GYM CLASS HEROES PRIMER
Gym Class Heroes: Primer



Hello all! I'm Elaine, and this is the Gym Class Heroes primer.

Gym Class Heroes started in 1997 in upstate New York when vocalist Travis McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley in their high school gym class. Maybe they were standing in line in alphabetical order or something, I dunno.

Their first two albums, ...For The Kids and The Papercut Chronicles were recorded with guitarist Milo Bonacci and bassist Ryan Geise. Their webdesigner gave Pete Wentz a copy of their just-recorded and unmixed Papercut Chronicles, who loved it and immediately wanted to sign them to Decaydance.

Bonacci left the band to study architecture in Italy, and was replaced by guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo, who now writes all of the group's music. Geise also decided to leave the band to go back to school, and he was replaced by bassist Eric Roberts. They just released their third album, As Cruel As Schoolchildren, which is notable for being co-produced by Patrick Stump (also for being a kick-ass album, but hey).

And that's the history of the group, in a very small nutshell. Here, have some more group pictures, stolen shamelessly from the band's myspace.















That last picture is from the group's earlier days, and features former bassist Geise to the right of Travis.



Travis McCoy



As plainsong_x so eloquently put it, Travis is "a big 'mo with a big 'fro and a Monroe."

Travis is the vocalist and frontman of GCH, and I'm pretty sure he writes all the lyrics. He's the most visible member of the band, and therefore probably has the most slash potential. He's a very flamboyant performer, flailing his hands about and grabbing at his face. He's said that since he doesn't play an instrument, he has to play his face. It makes sense to me!



He's notable for all of the following things: having a Monroe piercing (it was the first thing I noticed about him anyway, because, dude, it's a chick piercing, but he pulls it off), collaborating with William Beckett of The Academy Is..., Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship, and Maja of The Sounds on the theme song for Snakes On A Plane (I'll come back to this in the pairings section), and for coming up with the 'gang sign' for Decaydance.



It is supposed to be two D's back to back (Decaydance), and it wound up coincidentally looking a little bit like the bartskull.

Oh yeah, and he has a grill. And wicked awesome eyelashes.



Travis is 25 years old, might be divorced (according to his myspace*, anyway, although it also lists him as being a Scientologist, so also probably not), and of mixed race: his mother is white, his father is black. He considers himself a 'weird looking dude' and goes by the nickname Schleprock, after the character on the Flintstones. He attributes his musical tastes to the fact that his mother's side of the family were metalheads and his father's side were breakdancers. On the subject of being biracial, he also says, "Just talking about kids being cruel, there's this unspoken rule that biracial kids have to pick one side or the other, which is bullshit. Kids would look at me and say, 'What is he?' But I would rap, and they would bite their lip."

Aside from working with Gym Class Heroes, he also appeared solo on an MTV emcee battle and won a guest appearance in a Styles P video, whoever he is (sorry guys, you'd think I'd know, what with my hip-hop background, but no).

His favorite show is Family Guy. Oh, and his Game Boy has a bartskull sticker. I'm amused by this.





Travis's substance abuse



Travis is known for liking to get drunk and/or high. He smokes cigarettes and probably marijuana as well, but I don't know of any confirmations. He battled an addiction to Oxycontin after a series of knee surgeries while in college, and wrote the song Pillmatic about it. He was nervous about putting the song on The Papercut Chronicles, thinking people would get the wrong message. While he appears to be clean on that front, he still drinks and smokes. I can vouch for this! I watched him walking around doing Jell-o shots at the Cleveland Warped Tour date. Also, HeyChris made a voicepost on his livejournal, where Travis is obviously very intoxicated. There were some incriminating photographs as well.







Travis's fro

...is so amazing that it deserves its own section in the primer. No, really. See for yourself.





Doesn't it just look edible? Like cotton candy, man.



Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo



Disashi ('Sashi for short, as evidenced by the Sloppy Love Jingles) is the guitarist of the group and writes all the music. Travis never misses an opportunity to gush about what a musical genius Disashi is, saying he comes from an excellent musical background, and basically just having a big hardon for his songwriting. Travis also likes to say that Disashi masturbates the most out of the group. Do with that information what you will.







Disashi has a solo rock project called The Midnight Society. He has a 7-song EP, 9 Years Later... which can be bought at GCH shows.

