The members of Gym Class Heroes are no strangers to the mainstream audiences that radio superstardom brings. Busting onto the scene with the single, "Cupid's Chokehold," Gym Class Heroes has enjoyed much success since its third album, "As Cruel As School Children" (2006). The group is composed of lead singer Travie McCoy, guitarist Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo, bassist Eric Roberts and drummer Matt McGinley, and released its last album, "The Quilt," in 2008.
Now, the band looks to return to the roots they established in "The Papercut Chronicles" (2005) with the release of their fittingly titled "The Papercut Chronicles II." On Saturday, the Daily caught up with bassist Eric Roberts to talk about the origin of the group, the creative process of the new album and their pre-show rituals.
William Yu: How did Gym Class Heroes come together?
Eric Roberts: Well, Gym Class Heroes is actually a really old band. Matt and Travis knew each other from high school, and they started playing together back in '97 officially. Disashi and I are relatively new. I've been in [the band for] six years, Disashi's been in [for] seven. We got connected through playing locally. Disashi actually opened up for Gym Class Heroes. Matt and I knew each other from back in the day; we went to the same college. We met each other through playing the same gigs.
WY: So, unlike a lot of your radio hits, "The Papercut Chronicles" features darker themes, [including] suicide, drug addiction and heartbreak, to name a few. Can we expect to see those again on the new album, or will it be an album of catchy tunes?
ER: It's a healthy combination. I think, as most of our fans know, we never want to make a repeat album. We never want to duplicate a sound or one of our older records. It's definitely not a recreation of the original album, but it follows a lot of the same themes, same tones. It's a lot more band-oriented than the last two records have been. As far as comparisons go, we've delved back into the first "Papercut Chronicles," taken snippets of some of the old songs and changed them into completely original songs.
WY: Describe the production that went into "The Papercut Chronicles II." I've heard some rumors about abandoned churches, things like that.
ER: Well, we've been working on this record for a very long time. ["The Papercut Chronicles II"] started in a renovated church in Ithaca. We locked ourselves in a basement for a week. No one had cars, cell phones… We were out in the wilderness, that's where a lot of the songs off the record were written. We took those songs and those ideas and brought them to Doug White [the producer of "The Papercut Chronicles"] and fleshed out the records there. Then we recorded at the Hit Factory, then Pilot Studios. We've been spending a lot of time tweaking the songs.
WY: [Fall Out Boy frontman] Patrick Stump had a large presence on the last two albums as a co-producer. Will we be seeing more from him this time around?
ER: We did not work with Patrick on this record. It's not like we didn't have him in mind. We just didn't think it was a good fit for the direction we wanted to go. We are the number one producers, other than [producer] Benny Blanco. They helped us polish out some of the singles that you're gonna hear on the radio.
WY: "Martyrial Girl$" is your second single off the new album. Compared to the single "Stereo Hearts," "Martyrial Girl$" is a much darker and edgier song.
ER: That's totally us. That's the kind of thing we wanted on this record. A lot of the themes are hope, despair, maybe even revelation. So to have a happy and a gritty song, that's totally something that we're going for. There's really no place in top radio for "Martyrial Girl$." We want people to know that we are getting darker, and that the entire record isn't going to sound like an album of "Stereo Hearts."
WY: Is there a song off the album that you have a personal connection to?
ER: "Kid Nothing and the Never-Ending Naked Nightmare." That song is kind of like my jam. There are a lot of parts of that song I've written — guitar-wise, bass-wise. I had my hand in creating that song; it's a very personal song to me. But other than that, they're all smashes, man.
WY: Do you guys have any rituals before shows that you guys do?
ER: If we have people with us, we kick them all out. We have an hour before set time, which is our quiet time. We just hang out, stretch out, pound some beers. Before we go on we chant a name: Gerry.
WY: Gerry?
ER: Yeah, we say it to psych ourselves, it's a name of inspiration. Like, "Let's go get 'em, Gerry!"
