus for a year whilst they worked on their next album, Trench. On July 11, 2018, they released two new songs, "Jumpsuit" and "Nico and the Niners". Dun is currently touring with the band on The Bandito Tour, starting in October 2018.