ARTIST: Gym Class Heroes feat. Estelle
TITLE: “Guilty As Charged”
WEB DEBUT: Aug. 20, 2008
Hip-hop heavyweights the Roots are going on a co-headlining tour with the Gym Class Heroes, an announcement that made me say “huh” when I first heard it. After the whole outcry over the Roots’ track with Patrick Stump, I can’t help but wonder what the crowds at these shows will be like, and just how many people will wind up sticking around for both bands. (Yes, yes, to those of you who would say that people should open their minds, I agree, but this is in no way a perfect world–especially now, when people are encouraged to constantly customize their entire experiences to their exact liking.) Estelle is opening, so perhaps she’ll serve as the pre-show bridger of gaps/referee for a joint Lamb of God cover? Click ?uestlove’s pic for the full itinerary.
About one-third of my Saturday was spent in the general environs of Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum, whose parking lot played host to the New York area stop of the skate/punk/emo/exercises in branding festival known as the Warped Tour. Not only were there some 100 bands playing condensed sets during the course of those eight hours, there were merch tents (one for each band on the traveling bill), signings, acoustic sets, petitions to sign, skaters performing tricks, free energy drinks, pro-vegetarianism propaganda, shutter-shade vendors, and a store with Barack Obama-branded items. Not to mention the chance to play Rock Band alongside the session musicians backing up this country’s current No. 1 song. After the jump, a rundown of the day. It will be somewhat disjointed, in honor of every single one of my joints aching after being subjected to parking-lot asphalt for most of the time.
It’s arty, instead of cartoony like this guy’s “Weird Al” Yankovic tattoo. It’s subtle, unlike the full-back Adam Duritz tattoo. But still, there’s something a little unsettling about the new tattoo sported by Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy, which depicts Hall & Oates on each hand. More »
Travis McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes responded to a Warped Tour attendee who heckled him with the former title of Nas’ album last night (and a few other choice words) by breaking his microphone over said audience member’s head as he was being led out by security. “I’m sorry. But when someone calls you something that offensive and that disgusting, you have to bash their head in with a microphone,” McCoy said after everything went down. Apparently local police didn’t agree, as they arrested him on one count of third-degree assault (he was released early this morning). Me, I’m just wondering just when he’s going to weigh in on the incident on his blog. A very shaky clip of last night’s scuffle–complete with post-skullcrushing dedication to the ladies in the audience out there–is after the jump.
If you want to learn how to market your band/club/burgeoning multimedia empire in the late oughts, make time to read this New York Times profile of Fueled By Ramen, the label that, according to the Times, “has its acts promote one another as well as the company itself.” More »
Gym Class Heroes, the emo rap no one asked for, is psyched to talk about their upcoming album The Quilt: Starring Gym Class Heroes, set for August. Wouldn’t you be, if your new album featured Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, and John Oates? Only leader Travis McCoy doesn’t want you to think that this is some stuntcasting nonsense, so he’s planning to leave the names of the celebrity guests off the tracklisting. “I can’t speak for everyone but I hate seeing lots of features on an album. So, instead we’re having a movie aesthetic, where everyone is going to be part of the cast as opposed to being featured.” Does this mean Travis will yell “and Ne-Yo as…himself!” over an instrumental at the end of the CD?
Hey, did you know that Daryl Hall has a monthly webcast? (Did you know that he also has a goatee now?) This month’s guest at Daryl’s house is none other than habitual smirker Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. The two collaborated on a version of “Every Time You Go Away” and a mash-up of “You Make My Dreams” and the Gym Class Heroes song “The Queen and I.” When will McCoy and his marauding gang give ’80s cheese pop the peace it deserves?
