Johnny Boy (EP)

Johnny Boy — is the homemade debut EP from Twenty One Pilots, which is set for release on May 4, 2009. The existence of the album was confirmed by some old listeners of the band and some acquaintances of Tyler Joseph's relatives, mainly brother Zach.

Johnny Boy
EP by Twenty One Pilots
Released	May 4, 2009
Recorded	February - April 2009
Studio	Tyler Joseph's home studio, Chris Salih's home studio, Columbus, Ohio
Genre	Emo alternative hip-hop soft indie-rock electro indie-pop chamber pop сhristian music
Length	15:15 (Discogs version) 24:06 (Genius version)
Label	Self-released
Producer	Chris Salih, Tyler Joseph
Discogs
Twenty One Pilots chronology
Johnny Boy (2009) Live At UG Studios (2011)
CD disk

Recording

Johnny Boy is a mini-album recorded in the winter-spring of 2009 in a home studio in Tyler Joseph's basement and a home studio in Chris Salih's house. The EP features songs composed between October 2008 and early spring 2009. From Tyler's words and interviews with his father, it can be assumed that the songs «Johnny Boy» and «Air Catcher» were conceived and written by Tyler in late 2008.

Judging from recordings of the songs from the EP by a Reddit user who has the original mini-album CD, all songs except «Air Catcher »sound the same as on the debut album only the mixing differs in that Tyler's voice is louder than the instrumental: the synthesizers in «Friend, Please» sound much louder against the rest of the sounds, the drums in «Johnny Boy»are quieter, and «Air Catcher» sounds just like the early version of the song floating around the internet.

«Notes from one CD, may differ per CD: Johnny Boy - Sounds not as well mixed, drumming sounds damper and muddier. Air Catcher - Has the alternate version strings, Tyler's voice comes out much better during the previously auto-tuned section of the song. Much better audio on the CD compared to the previously released alternate version of the song. Time To Say Goodbye - Sounds much better than the audio making its rounds around the internet. Friend, Please - Sounds not as good as the final version, not a whole lot of difference..»
	— From Discogs

Distribution

The EP was sold and given away for free at the band's early 2009 shows on CD media with the band's name on it and placed in plastic cases with a piece of paper with the band's name on it as well. The only exact date of the show where the band gave away a record was the band's performance at «Battle of the Bands» 11 October 2009.

Finding

The existence of the Johnny Boy EP was not hidden but among the Cliques information about the existence of the mini-album was secret. In 2018, a release page appeared on the Genius website, and in 2019 a Reddit user described the mini-album and its contents, presumably selling the EP on EBay. After the publication of a subreddit about the EP, interest among fans of the band increased in the record, but until these days no one has put the recordings from the disk on the Internet, only «Air Catcher» demo version is freely available.

Setlist

Discogs/Reddit version

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Johnny Boy"	4:37
2.	"Air Catcher (Demo)"	3:53
3.	"Time To Say Goodbye"	3:15
4.	"Friend, Please"	4:10
Total length:		15:15

Genius version

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Johnny Boy"	4:37
2.	"Air Catcher (Demo)"	3:53
3.	"Time To Say Goodbye"	3:15
4.	"Addict With A Pen"	4:46
5.	"Friend, Please"	4:10
6.	"Taxi Cab"	4:45
Total length:		24:06

Media

Photo

Here is all photo EP's CD disk

Video

User Reddit left a link with snippets of songs from the mini-album.

On September 21, 2017, a video of Air Catcher demo was posted where users doubted its credibility and thought it could be fake. The person who posted it claimed to have found it in a hacked Twenty One Pilots disk.

This video was found 16 January 2024 by punching an old link into Weiback and was able to pull it from there. The video was uploaded on November 15, 2009 and definitely confirms that the video that was uploaded in 2017 with a possible demo of the song was true and this video is a re-salvage of the old, already deleted video.