Interview Time: Gym Class Heroes

Gym Class Heroes

Formed in late 1997, in where else but gym class, this four-man hip hop group is quickly becoming everybody�s favourite new band, even though they�ve been around for nearly a decade.

Formed in late 1997, in where else but gym class, this four-man hip hop group is quickly becoming everybody’s favourite new band, even though they’ve been around for nearly a decade.

Their latest album, ‘As Cruel As Schoolchildren’, sees the Geneva, New York, natives continue their artistic brilliance in blending the genres of hip hop, rock, indie and everything else in between into an album of sorts, worthy of a place in everyone’s CD collection.

In town to promote their new release, Melisa Tang sat down with original members Travis (lead singer) and Matt (drummer) to find out the truth behind their MySpace anthem, their mischievous antics at school, and why they couldn’t give a f*ck about Justin Timberlake…

Your new album, ‘As Cruel As Schoolchildren’, is very much a combination of rap, rock and indie all mixed together. Who brings the different elements to the group? Is there one member more into hip hop or rock music?

Matt: Yeah, I think we’re all pretty much into it. I mean, we’ve almost been doing this for 10 years. When we first started, I met Travis in gym class; I’d just started high school. Then I was listening mostly to groove-oriented rock stuff, like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but he kinda put me up on the hip hop, and through him I got into it a lot. I think it’s now at a point where everyone’s into the same stuff. That’s weird, like living with people, ‘cos essentially on tour we live together, and for the last two years we’ve been inseparable, so we all listen to the same music and think the same things are funny. But I think definitely as musicians, Disashi brings the really funky, sort of Jimi Hendrix-style of play, and think everyone comes from different backgrounds and different places musically, so I think that shows up separately on the record, which is cool. Collectively, we’re all into the same influences.

You had the MySpace anthem, ‘New Friend Request’ – what do you think of the whole internet revolution of sites like MySpace and YouTube, for example? Are you an addict of sites like that?!

Matt: I’d say that currently I’m not addicted to MySpace, mostly because I don’t have the means of a computer out on the road much, but erm… yeah, everybody likes MySpace! Especially as a band, I think it’s largely influential on a lot of band’s success. I’ve heard since we were discovered on PureVolume.com, which is the same concept as MySpace, just without all the photos and stuff. I think it’s a good outlet for fans to get your stuff heard, kind of like garnish a fanbase without having to tour the country or the world. I think a lot of people will hear ‘New Friend Request’ and think we’re maybe mocking MySpace, but it’s more of like… I mean, that is a true story – Travis really did court a girl on MySpace!! But the song is more of just an observation of MySpace, you know what I mean?

Travis: I am an addict of MySpace, I will not lie! But who isn’t?!

Have you heard any new bands on MySpace that you rate?

Matt: Erm…no! This is stupid, it’s gonna go against what I just said! But I usually just get bombarded with bands that have these huge banners which say ‘Add me, add me, add me!’ a thousand times, and so I don’t really check out new bands in that way; for me personally, it’s not really my outlet for hearing new bands. I usually hear bands that I tour with, or bands who I’m touring with will put me onto new music, but I think if I wasn’t on tour I would probably look to the Internet for new music.

You’ve got a track on the album about an intimate teacher/pupil relationship, ‘Scandalous Scholastics’. Was that fictional, or was that something that actually happened?!

Matt: Er… Travis would be better to answer that one! But as far as I know, it’s a work of fiction. I’ll tell you one thing: at school we had some really heinous teachers, so I hope for Travis’ sake it’s not true!

Travis: Yeah, it’s definitely fiction, but I think it’s every schoolboy’s fantasy, you know?

Do you all write the songs together, or is it mainly Travis who writes the lyrics and the rest of you write the music?

Matt: Yeah, lyrically, Travis writes the lyrics, and musically we’ll write it together. A lot of the time, our guitarist Disashi will bring a song to the table, and we’ll kind of like, build it from that. We used to just sit in a room and just play around until we found something we liked, like, ‘Ok, this song is the hook’, or ‘This bit is the verse’ – there’s no one method for us writing songs.

The album features only a couple of guest appearances, but they’re pretty special ones at that. What was it like working with William Beckett and MC Speech?

