Last night, I got to chill out with Travis, Matt, and Disashi of Gym Class Heroes in their van, and let me tell you, these guys are awesome. Matt didn’t talk much, and Disashi mostly laughed, but they’re cool dudes. Travis is one of the straightest guys I’ve met, and if you ever get a chance to meet this amazing person, please do so and show him some love.
Trevor: So this is the end of the tour, right?
Travis: Yeah, tomorrow’s the last date.
Trevor: How’s it been so far?
Travis: Awesome. Really, really awesome. But now it’s kinda come to the point where we’re all like, “Alright, let’s wrap this up and go home.”
(Laughter)
Travis: It’s always like that. It could be the coolest tour ever but once it wraps down to the last two or three days it can get pretty grueling.
Matt: I kind of equate it to the last week of school, you know, before summer vacation. It’s kind of like that.
Trevor: I know the fans here are into music that’s a lot different from what you guys play, but have they been reacting really well to you guys?
Travis: Well I mean there’s never a crowd, and there won’t be for a while, that’s all our own. Like, I mean before, when we first started playing, there weren’t kids there to see us at all. Now you’ll see groups, and you’ll see the kids that like to merge and it’s really really cool. I think I’m more comfortable..well, I wouldn’t want to say more comfortable, but I wouldn’t..I don’t know how I would take it if there was a whole crowd there to see us. I mean, it’s cool, but it’s also cool to take kids that necessarily wouldn’t listen to us in any other situation and have them go home and say, “That was cool.”
Trevor: Is there a specific band on this tour that you guys have been watching and digging a lot?
Travis: He Is Legend. Those guys are blowing me away.
Trevor: They’re awesome live. I saw them back in June and it was a crazy show.
Travis: Those guys are amazing. One of my new favorite bands. They’re really, really, really, really great dudes, too.
Trevor: What have you guys been doing to keep you occupied? I mean, this has been a really long tour. Weren’t there two runs of it?
Travis: Yeah, Gatsby’s and then He Is Legend. We’ve been doing the same shit we do any other tour. We listen to music, I’ve been doing a lot of video editing and shit and um..
Matt: We just bought the new Tony Hawk. We’ve been playing that a lot.
Travis: Yeah, it’s really fun.
Trevor: Alright, your labelmates, Panic! At the Disco..they’re uh..they’re blowing up. Do you guys have an opinion on that? I asked October Fall about it and they were stoked about it, and I talked to Panic! and of course they were stoked. So what do you think of it?
Travis: I think it’s awesome man. Definitely. Especially like..anybody that you have a correlation with, you’re always excited for them to further..you know what I mean, to go further and I think it’s beautiful.
Trevor: Speaking of Panic!, do you think there’s a chance of a Decaydance Tour later?
Travis: Um..perhaps. I mean, shit is so crazy right now, I mean, we’re writing our new record and stuff, but I’m sure something like that or another Fueled By Ramen Tour will go down soon, in the next year or so.
Trevor: Yeah, and you guys were wanting to record this winter, right? Do you have any dates scheduled to start recording?
Travis: Actually, we start writing right after this tour. We’re gonna take like three days off and then start writing the record right away, so we’re shooting for this winter and it’ll definitely be out by next summer.
Trevor: Is that when you’d like for it to be out? This summer?
Travis: Yeah, definitely.
Trevor: Is there the chance of any more collaborations like “Naked Peek-A-Boo?”
Travis: Uh..I mean, there might be. I mean, there’s definitely a lot of artists we’ve toured with that we have in mind for our next album. It’s going to be really tasteful as opposed to just getting somebody on our record for namesake. You might even have to like..like..dig into it to find who’s actually on the record. It’s gonna be one of those deals.
Trevor: Alright, so you went to the UK. How was that?
Travis: Amazing! We played one show. Just one show. We just hung out, and it was incredible. I can’t wait to go back. It’d be really awesome.
Trevor: Okay, “The Papercut Chronicles”. I’ve noticed a lot of the album has serious topics, and then there’s humorous stuff in it. Did you try to balance it out, or did it just come out that way?
Travis: I think that it’s my life in a nutshell. My lifestyle, you know? I don’t think anybody in this band takes themselves too seriously. And I think that’s how I’ve delt with serious stuff. I throw a little humor on, or look at it in a humorous way. And I don’t know..laughing. Laughing is probably one of the coolest, healthiest forms of therapy, for me at least. So when it came time to post the album, I definitely wanted to touch things that were relevant and things going on in my life, but at the same time, have a little fun. I think that’s one of the cool things about Gym Class, is that, like I said, we don’t take ourselves too seriously and have a lot of fun with what we do. I think the next album will definitely have the same element. It’ll have a little humor to it. I like making…girls laugh.
(Laughter)
Trevor: I asked some people if they had any questions that they wanted me to ask you so these are a little bit off the wall.
Travis: Alright, alright. Cool.
Trevor: Um…how often do you get snakebit?
Travis: Oh man! I know exactly where that came from. Was that from Erika?
Trevor: I’m pretty sure. She was like, “Ask him that, he’ll crack up!”
Travis: That’s so funny. Oh man, I get snakebit way too much and the anti-venoms don’t even work anymore.
Trevor: Are any of you guys cereal guys? Do you like any specific ceral?
(Matt shakes his head and Disashi continues to chill in the back of the van.)
Travis: I love ceral. Shit, I love soggy, cinnamon Life.
(Laughter)
Trevor: Brittany really wants to know where you went to art school.
Travis: Munsen Williams in Proctor, in Utica New York. Don’t go there.
(Laughter)
Travis: Don’t support the demons.
Trevor: Are you guys going to be going through Miami any time soon?
Travis: Miami? Um..(Looks back at Matt)
Matt: Orlando.
Travis: Yeah, we’ll be in Orlando next week, or in a couple of weeks. But um..Miami may have to wait until the next album’s, done.
Matt: I don’t think we’ve ever played in Miami.
Travis: I don’t think we have, either.
Trevor: Speaking of Florida, with the hurricanes and everything, what do you think about that?
Travis: It sucks. It sucks and I feel fortunate that we live in New York and really don’t have to worry about crazy shit like that. I mean, we get ice storms and stuff, but I can’t imagine having to put up with fear the minute a storm comes, and you’re worried that your house is going to get washed away or something.
Trevor: A lot of crazy shit has happened over the past few weeks. You had Andy from the Junior Varsity’s girlfriend…
Travis: That was really tragic.
Trevor: And then Bayside…
Travis: It’s crazy, man. Like, my heart goes out to all those people who were involved or have any relation to those kids or to Beatz, you know. I mean, it’s really really tragic and it’s hard. Especially being on the road. Anything can happen out here. We’re constantly hearing stories, whether it’s someone getting killed, someone dying, vans or trailers getting jacked, I mean, it’s really crazy. Like, we’re out here trying to entertain people and have fun doing what we love to do, but there’s constantly, you’re constantly in the back of your mind thinking, “Damn anything can happen right now or tomorrow.” I mean, I was talking about bands getting robbed, it’s like the new black. I mean, trailers..and bands getting their equipment stolen. Like, the other night I was just..up, like seriously checking the window every five seconds, you know what I’m saying? The road is crazy man. There’s a lot of cool things that happen out here, but there’s also a lot of crazy things we have to deal with.
Trevor: How difficult was it to think of the basic structure of each song for “The Papercut Chronicles?”
Travis: Lyrically it was like, I would start out and the first line would determine how the rest of the song was gonna go. Like, the first two lines, and once that idea was in the air, I mean, if it’s a fictional story or whatever you want to do with it. Once there’s the idea, you just tumble with it, fall with it until you like it and then you mold it and play with it for a while.
Trevor: And this one’s from me. You still love Kelly Clarkson?
Travis: Shit yeah man, are you kidding me? (Unzips his jacket to reveal an “I <3 Kelly Clarkson” t-shirt)
Trevor: Haha, that’s freaking awesome.
(Laugher)
Trevor: Thanks for sitting down with me.
Travis: No problem man, no problem.
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