RomeoAGoGo
11/01/06, 09:54 PM
Matt : I'm sure you know the drill by now, can you please state your name and what you do in the band?
Travis : Sure. My name is Travvy and I'm lead vocalist for Gym Class Heroes.
Matt : I saw you guys play at Warped in Montreal and Keith Buckley came on for a song....
Travis : We just did a remix of a song called "The Queen and I" and Keith sang on it so I'm just waiting to get the e-mail so I can hear this shit, but Keith is a good friend of mine.
Matt : How'd you end up meeting him?
Travis : He's from Buffalo and I've been a big fan of his forever and I used to go shows in Buffalo all the time.
Matt : How's it being back upstate?
Travis : It feels good man. We're still way away from home. We've been touring for so long. I mean it's way closer to home then fuckin Chicago. So yeah, it feels good.
Matt : When was the last time you guys have been home?
Travis : Pshh, I can't even remember. It's all good though.
Matt : You guys have a tour coming up with All American Rejects, The Format , and The Starting Line. Are you excited for that?
Travis : Yea we just started that. It's been crazy, but like to me, big shows are awesome, but smaller shows like [tonight] are more intimate. But the tour has been going awesome. We're about four days deep into it and we got two days off to do two college shows and then we catch back up with them on Thursday. It's going good. A good response. It's a crazy show. If it comes around you guys should go. We got the big blue guy on the front of our record in costume, so it's hilarious.
Matt : What are you listening to right now, what's your favorite music preference?
Travis : Right now, I listen to all kind of shit. I'm a big Hall and Oates fan. I love Hall and Oates. I could play them all day. From the moment I wake up and throughout the day.
Matt : As Cruel As School Children dropped a couple months ago.
What was the difference between going into that album compared to Papercut Chronicles and For The Kids?
Travis : Um, well the last record was a little more personal. Actually it was a lot more personal then this record. Another big difference is that we did it in three days on our own budget. And at the time we didn't have much money. We all had shitty jobs and borrowed money from our parents to record this shit. So we went in, did it, and got out. With that record, I got a lot of personal shit off my chest and got closure to a lot of stuff. With the new record, we had a budget and I was like I'm over that chapter of my life. This record is a lot more fun. The next record might be some 70s disco shit. That's the thing about Gym Class Heroes. It's so hard to put a face on a Gym Class Heroes fan. We just did the MTV Woodie Awards and I'm not sure if you know who Kat Williams is, but as we were leaving he saw us and he was like jumping up and down like "I didn't know that was you, I listen to your shit all the time" and I'm like "Yea right he's just sayin shit" and he's like "I can leave now...I can leave now..." and I'm like "Okay". And then later that night I got a call from his publicist like "Yo Kat wants you to come to the hotel" and we went over there and no lie, straight up, he had both of our CDs and I was like "this shit is weird." He's like "if you ever do a video of Viva La White Girl lemme know I wanna be in that shit if you need skits lemme know" and I was like "yo this is A Pimp Named Slickback" talking right now man.
Matt : Out of all the bands mentioned on Taxi Driver, which one is your favorite?
Travis : It's just funny because all the bands mentioned in that song the names are kinda derivatives of each other. As I Lay Dying, Bleeding Through. You know it's just like blood, guts, why didn't anybody else think of this shit? But I'd have to say uhh..Coheed probably.
Matt : They're from upstate too, right?
Travis : Yea they're from Woodstock not too far from here.
Matt : What's it like being on Fueled By Ramen?
Travis : It's cool. We're defintly like the sore thumb on the label. In a sense, it's like, the main reason we signed was to put an emphasis on touring. We just wanted to be on the road constantly. We talked to a few major labels in the beginning and we wanted to build a solid foundation before being thrown out there for public consumption. We're like this weird thing. Nobody really knows what to do with it. So as long as we can tour and build a solid following. It was like "when do you guys wanna hit the road", and it was like "as soon as your ready for us to hit the road". They put us in a van and a trailer and we were on our way and we've been touring for the past three years non-stop. It's cool to see things start to follow up a little bit.
