They’ve toured worldwide, won MTV’s coveted VMAs and now Gym Class Heroes are preparing for the release of its first new album in three years.
Following “Stereo Hearts,” the band’s wildly successful collaboration with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine that enjoyed a run to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 this summer, Gym Class Heroes are due to release The Papercut Chronicles II on Nov. 15. Gym Class Heroes plays a fusion of rock and hip-hop that has caught the ears of thousands. Bassist Eric Joseph Roberts talked to The Current about the band and their forthcoming album.
“It’s a story rich with history,” Roberts said of his own association with the band. Even before singer Travie McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley started playing together (after meeting in their high school gym class), McGinley had needed a bassist when he was playing gigs at 16. Later on, McGinley’s college band also needed a bass player, and at both times Roberts was able to lend a helping hand. Before long, McGinley’s “college band” got signed and he left college, leaving Roberts behind for a bit. Then, in May 2005, McGinley asked Roberts once again to play bass for the band. “What are you doing the rest of your life?” McGinley asked. And with that, Roberts promptly left college.
“The party was over – the party was over in the ’90s. This is like the after-party, and all the bands are coming home,” Roberts stated in offering his perspective on the changing landscape of the music industry as a successful, gigging musician. “I was actually kind of blown away. When I joined the band, I was barely 20 years old and I had a vision in my head of what the music industry would be like, and it’s actually very different than what you would think in terms of your creative rights.”
Roberts cites influences ranging from Rage Against the Machine to Jay-Z to early Black Eyed Peas. “When we sit down to write, it’s not like we think out our songs and say, ‘Oh, this song’s going to have this vibe, or it’s going to be in these keys.’. I don’t feel like I have to play a certain way or a certain style,” Roberts says. “We are rooted in hip-hop but not limited by it.” Which makes sense – Roberts not only plays with Gym Class Heroes, but he has a not-so-secret love of heavy metal and a heavy-metal side project band, Willing Swords.
According to Roberts, the band wrote 30 to 40 songs for its upcoming album and out of those, narrowed them down to “maybe seven” that went on the record when producers had their say. “They call it the music industry. That implies that, yeah, there’s business involved.”
It’s weird to actually have it done, says Roberts. “But we’re eager to have it out and listen to it ourselves as much as our fans are.”
The Papercut Chronicles II will be released on Nov. 15.
– Kara Ali Goldsmith