According to his myspace*, he is 23 years old, single, and from Ithaca, NY. He studied psychology at Cornell before joining the band. If you read his myspace blogs, you'll find out that he really likes desserts. He lists his AIM screenname** on the TMS myspace, and I've only messaged him on one occasion, but he definitely responded. I actually IMed him like five minutes before they were going to do a show (unbeknownst to me), and when he put up an away message saying so, I figured he just wouldn't respond. But lo and behold, 45 minutes later he responded to my message, so, wow. Nice dude. HE'S MADE OF HUGS. If you ever meet him, make sure to get one or two or five thousand.

He wears Patrick 2.0.



And likes to be a tard.



According to Matt, he's talented on the Slip n' Slide. Do with that information what you will.



Matt McGinley



Matt is the drummer for GCH, and founded the band with Travis in 1997. According to his myspace*, he is 23, a Pisces, and has a girlfriend. Sorry, ladies. He likes throwing frisbees, waterguns, and picking on lepers. He keeps a pretty low profile.









Eric Roberts



Eric plays bass, and is the most recent addition to the band. He also keeps a low profile, but fortunately for you, he's really incredibly pretty. So here, have some pictures.











106, aka The Jesus



Not actually a member of the band, but this guy is GCH's tour manager and flag-waving dude. If you've ever wondered who the guy is that waves the GCH flag in the background at their shows? Well... this is him. He has a myspace, but it isn't very informative. He dislikes late people, and apparently gives Disashi a run for the money in the masturbation department. He got his nickname because his last name is DeJesus.







The Van Incident



Much like Fall Out Boy's van incident, GCH's van ran off the road this summer. Here's what Matt had to say about it:

Today we got in a really bad single car accident on Interstate 10 headed to Tempe, Arizona. Just now, I asked Travis how descript I should detail the accident. "Make it real enough to feel the shards of glass."

...So around 8am this morning I woke up to our van careening into the median somewhere in the desert of new mexico, skidding wildly out of control. The van sort of balanced on two wheels for a moment before the weight and momentum of the trailer 'body slammed' it, along with us, onto it's side. The most intense jarring sensation I've ever experienced ensued...I got thrown forward into Eric's seat and then reversed into the upper-back corner of the van. I landed upright, standing on the only window that had not been smashed out by the ground's impact. Disashi, who was riding shotgun, had a window explode directly next to his face and nearly had his head taken off by an airborne television. He walked away unscathed. Gravity pulled Travis down into a blown out window and his back got laced with gravel and glass shards as the van pulled him along the desert floor. Eric managed to stay above the wreckage floor by grappling onto a bench, and came out clean. Our merch guy, Steve, was driving and dozed off for a second, setting in motion the crash sequence. He was strapped in to his seat and got out fairly unharmed. Our tour manager, Seth, sustained the most serious injuries. When the van toppled he was hurled downwards sending his feet through a broken window. The sliding van pulled one of his feet underneath it and pinned it against the ground. When the wreckage had settled we all called out, to make sure everyone was still there. The dust in the van was unbelievable. From where I stood this did not resemble our van at all. Travis pulled some incredible hulk type shit, lifting the van enough for Seth to get his foot out. The back doors were blocked by the demolished trailer, and the main cabin door and passenger door were on the ground, the only escape route was the driver side door...Which was now a roof exit. Paramedics and police arrived. They axed out the front windshield creating a large enough door to get Seth through. Seth was flown to a hospital and after surgery, is now recovering from a multiple fracture of the foot. Other than that, everyone walked away without any major injuries.

We did everything we could to continue on to the last few remaining dates of 'The Stepfather Tour'...We scrapped the van and trailer, rented a big u-haul truck and set off on our way for the 12 hour drive to Los Angeles. We got about a mile from the rental place, and noticed that the entrance to Interstate 10 was blocked off, due to a fierce windstorm. We got sidelined for several hours at a truckstop...It got darker and the weather got worse. Survival instinct kicked in, and we decided that we had pushed our luck about as far as it could go for one day. So for now we're sidelined at our hotel until we can figure out our next move...We're looking forward to getting back out on the road.

In lighter news, I bought an amazing squirt gun. It's neon orange and I shall be calling it Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. If you see me on Warped Tour, ask me to show it to you. If I think you're special I might even let you fire it once or thrice. We've got some funny/thrilling/majestic/dirty stuff planned for the summer...New album, new suprises, new hair dooo's...Nahmsayin'?

