Gym
Class Heroes are a four-member band from Geneva, New York. Fall Out Boy's
Pete Wentz discovered them and with their original blend of hip hop, pop and
rock, they are worth looking out for. We speak with Travis, GCH’s
unofficial spokesman.I hear you’re in Glasgow, what are you doing up there?
We’re doing a show tonight and really looking forward to it. It’s so cold up here though! It’s not snowing yet but it feels like it will.
Gym Class Heroes is an intriguing name, any reason why you picked that?
They wouldn’t let us get away with F**king Bad Ass Band which is what we wanted to be called in the first place! We were quite young and in high school when we came up with the name.
How would you describe the style of music you record?
You can’t really class it as just one genre, that’s the best thing with us. The best way to describe our music is f**king awesome!
Do you like to write all your own songs?
Yeah, definitely. We think that’s really important. A really cool thing is that we had full creative control with this album and could do literally whatever we wanted. We weren’t even worried about signing our deal because they’ve been great to us.
What were you doing before you got signed?
I was a tattoo artist. I don’t really do much of that anymore though. The weirdest place I’ve had to tattoo was someone’s throat on their clavicle bone!
What’s the most personal track to you on the album?
Probably the last song, Band Aids, which represents some things that we’ve been through. After I finished that track I felt really good.
Are there plans to record with any of your label mates?
That’s the cool thing about being on our label, there are so many great artists signed with us. We’ve been speaking with Panic At The Disco, that would be a good collaboration for us.
Are you more hip hop or more indie?
We’re just awesome! Seriously though, what I think is that you have to roll with the punches so you’re in a position to make the kind of music that you want to and do things on your own. We want to bring out more hip hop tracks in the future.
What else have you got in the pipeline?
World domination and eating good food! I’m a simple man.
Listen to ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’ http://streamos.warnermusic.com/wmedia/wmiuk/gymclassheroes/CupidsChokeholdv_Hi.asx
www.gymclassheroes.com
By Rashmi Shastri - Feb 2007