Gym Class Heroes

For those in the Miami area, Travie will be DJ-ing on Friday, March 28th at a Moodswing360 party for WMC week during March 24th - 30th. Check out the full details below, but on the same evening Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro will be performing with select DJ’s. Big things gwanin’ for our boy Travie.

Here is the full press release from Moodswing360:

Full-Service Agency Moodswing360 Announces Definitive Presence at WMC 2008

NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Moodswing360 is the brainchild of former CEG Talent agents and lifelong friends, Johnny Maroney and Ricky Greenstein. Drawing upon their years of expertise in the music industry, Maroney and Greenstein decided they wanted to offer more to their roster of carefully selected DJs, hip-hop acts and entertainers than available from traditional booking agencies. Moodswing360 offers its artists a comprehensive range of services specializing in tour production, promotions and marketing encompassing all types of traditional and new media.

The Moodswing360 talent roster is characterized by major celebrity names: Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro; DJs, Skribble, Riz and Aero; hip-hop acts, Crooklyn Clan, Fatman Scoop; and pop stars, Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. “It’s a tremendously exciting time for Ricky and me to finally be able to expand upon the vision we’ve had for our artists for quite some time. It’s very rewarding to be able to guide our artists and help them attain the level of success they’ve come to expect from us,” said Maroney.

Capitalizing on the emergence of DJ-culture and its increasing significance within mainstream society, Moodswing360 is able to maximize its clubland roots and bring fresh credibility to its commercial and corporate ventures. Moodswing360-produced events are experienced weekly at award-winning venues like MurMur and Mixx at The Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Shrine at MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino in Norwich, Connecticut; the Gerber Group’s venues across the country, headed by tastemaker, Rande Gerber; and at weekly “Music Is The Currency” parties at Rain in the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Travie caught up (once again) with the good folks at Karmaloop TV, this time at the Magic Marketplace fashion tradeshow in Las Vegas. You may remember Travie doing some stuff with Karmaloop in the past, showing off his new Manhattan apartment and backstage interviews with Gym Class Heroes and whatnot.

This edition is only a few minutes long and shows Travie walking around the tradeshow, meeting and taking pictures with fans as well as looking at some of the latest in hip-hop fashion. Some of the stuff looks pretty cool – I wish I could afford it. Check out the video embedded below. The Magic Marketplace fashion tradeshow was held on February 12 – February 15 in Las Vegas this year, so this is some extremely fresh footage. Each February and August, the fashion industry converges on Las Vegas for one of the most influential four days in the business – the MAGIC Marketplace – so you know the always-stylish Travie was in attendance.

Karmaloop is a hip-hop fashion and culture site that distributes a lot of brand name clothing and has a bunch of video interviews and features to check out. Among with some other videos with Travis and Gym Class, you can also check out footage with Decaydence signees The Pack as well as hip-hop legends like Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Sean Price of Heltah Skeltah and BCC, Talib Kweli, Soul Assassin DJ Muggs, DJ Green Lantern and supergroup Hieroglyphics. Check out the site here and check out the new video with Travie at Magic below:

Rolling Stone just posted an article today after catching up with Gym Class Heroes, who are currently in a New York studio working on their upcoming album Black Widow, due out this summer. There’s a cool photo of the guys with Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, who is helping to produce the record, in the studio working on the album. I’ve posted it above. If you want to check out the full article, click here to link to the Rolling Stone site.

Rolling Stone did a good job of talking to a number of people to get feedback on the album. Patrick Stump told the reporter that he plans to let the intelligence of the band show through in the album, just as much as how much fun they have together when they are in the studio. Drummer Matt told reporter Steve Appleford that the band is on a creative roll lately, pumping out a song a day. The reporter even got a few of Travie’s lines down for the upcoming track “Drunk Text Romeo”, which Trav explains is about texting girls in his phone while he’s under the influence of too much Merlot. Also, the track featuring Busta Rhymes will be titled “Peace Sign” and is produced by Miami duo Cool and Dre, and the collaborative track with Daryl Hall will be titled “I’m Home”, though it is currently unfinished. Travie also said about the collaboration with Busta Rhymes that he intends to prove to the hip-hop world that he should be regarded as a serious MC to be reckoned with. Working with some of the best in the industry, I’m sure Black Widow will provide proof of this.

Retailer American Eagle Outfitters will host a winter ski-themed spring break at Squaw Valley USA in Olympic Valley, CA featuring a special performance by Gym Class Heroes. No tickets required. It’s happening between 3 – 5 PM on March 1st in Tahoe City, California, so if you’re in the area or within reasonable driving distance you may want to check it out. The purpose of the event is to give people an alternative to the beach during spring break, hosting a massive party on the slopes.

Other activities include American Eagle Outfitters lounge with exciting giveaways, live DJ, as well as Adirondack chairs and fire pits for relaxing and warming up. Check out the official Facebook page for the event here.

News of this free concert is so new that at the time of this post the event has only ten confirmed guests. For more information on the event on the American Eagle web site, click here.

Here is the Gym Class Heroes information taken from the AE web site:

“Take a little bit of rap, mix in some rock, add some R&B with a bit of funk and you’ve got Gym Class Heroes. Fully of energy, humor, and socially conscious lyrics, these guys can turn it up and crank it out. These guys own the beat and are known for using live instruments and musicians rather than looped samples to make their distinct sound. Now they’re going to heat things up at Squaw Valley USA with live outdoor performances for AE Spring Break 2008 on the slopes.”

This is the second GCH concert announcement to surface lately, after being confirmed for this year’s Slope Day events in upstate New York.

Fashion/Entertainment Magazine Alloy recently listed their top ten most anticipated albums of 2008. On the top of that list is the upcoming Gym Class Heroes album Black Widow, due out this summer. And while Alloy may not be the most reliable authority for music, they did have a little inside information on the upcoming album. Check out the little feature here. There’s a bit with Travis explaining who will be on the record as well as the fact that the band will be working on songs co-written with Ne-Yo.

Other bands mentioned in the Alloy list include Panic! At The Disco, the All-American Rejects, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Tokio Hotel. Here is the article on Gym Class in its entirety:

Anticipated Release Date: Summer.
Why We’re Stoked: 2007 was a breakout year for Gym Class Heroes — they won the VMA for Best New Artist, went gold with As Cruel As School Children, and played a packed house at Madison Square Garden. So what’s next? Another album! That’s right, next year, we’ll get more from Travis McCoy and company in the form of Black Widow. “This is me reaching out right now, but we’re hoping to get Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys on the record, Daryl Hall on the record. And we’re looking forward to writing a couple of songs with Ne-Yo. We got to be good friends with him through the VMAs,” Travis tells MTV. “It’s just gonna be a real, real solid record. The demos we have now are just bananas. Dasashi is just a monster on the new stuff. You’re going to hear a lot more of him singing on this one and a lot more of his guitar skills that I don’t think he really got to flex on the last record.” Plus, Busta Rhymes makes an appearance on the record. What what!

If you didn’t get a chance to see Travie appear live this past Friday on Daryl Hall’s podcast thing you can still log on and check it out on the Live From Daryl’s House web site absolutely free. There are some amazing performances as the two remix each other’s songs. It’s great to see Travie getting to collaborate with his longtime idol, and it’s obvious what a versatile MC he really is – especially during the remix of “The Queen and I”. It’s also great to see the collaboration between younger and older generation musicians. I’m not calling Daryl Hall old, because he really is not. But even compared to music from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, music may sound a lot different now than it did then, but many of the ideals and messages are the same. Music is still a platform to express ones ideas in an artistic way, whether it be to change the world or simply evoke emotion in the listener.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I posted the video performance of “The Queen and I” below as well as “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” There are a bunch more on the complete episode, some of the best being “Wake Up Everybody” and “Be Thankful For What You Got”, but these are the only two I could find on Youtube. They were posted by the folks from Live From Daryl’s House, so I’m sure they will post more after time. For now, you will have to log on and check out the video from the site.

The Slope Day Programming Board announced Friday that Gym Class Heroes will be performing at the Annual Slope day on Friday, May 2nd. For those unfamiliar with Slope Day, it is an annual day of celebration held at Cornell University in upstate New York during the last day of regular undergraduate classes. Basically, it’s an exuse to skip the last day of class and drink alcohol. It is a tradition that has continued since the early 1900’s, though has more recently become better known for its live music. Artists such as The Grateful Dead and The Ramones played Slope Day events in the ‘70’s, and more recently artists like Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and T.I. have performed Slope Day. The event gets its name because it takes place outdoors on the Libe Slope on university campus. It is also well-known for the alcohol consumption of its patrons. The Slope Day Steering Committee began bringing live entertainment in 2003 with Rusted Root and Fat Joe. The committee was created “to assess and address the role that alcohol and other drugs played on Slope Day,” according to the Slope Day website.

Opening for Gym Class will be Hot Hot Heat, according to the article. You can check out the official statement from the Cornell Sun here. It also mentions something about Disashi, which I think is supposed to mean he graduated from Cornell in 2004. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. I suppose having Gym Class perform at the festival is a way for the band to perform to a hometown audience, as they are undoubtedly the biggest musical act to come out of the upstate New York region in some time. More info on Slope Day should arise as we near the festival date.

If you were unaware, Daryl Hall (one half of Hall & Oats) has his own web cast called Live From Daryl’s House which usually features him playing alongside other musicians in his home. The fifteenth episode of Live From Daryl’s House will air this Friday, February 15th at 8PM and will feature Travis performing alongside Daryl. It is absolutely free to view, and if you haven’t seen an episode of Live From Daryl’s House yet, you will have to register for an account. The program is said to feature the two collaborating on a version of the Daryl Hall written song “Everytime You Go Away,” a #1 hit for Paul Young, and a version of Hall & Oates’ own “You Make My Dreams” mashed up with the Gym Class Heroes’ “The Queen and I.”

Daryl and Travie have become friends lately, as Travis has been a long time fan of his and the music of Hall & Oats. They have been making music together lately, as reported in an earlier blog, and Daryl will be a featured artist on the upcoming Gym Class Heroes album due out this summer. Of the collaboration, Travis McCoy says, “Part of me was horrified before working with Daryl to be honest. There are 2 people I hold high on my caste system of people I think are cooler than me, my father being the other. I grew up on Daryl’s voice. I am forever grateful for the chance to work with and befriend someone I’ve looked up to all these years.”

Daryl Hall responds, “Words fail to express the fun and creative fulfillment that I had recording and playing with Travis. I think the combination of his poetry and my musicality came together in a very historic way, and I don’t say that lightly.”

Check out a preview of the Live From Daryl’s House episode with Travis:

Aside from the recent announcement that Travie will be collaborating with producer 9th Wonder, it has also been recently announced that our boy will be appearing on the sophomore album entitled The In Crowd from hip-hop duo Kidz In The Hall. The album will be released on legendary label Duck Down Records, home of the infamous Boot Camp Clik. The collaboration no doubt has something to do with Travie’s friendship with 9th Wonder, as the producer co-signed the duo along with hit-maker Just Blaze. Travie is also set to appear on 9th Wonder’s upcoming full-length entitled The Wonder Years.

The track list for The In Crowd is as follows:

1.) Intro

2.) Blackout f/ DJ GI Joe

3.) Paper Trail f/Phonte

4.) Drivin’ Down Block (Low End Theory) f/Masta Ace

5.) Lucifer’s Joyride f/Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes

6.) Snob-Hop f/Camp Lo

7.) The In Crowd f/Tim William

8.) Let Your Hair Down f/Skyzoo and Lil Eddie

9.) Midwest Thang Pt’s 1 &2 f/Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and Fooch (co-produced by Black Milk)

10.) Mr. Alladatshit

11.) Sean Na & Buck f/Sean Price and Buckshot

12.) Life I Know

13.) Drivin’ Down The Block Remix f/The Clipse and The Cool Kids (Bonus Track)

The first single, Drivin’ Down The Block featuring the old school legend Masta Ace already has a video in the works, and good news for GCH fans, Lucifer’s Joyride featuring Travis McCoy will be the second single and a video will be released for that as well. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has featured the Kidz In The Hall’s hit song “Work to Do” in his campaign effort. The song has been posted on Barack Obama’s Website as well.

