Gym Class Heroes History
Out of upstate New York has come an inventive new group that is beginning to make their mark on the music world. Instead of the conventional looped samples and canned beats, Gym Class Heroes is a 5 piece hip-hop band that uses live instruments and musicians instead of looped samples and canned beats. The band has produced an original hip-hop sound fusing crisp guitar rhythms, deep melodic bass lines, head cracking beats, and conscious lyrics to create a sound that is truly their own. The roots of Gym Class Heroes reach back to 1997, when McCoy first met drummer Matt McGinley in where else but gym class. The band officially came together in 2001 with the two high school friends eventually teaming up with guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo, and bassist Eric Roberts. Their goal from the start was to create a new palette for hip hop, one that replaced the genre's trademark programmed beats and samples with the live instrumentation of rock 'n' roll. Gym Class Heroes toured non-stop, living life on the road while simultaneously building up both a fanbase and a repertoire. In 2001, they self-released their debut collection, For the Kids. Touring nonstop, they recorded The Papercut Chronicles in 2003, which caught the attention of Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz before it was even finished. The Heroes were officially signed to his Fueled by Ramen imprint, Decaydance, by September 2004. The four-song teaser The Papercut EP preceded the eventual February 2005 release of The Papercut Chronicles. The album's deeply personal lyricism and inventive sonic vision caught the attention of Decaydance founder Pete Wentz, who promptly invited Gym Class Heroes to sign aboard the Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen roster. The band spent much of the next two years doing what they do best - playing live. They headlined sold out dates, lit up Vans Warped Tour, and toured the world with bands like Fall Out Boy, constantly out there bringing their unique hip-hop vision to new fans. As 2006 began, Gym Class Heroes pulled off the road - albeit temporarily - and got busy making the record of their career. The quartet hit the road hard, spending spring on dates with Midtown, Fall Out Boy, and the Academy Is..., along with hitting the year's SXSW, Bamboozle, and Warped Tour festivals. They also spent part of the summer opening for ska-punks Streetlight Manifesto. A Red Hot Chili Peppers cover song was donated to Fearless' Punk Goes '90s compilation before their follow-up was issued in July 2006. As Cruel as School Children was produced by SAM (Method Man, the Sounds) and Sluggo (aka session bassist Dave Katz), and co-produced by Fall Out Boy vocalist Patrick Stump. The album included various guest appearances, including The Academy Is...'s William Beckett and Arrested Development's Speech. They spent that summer supporting the record on the Warped Tour. As Cruel as Schoolchildren is marked by its diverse grooves and warm, organic textures. The band took inspiration from an array of dissimilar artists, spanning dark sonic provocateurs Interpol and Radiohead to pop power balladeers like Phil Collins and Hall & Oates. But most crucial to the album's buoyant sound was the band's love for the funk-flavored mainstream R&B of the '80s, including such colorful icons as Prince and Ready For The World. That sense of artistic juxtaposition extends to the album as a whole. As Cruel as Schoolchildren might appear upbeat and carefree on first glance, but attention paid unveils a far darker underbelly of personal and social commentary. The album's title, McCoy explains is "a metaphor for the world today. It's crawling with lunch money bullies and insecurities. Once you come to realize that, the second you decide to live by your own rules and push aside outside opinion, you really begin to live life." From the word go, Gym Class Heroes have defined themselves via that kind of free-thinking philosophy, always breaking musical boundaries and changing perceptions of what hip-hop or indie or rock can be. With As Cruel as Schoolchildren, Gym Class Heroes make plain that they are proudly unified in their disorderly vision, confident that their integrity will pay off dividends in the end. Gym Class Heroes' profile notably increased at the year's end with the release of the single "Cupid's Chokehold/Breakfast in America," which hit number four on Billboard's Hot 100 and remained in constant rotation on radio and MTV during the spring of 2007.Sources: starpulse.com, contactmusic.com, idolme.com.