Matt : I know it's pretty recent, but any plans for a new album?
Travis : Oh yea. We're actually gonna put out an EP. we're going to finish this winter and put it out in the spring and in Janurary record a whole new album.
Matt : Any title?
Travis : Not right now, it's tentative right now. I can tell you something, but it'd probably change. We just shot another video and we're actually doing a cartoon video for "Shoot Down The Stars" that I'm glad to be apart of. We can just be on tour, and the video will get done for us, then we can get the shit sent to us and approve it. If it's not cool fix it, send it back to his crew.
Matt : What song are you shooting a video for right now?
Travis : We just did another video for "Cupids Chokehold." It's a weird situation where a radio station in Milwakee started playing it on the radio and it just caught fire and it was the number one most requested song on the list. So the first video we did for it was like Five G's and this time around we got like Two Hundred G's. This was shot and filmed as opposed to digital. For the "Shoot Down The Stars" video it's going to be animated and be like some Old School Fat Albert shit. So that should be exciting. I always wanted to a cartoon video.
Matt : Your music basically incorporates hip-hop and rock and you guys are already pretty popular within the rock scene. Do you guys ever think you'll blow up in the hip-hop scene?
Travis : I think it's a misconception that we only play with rock bands. We'll play with anybody. I mean, whoever wants to get down with us. We'll tour with anybody. What's kind of been the big thing for us is in the beginning we played with like death metal bands, jam bands, reggae bands, feminist slam poets, whoever wants to get down.
Matt : What's the crowds reaction in those type of situations?
Travis : Well now it's like people know what to expect from us. In the beginning it was like, we were playing with bum rock bands and nu-metal bands and people were like what is this shit yo? But like, we just took it in stride and kept doing what we were doing. So in essence it kinda paid off.
Matt : Any final words or anything?
Travis : Drop out of school, and umm, fuck the kids.
Travis : Sure. My name is Travvy and I'm lead vocalist for Gym Class Heroes.
Matt : I saw you guys play at Warped in Montreal and Keith Buckley came on for a song....
Travis : We just did a remix of a song called "The Queen and I" and Keith sang on it so I'm just waiting to get the e-mail so I can hear this shit, but Keith is a good friend of mine.
Matt : How'd you end up meeting him?
Travis : He's from Buffalo and I've been a big fan of his forever and I used to go shows in Buffalo all the time.
Matt : How's it being back upstate?
Travis : It feels good man. We're still way away from home. We've been touring for so long. I mean it's way closer to home then fuckin Chicago. So yeah, it feels good.
Matt : When was the last time you guys have been home?
Travis : Pshh, I can't even remember. It's all good though.
Matt : You guys have a tour coming up with All American Rejects, The Format , and The Starting Line. Are you excited for that?
Travis : Yea we just started that. It's been crazy, but like to me, big shows are awesome, but smaller shows like [tonight] are more intimate. But the tour has been going awesome. We're about four days deep into it and we got two days off to do two college shows and then we catch back up with them on Thursday. It's going good. A good response. It's a crazy show. If it comes around you guys should go. We got the big blue guy on the front of our record in costume, so it's hilarious.
Matt : What are you listening to right now, what's your favorite music preference?
Travis : Right now, I listen to all kind of shit. I'm a big Hall and Oates fan. I love Hall and Oates. I could play them all day. From the moment I wake up and throughout the day.
Matt : As Cruel As School Children dropped a couple months ago.
What was the difference between going into that album compared to Papercut Chronicles and For The Kids?
