StudioA: Meet indie rockers Twenty One Pilots

• Twenty One Pilots fuse rock%2C piano pop%2C hip hop and electronica in their music
• They performed at Washington D.C.%27s 9%3A30 Club for USA TODAY%27s StudioA
• Watch the video of their performance and interview

Who are those masked men? Twenty One Pilots, an indie rock duo whose intense fusion of rap, piano pop, rock and electronica generated tons of buzz in 2013. Their energetic live shows made them local favorites in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio. "We played hardcore shows, hip-hop shows, no one knew where to put us," says drummer Josh Dun before a recent concert at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club. "But we've approached live shows as a way to build something from nothing."

Fear not: Behind those scary ski masks, Dun and lead singer Tyler Joseph are really nice guys. Also, Joseph likes to wear a flowered robe onstage, so it all balances out. "We thought it was kind of cool, new and different to wear masks onstage, but yeah, people were confused," says Dun.

Taking flight: While it sounds like rap, piano, rock and electronica blended together wouldn't work, Twenty One Pilots make it work very well. In 2013, they generated a huge amount of interest after festival stops at Bonnaroo, Hangout Fest, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, in addition to an appearance on Conan. Since the fall release of their album, Vessel, they've been headlining sold-out shows and will continue to tour through the spring and summer festival season. They were also nominated for MTV's 2013 Artist to Watch Video Music Award.

Literary beginnings: Joseph got the band's moniker from playwright Arthur Miller's All My Sons. In it, the main character (Joe Keller) supplies airplane parts to war planes, but discovers that some of them are faulty, so he has to decide whether to recall them or press on. He wants to do what's right but needs to support his family, so he sends the parts anyway. As a result of his decision, 21 pilots die. At the end of the play, he commits suicide.

Morbid? Yes, but there's a lesson here. "We're constantly faced with decisions. A lot of times, the right ones take more work, it takes longer to see benefit; they're the long route," says Joseph. "We know in order to get where we want to be and do what we want to be doing, sometimes we have to do what we don't feel like doing. It takes hard work, and the band name is a constant reminder of that."