Wolves At The Gate and Twenty One Pilots go way back. Both based out of Columbus, Ohio, the pair have cut their teeth in the same spaces at the start of their careers. In the years that have followed Wolves At The Gate have solidified their place as one of modern post-hardcore’s most consistent entities. Whilst Twenty One Pilots have gone on to be one of the most influential bands of the last decade. So to pay tribute to both of their journeys, we have a pretty incredible cover to listen to.
The cover is of “Heathens”, the song that TOP wrote for the 2016 version of Suicide Squad. Picking up 1.5 BILLION streams on Spotify since its release, it’s fair to say it is a pretty big smash. And Wolves At The Gate turn it into a raging piece of atmospheric heaviness like it’s second nature. Not losing any of the hip-hop-inspired pace, but adding in plenty of brute force, it’s a fitting take on a modern classic.
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Vocalist Steve Cobucci had this to say:
“Long before we ever got signed, we played a VFW show with Twenty One Pilots. We were just local Columbus, Ohio bands trying to get out there and make some fans. They definitely did not fit the rest of the bill, but they were undeniably unique.”
“Fast forward years later and their incredible gifts are being seen and appreciated globally. Something they do so well is expressing dark and somber moods in their music without sacrificing memorability and melody. ‘Heathens’ has a really cool arrangement that allows the listener to experience the chorus in a few different ways throughout the song. The dynamics of the song left an open landscape for us to put our own fingerprint on it.
“As well, the lyrics carried a very relatable sentiment that could be seen and interpreted on a few different levels. The way that we saw the lyrics was telling people to be careful about judging each other. To understand the uniformity that we are all the same. Appearances can be deceptive in how we perceive each other, but at the core, everyone has their own struggles, brokenness, and demons. It’s actually a pretty powerful call for empathy that we really connected with.”
Wolves At The Gate released their latest full-length Eulogies back in 2022 via Solid State Records. Here is “Lights & Fire”:
Twenty One Pilots recently released their incredible MTV Unplugged session on vinyl for the very first time. You can watch the unique performance in full below:
