For years, Josh Dun has built a reputation as one of modern rock’s most fearless performers. Backflips off pianos, gravity-defying drum risers, and relentless physical stamina have become trademarks of twenty one pilots live shows. But according to Dun, none of that came close to the fear he felt stepping up to a microphone during the band’s most recent tour.
In a candid post-tour retrospective published on February 5, 2026 by Kerrang! and Music Makes You Think, Dun opened up about his vocal debut on The Contract, a centerpiece of the band’s eighth studio album, Breach. Despite years of performing under pressure, Dun admitted the experience left him physically ill with anxiety.
“I wanted to vomit every night before that cue,” he confessed. “I hated singing it.”
The breaking point came during a disastrous soundcheck at TQL Stadium on the opening night of the Clancy Tour: Breach leg in September 2025. According to Dun, the vocals fell apart, and panic immediately set in. Hours before doors opened, he pleaded with bandmate Tyler Joseph to cut the segment entirely.
Joseph refused.
“He told me the narrative needed it,” Dun recalled. “‘I’m not doing this alone.’ That was basically it.”
What made the moment uniquely brutal wasn’t just singing—it was singing while maintaining his notoriously complex drumming patterns. Dun described the challenge as “splitting my brain in two,” balancing intricate polyrhythms on his custom SJC kit while delivering a vocal line that carries the emotional climax of the album’s story.
Fans had heard hints of Dun’s voice before—affectionately dubbed “jocals” in the Skeleton Clique community—through backing parts on tracks like Bandito and the band’s MTV Unplugged appearance in 2022. But The Contract marked the first time his voice stood front and center, symbolically grounding the song’s narrative against Joseph’s chaotic protagonist.
The gamble paid off. The track quickly became a fan favorite, with crowds screaming Dun’s lines back at him night after night. Still, he admits he hasn’t watched the footage. “I can’t do it yet,” he laughed. “All I see is the panic.”
As the Clancy Tour: Breach winds down and the band prepares for major 2026 festival appearances, including Pinkpop and Rock Werchter, Dun’s vocal leap stands as one of the era’s defining risks.
For the drummer known for fearless stunts, it wasn’t the backflips that tested him—it was finding his voice. And by facing the one thing that truly terrified him, Josh Dun may have delivered the most human moment of the Breach era.