Legendary hip-hop producer 9th Wonder (who dropped one of my favorite albums of 2007 – Dream Merchant Vol. 2 – Go get it!) announced in a recent interview with HipHopDX that he will be working with Travis McCoy for his upcoming major label album. 9th has been working on the new record called The Wonder Years for over a year now and while it was originally scheduled to be released either last month or early this month, he’s postponing it to include more collaborations and finish off his beats.

This was the statement he gave HipHopDX:

“Me and [Erykah Badu] are gonna do a record for [The Wonder Years]. With her album, she has a lot of stuff goin’ on,” said 9th. “Travis McCoy [of Gym Class Heroes] is also somebody who said, ‘I gotta do a record for it.’ He’ll have a joint on there. It’s called ‘Winnie Cooper.’ [Laughs] I understand what it means now. I understand where Timbaland, Pharrell and Kanye and Dr. Dre…I understand what they understand - some of. It’s nothing you can explain to a normal producer.”

Winnie Cooper, The Wonder Years, that’s funny!

The collaboration with 9th Wonder shouldn’t come as any surprise, as Travie recently posted pics on his blog of the two playing Wii at his apartment. 9th Wonder has established himself as one of the grittiest producers in the game, having worked with some legendary and underground artists including personal favorites Buckshot and the whole Boot Camp Clik, Mos Def , M.O.P., Memphis Bleek and Jay-Z. As Travie continues to work with more legendary and respected hip-hop artists including 9th and recent collaborations with Busta Rhymes and Ghostface Killah, he continues to establish himself as a talented MC capable to appealing to numerous genres.

If you haven’t seen this yet, here’s a video filmed by Bright Cove TV posted earlier this month. It’s the seventh installment of the Gym Class Heroes Riding Shotgun series, which follows the boys along on their tour bus. Episode 7 begins with footage of Matt on the bus up to no good, as he begins to prepare drinks for himself and the cameraman. Vodka is the drink of choice and, as it turns out, there is no vodka on board so Matt gets the idea to mix tequila with orange juice instead. And as it turns out, there is also no orange juice on board. Then, like an unorthodox bartender, Matt begins pouring tequila with lime extract and recommends the camera man “mixes it with water.” The skeptical recipient of Matt’s so-called Toxic Sauce does not mix it with water and proceeds to sip the concoction somewhat like a child would sip from a sippy-cup, whereas I know I would down that triple-shot of tequila in under a minute. Not saying I’m an alcoholic, but I really don’t mind the taste of tequila too much, and personally would prefer it over vodka.
And I guess there’s some other stuff on the video including some gambling footage backstage and Matt talking about how he sucks at gambling as well as some flauting of “one-stacks”. The best part is at the end though, with an intimate and unplugged GCH performing “Write On” in what looks to be a back part of a venue. Thought I should share the video with you:

Travie recently posted a couple of videos on his blog that features him and his great musical inspiration Daryl Hall collaborating on material for the upcoming Gym Class album. The collaboration comes in due time for Travie, who has been an openly huge Hall & Oats fan and admits the ’80’s duo is a huge influene on him and the rest of GCH. After GCH had pretty much a monster year in 2007, other artists seem to be jumping at the chance to collaborate with the guys for their upcoming album, which is sure to break sales for any GCH album yet. The recent months has seen GCH not only work with Daryl Hall but also Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah and Will.I.Am. In one of the Travie-Daryl videos, which I’ve embedded below, shows Travie and Daryl goofing off while the other shows Travie, Daryl and T-Bone in the studio collaborating on a track for the upcoming GCH record. Sounds like a pretty cool collaboration from what you can hear on the video, and Travie being a huge fan of Daryl Hall, this must be a pinnacle point in his career.

Here is the experience in Travie’s own words, as it says on his blog:
Has there ever been ONE person you’d chop your left pinky off to meet ??? Just to pick there head and let them know how much you admire them and how much they, without knowing, made a huge impression on the person you are today..well, i have both of my pinky’s attatched but i’ll be damned if i did’nt hang out with a couple legends to day…i don’t think i could ask for anything more out of life..today marks the crossing off number one on my list of things to do before i kick the bucket…SPEECHLESS!!!

Check out the videos here:


THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE……. from Travie McCoy on Vimeo.

Travie & Daryl from Travie McCoy on Vimeo.