Matt: Obviously the Speech thing was…amazing! This is a guy whose career I’ve followed since I started getting into music, like third grade and stuff, so that was great. With William, it was awesome, ‘cos he’s a great friend who, since we’ve started touring, we’ve known The Academy, and they got signed around the same time that we did to Fueled By Ramen, so it’s a really cool relationship we have with them. It was cool to have [William] on the record, because I think he’s a great singer. He really, really set the song, because I can remember us hearing the song before we asked him to sing on it, and I remember thinking it’s great, but it’s missing something; it doesn’t sound like a Gym Class Heroes song, so getting him on it was awesome. We also worked with Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy on the last record we did, ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’, so it was cool to have him back again, and he did a lot of the co-production on the album. You might not know from Fall Out Boy, but he’s really into a lot of 70’s and 80’s soul music, and he’s an amazing, amazing singer.

When you’ve previously talked about your single, ‘The Queen And I’, you’ve said you have ‘weird, underlying issues with females and alcohol’. What kind of issues were you referring to?

Travis: Well, to put it bluntly, my mum’s an alcoholic. So, whenever I’m in a situation with a female like that, I have weird, not necessarily flashbacks, but kinda like… déjà vu, so it kinda weirds me out, but I’m getting better; the song helped me a lot. But at the same time, it’s like, without me explaining that, you wouldn’t get that impression from the song.

That track is very playful and summery, much like the rest of the album, with the underlying meaning to it. Was that what you set out to do from the start?

Travis: For sure, I think that it’s cool when it can be therapeutic for yourself and not kill anybody off the buzz in the process, you know what I mean? But at the same time, it’s like, well, anybody who’s been what I’ve been through and sh*t like that will be able to relate to it. But even, like, without being too dismal and boring, I love it!

Your album has the whole school theme to it – from the title to the track names and interludes. What were you like at school?

Matt: Well, one time, in ninth grade, we stole do much school supplies that we had an entire locker full! A bunch of kids were helping us steal stuff, so we had this whole locker full… I mean, that would insinuate that we were bad asses, but when I first met Travis, I was just like, a dorky little freshman getting picked on by my older brother’s friends and stuff, but it was cool ‘cos Travis would always have my back, so there came a point when they knew not to mess with me, or they’ll feel the wrath of Travie! (Laughs)

You’ve been around for a few years now; how do you think you’ve changed the way hip hop is perceived, or the image of hip hop?

Travis: Well, here’s the thing: there’s all this ranting and raving about Justin Timberlake bringing sexy back; well f*ck that! Gym Class Heroes brought sexy back! (Laughs) Well, we just wanna show that you don’t have to take things so seriously, you don’t have to walk around with a scowl all the time. You’re not really changing anything unless you hit on your emotions that have been like, almost numbed by what’s going on right now. I think we offer something different for people to listen to; something else.

Do you think you’ve opened up hip hop fans to other music from listening to you?

Matt: I hope so… but I think it’s vice versa. I hope a lot of these kids who come from a rock standpoint that have been turned off by some of the hip hop they’ve been exposed to can change their mindset from listening to Gym Class Heroes, like help them cross over to what is really, really good. I know a lot of our friends actually, who wouldn’t even know who Fall Out Boy is, they’re starting to like the same music as us!

You’ve been referred to as one of the first pioneers of live hip hop, much like The Roots in a way – how do you feel about this accreditation?

Matt: Wow, I don’t think we’ve really heard ourselves being called ‘pioneers’, so I’m kind of blushing right now!

Travis: I think we fell into our sound, but we’ve always known how to incorporate live instruments into our music; we’ve learnt how to manipulate them into making the sound that we want.

When you’re done with the music industry, what kind of legacy would you like to leave?

Travis: A sexy one! A sexy legacy! (Laughs)

Matt: I hope that after everything’s said and done, I hope that we leave a really thick catalogue of really good music and really good albums, you know? I want to be one of those bands who have mad albums, but they’re all different and necessary, you know? I think we’re heading in that direction.

Gym Class Heroes’ new album, ‘As Cruel As Schoolchildren’, is out now on Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance. For more information, visit www.gymclassheroes.com.