P E A C E
:matty dook's



Interviews and Media

Hilarious interview with Racket Magazine
Interview with Pulse Weekly
Interview with The Trades, with guest appearance by an unidentified member of TAI
mtvU.com Backstage Pass with GCH (scroll down for video)
AP Interview scans
Interview with Drivenfaroff.com
AP Interview (2) scans
'Cribs' mock-episode with Travis (.mov)
Interview with Hearts And Sleeves
Papercuts music video
Cupid's Chokehold video
New Friend Request video
The Queen And I video



The Pairings

Travis McCoy/William Beckett



Probably the most obvious of the GCH pairings. Okay, I might be a wee bit biased, but if you can think of a more obvious one? Let me know.

Travis and Beckett (of TAI) first collaborated during Warped 05, when they got drunk in a hotel room (with the Butcher-- threesome?) and wrote a song called Naked Peek-a-boo. Yeah, it is exactly what it sounds like. In Travis's own words: Naked Peek-A-Boo is not a song...it's a movement. Here's the equation...Travie + William + The Butcher + a jug of sangria + a room at The Jupiter in Portland + raging hormones = Naked Peek-A-Boo. It's not for the faint of heart...strictly for the gangstas...haha good luck and enjoy!!!!



The happy couple enjoying their favorite hobby.

Since then, Beckett has made a guest appearance on GCH's song 7 Weeks, which appears to just have been an excuse for the two of them to show up in the middle of each other's Warped 06 sets and grope each other on stage.









Beckett makes an appearance during GCH's 7 Weeks
Travis makes an appearance during TAI's Black Mamba
Travis joining TAI for a Gnarls Barkley cover

They next teamed up with Gabe Saporta and Maja for the theme song to Snakes On A Plane (see the music video here).



There was a release party.





Lots of gay stuff happened.



Here you'll find the audio of TAI playing Slow Down at the release party, and in the middle of the song is this exchange:

Beckett: "You fucked me up while I'm playing guitar on this song, ass, are you drunk or are you stoned?" (please note that this part is sung)
Travis: "I happen to be both!"

They're just too fucking cute. I can't help myself.



When asked about the nature of his relationship with Beckett, Travis said that Beckett was his 'fucking brother' from another mother.





Travis McCoy/Gabe Saporta



The other half of the SoaP(BI) homogay threesome (which I'll get to later). There isn't as much evidence of this pairing, but it is still there.

Behind the scenes video where Travis professes his love for Gabe.



Travis McCoy/William Beckett/Gabe Saporta



The primary logic for this OT3 is that, well, since Travis and Beckett are fucking, and Travis and Gabe are fucking, and Beckett and Gabe are fucking... you get the picture. But not only that! There's this gem of a video, in which Gabe asks a girl about her 'Treckett' t-shirt. She explains the pairing smoosh, and Gabe immediately asks, "See, my question is, where do I fall into that? 'Cause I don't see a Greckett, or a Treckgabe..."



More Snakes On A Plane Media

Live performance on Jimmy Kimmel
Gabe, Maja, Travis, and Beckett on Loveline (scroll to August 15th)
More behind the scenes video stuff
Travis's red carpet interviews before the premier party
Cobra Starship and company on Fuse



Travis McCoy/Patrick Stump



A more than logical pairing. Patrick makes appearances on GCH songs Cupid's Chokehold and Clothes Off, and he co-produced their As Cruel As School Children album.



Courtesy of our very own deliberatehips, here are two videos of Patrick performing with GCH at the SoaP release party.



Travis McCoy/Pete Wentz



Uh. I dunno. It could happen?



The Jesus/Pete Wentz/Hemingway

ahahahahahah. I'm kidding. MOSTLY.







Aaaaand that's all I've got for you. I'm sure I've forgotten a thing or two, in which case I will edit this post as I remember them. If you have anything to add, or if I got anything wrong, feel free to let me know and I'll change it. Also, if I'm using pictures or media that belong to you, and you'd like to be credited, leave a comment and I will add that as well.

* I justify linking to their personal myspaces in a public entry by the fact that they are in the top 8 of their own band's myspace. It's pretty waaay public already.

** I hope I don't have to say this to anyone in the community, but since this is a public entry, I'm gonna say it anyway. If you do decide to IM Disashi (or any member of any band, really), just use common sense. Don't bug the crap out of him, don't be creepy, and for the love of all things holy, do NOT mention this primer, damnyouwentz, or slash in general. Plz and thx.