Travis : Um, well the last record was a little more personal. Actually it was a lot more personal then this record. Another big difference is that we did it in three days on our own budget. And at the time we didn't have much money. We all had shitty jobs and borrowed money from our parents to record this shit. So we went in, did it, and got out. With that record, I got a lot of personal shit off my chest and got closure to a lot of stuff. With the new record, we had a budget and I was like I'm over that chapter of my life. This record is a lot more fun. The next record might be some 70s disco shit. That's the thing about Gym Class Heroes. It's so hard to put a face on a Gym Class Heroes fan. We just did the MTV Woodie Awards and I'm not sure if you know who Kat Williams is, but as we were leaving he saw us and he was like jumping up and down like "I didn't know that was you, I listen to your shit all the time" and I'm like "Yea right he's just sayin shit" and he's like "I can leave now...I can leave now..." and I'm like "Okay". And then later that night I got a call from his publicist like "Yo Kat wants you to come to the hotel" and we went over there and no lie, straight up, he had both of our CDs and I was like "this shit is weird." He's like "if you ever do a video of Viva La White Girl lemme know I wanna be in that shit if you need skits lemme know" and I was like "yo this is A Pimp Named Slickback" talking right now man.
Matt : Out of all the bands mentioned on Taxi Driver, which one is your favorite?
Travis : It's just funny because all the bands mentioned in that song the names are kinda derivatives of each other. As I Lay Dying, Bleeding Through. You know it's just like blood, guts, why didn't anybody else think of this shit? But I'd have to say uhh..Coheed probably.
Matt : They're from upstate too, right?
Travis : Yea they're from Woodstock not too far from here.
Matt : What's it like being on Fueled By Ramen?
Travis : It's cool. We're defintly like the sore thumb on the label. In a sense, it's like, the main reason we signed was to put an emphasis on touring. We just wanted to be on the road constantly. We talked to a few major labels in the beginning and we wanted to build a solid foundation before being thrown out there for public consumption. We're like this weird thing. Nobody really knows what to do with it. So as long as we can tour and build a solid following. It was like "when do you guys wanna hit the road", and it was like "as soon as your ready for us to hit the road". They put us in a van and a trailer and we were on our way and we've been touring for the past three years non-stop. It's cool to see things start to follow up a little bit.
Matt : I know it's pretty recent, but any plans for a new album?
Travis : Oh yea. We're actually gonna put out an EP. we're going to finish this winter and put it out in the spring and in Janurary record a whole new album.
Matt : Any title?
Travis : Not right now, it's tentative right now. I can tell you something, but it'd probably change. We just shot another video and we're actually doing a cartoon video for "Shoot Down The Stars" that I'm glad to be apart of. We can just be on tour, and the video will get done for us, then we can get the shit sent to us and approve it. If it's not cool fix it, send it back to his crew.
Matt : What song are you shooting a video for right now?
Travis : We just did another video for "Cupids Chokehold." It's a weird situation where a radio station in Milwakee started playing it on the radio and it just caught fire and it was the number one most requested song on the list. So the first video we did for it was like Five G's and this time around we got like Two Hundred G's. This was shot and filmed as opposed to digital. For the "Shoot Down The Stars" video it's going to be animated and be like some Old School Fat Albert shit. So that should be exciting. I always wanted to a cartoon video.
Matt : Your music basically incorporates hip-hop and rock and you guys are already pretty popular within the rock scene. Do you guys ever think you'll blow up in the hip-hop scene?
Travis : I think it's a misconception that we only play with rock bands. We'll play with anybody. I mean, whoever wants to get down with us. We'll tour with anybody. What's kind of been the big thing for us is in the beginning we played with like death metal bands, jam bands, reggae bands, feminist slam poets, whoever wants to get down.
Matt : What's the crowds reaction in those type of situations?
Travis : Well now it's like people know what to expect from us. In the beginning it was like, we were playing with bum rock bands and nu-metal bands and people were like what is this shit yo? But like, we just took it in stride and kept doing what we were doing. So in essence it kinda paid off.
Matt : Any final words or anything?
Travis : Drop out of school, and umm, fuck the kids.