"Guns for Hands" is a song written and recorded by American musical duo

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots (stylized in Letter case, all lowercase or as twenty øne piløts) are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris ...

, released as a single only in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The song was originally recorded for their second

self-released Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

album, ''Regional at Best''. It was re-recorded for their third album '' Vessel'', their 2012 '' Three Songs'' EP, and their 2013 EP, ''Migraine''. The video was directed by Mark C. Eshleman. The song was heavily promoted in

as part of the duo's concert tour through the country and experienced moderate success there, reaching number 21 on their

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart.

Background

In an interview with ''

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, e ...

'',

Tyler Joseph Tyler Robert Joseph (born December 1, 1988) is an American singer, rapper, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman for the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside bandmate Josh Dun. He has been nominated for ...

explained that "Guns for Hands" came about following a meeting after a show with young fans of the band who discussed "what it was they were going through and a lot of what they were going through had to do with suicide", and added that "thank goodness it had a lot to do with them overcoming it and using music and songs, in particular his songs, to help them get over that." Joseph was consequently inspired to write a track "about taking that negative energy and aiming it at something else, not aiming it at yourself."

Music video

The music video for "Guns for Hands" is shot in a large and empty white room, save for the performers and their instruments. The beginning of the video also shows the song's title in Japanese, as well as some subtitles.

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

wears a blue shirt, and

Dun A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse. Etymology The term comes from Irish language, Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), ...

wears a red shirt, representing the band's early logo. The video opens with Joseph putting on a

ski mask A balaclava, also known as a balaclava helmet or ski mask, is a form of cloth headgear designed to expose only part of the face, usually the eyes and mouth. Depending on style and how it is worn, only the eyes, mouth and nose, or just the front ...

and then offering another mask to a withdrawn Dun, whispering "They won't know it's you." The two launch into an energetic performance, with Joseph regularly bringing attention to the fact that his microphone is not actually recording his voice by swinging it around and rubbing it against his forehead. Prior to the rap verse, both performers wrap colored

duct tape Duct tape (also called duck tape, from the cotton duck cloth it was originally made of) is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. There are a variety of constructions using different backings and adhesi ...

around their faces, creating makeshift masks that they remove prior to the final chorus.

Track listing

Personnel

* Tyler Joseph –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming * Josh Dun –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guns for Hands 2012 singles 2011 songs Twenty One Pilots songs Electropop songs Reggae fusion songs Reggae songs Hip hop songs Fueled by Ramen singles Songs written by Tyler Joseph Song recordings produced by Greg Wells Songs about suicide