Busy, busy, busy. Life according to Gym Class Heroes is work hard, play hard. Lucky for them that the two are pretty much the same thing.
With a hectic live schedule and an array of singles and videos bombarding the charts, this eclectic hip-hop-rock-something are making a musical career that appears to be directly linked to their origins of the Gym and love of ping-pong. Hard, fast and, as they explain, laced with authentic feelgood vibes that are so desperately needed in this time of the overly-serious reign of ponce le monde .
Currently touring the UK and with a number of single releases on their way (including 'The Queen And I' on August 28th), they have done much for broadening listener's minds and musical tastes, chugging on with flat-out touring duties that have only stopped in order to record new material. With the newly released album 'As Cruel As School Children', they are tipped to be the talk of the Hip-Hop playground.
Pay attention, students. This is how it's done.
R13: How is the UK treating you?
GCH: The UK is awesome. We love coming over here cos it's great to see our music expand and the crowd are super-open to the music we do and different styles in general. So it's always a treat to come here.
R13: Have you had any expectations for the live dates you're in the middle of playing?
GCH: I dunno, because it's our first headlining tour over here. Tonight in London was sold out so we were really excited to play this particular show but no, not really.
R13: You have been stated to think that Hip Hop has become 'too serious'. Why do you think that is and do you think there are any major culprits?
GCH: I think just in general Hip Hop is really serious and really angry and it's really materialistic. We're not trying to change that but I guess Gym Class Heroes are just offering something else and I would hope that someone that generally listens to rock music, could listen to us and then be able to pick up a De La Soul record or just basically know that there is other Hip Hop out there. Y'know, stuff with very good content and musically good.
R13: And as your music isn't marked as one particular genre, what sort of crowd are you pulling?
GCH: I think it kinda transcends. At the show last night there were lots of Hip Hop kids and but there's also lots of Rock kids, so I don't think you can really put your finger on what Gym Class Heroes stand with and who listens to us as we run the gambit a little
R13: You said you wanted to make Prince-like music. Do you think this has been fully achieved in the new release?
GCH: I think this was something our singer Travis said, and I don't necessarily think that we want to be 'Prince's music' [laughs] and his legacy. But his catalogue of music is unreal. We're one of those bands that when it's the end of our career, we want to leave behind a really long legacy of quality good music. I don't think we'll ever make the same record twice - nobody wants to hear that and we especially don't want to make it. But I think in terms of 'Prince's music', we have an upcoming single called 'Clothes Off' and I think that's as Prince as we get. It's got that old kind of eighties R'n'B throwback vibe and it's just fun. I think that's really the whole theme to 'As Cruel as School Children'; an all-around fun and interesting album.
R13: Are there any things that you'd like to incorporate into the band sound or live performance that you haven't already?
GCH: I've actually always wanted to incorporate strings somehow. Until this point we haven't really had a budget to do that, but I would really love to see us in the future do something with that. A track that comes to mind is 'Gone 'til November' by Wyclef. It was an amazing song – a pretty hip-hop song that mixed in strings.
R13: And on a synthetic level, if you could have any stage prop, what would it be?
GCH: Hmm...
R13: Y'know, like 50ft inflatable ladies, pyrotechnics...
GCH: [laughs] I think that since we have the school theme right now, maybe if we had a whole classroom set up on stage and our intro could be us being told off down to the principal's office and chop boards on stage and stuff. That might be cool.
R13: What with your song 'New Friend Request', what are your thoughts on myspace?
GCH: I think it's fun and entirely addictive. It's actually for bands! It's a quality tool that's given to young bands which didn't exist a few years ago. You can virtual-tour the whole world and I think that's really important for small bands; it can help you harness the fan base. And for us, it gives us the chance to keep in touch with fans and gives a face to the emails.
R13: '7 weeks' tells of the strains of being on the road. Have there been any regrets because of the tough live and recording schedule you have been doing for so long?
GCH: Definitively no regrets. When the opportunity came to get signed and go on the road to support our album, we jumped at the opportunity. This is what almost everyone has dreamt of doing. It's hard at times having to leave loved ones and family and friends and in some case missing out on things like finishing college. But I wouldn't trade what we're doing for the world as we're getting to see so much. Being a touring band is an unforgettable experience.
R13: What are the main influences that you think Travis draws upon for the concept of the dark pop lyrics he produces?
GCH: I think what's cool about Travis is that he writes about the stuff that he knows. We just make it fun and I think the reason we write like that is that in most commercial hip-hop, they'll be talking about jewellery or cars or clothing. We write about stuff we can relate to and that's why I think it's easier for our fans to relate to it too.
R13: Tell us something we might not know about Gym Class Heroes...
GCH: You might not know... that we met in Gym Class. And that we're both really, really good at ping pong.
R13: Are interviews and entertaining the press by answering stupid questions the worst part to being in a band, or is it something else?
GCH: No! The interviews are actually fun as we don't take ourselves too seriously. There's nothing we know about more than ourselves, so it makes you feel vain and egotistical at the end of the day as you're sitting there talking about yourself. But it's cool.
R13: Anything else to say?
GCH: 'New Friend Request' is gonna be the next single and will be coming out on Oct 24th and we have a video for that online at our myspace website, if you want to go check that out.