The Rap Rock quartet began back in 1997 when frontman/MC Travis McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley met, naturally enough, in gym class at their Geneva, N.Y., high school. Although the band started off playing birthday parties and basement shows, the gigs got progressively bigger and better as they graduated to clubs and festivals around the Northeast, including consecutive appearances on the Warped Tours in 2003 and 2004. Not long after that, GCH’s original guitarist and bassist departed and were replaced by Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo and Eric Taylor, respectively.
Clearly, it was a good move; their subsequent album, 2006’s As Cruel as Schoolchildren, was their breakthough, earning the band its first gold record. GCH cracked Billboard’s Top 200 with 2008’s The Quilt, but sales weren’t nearly as high as its predecessor (The Quilt had no Supertramp references ... coincidence? I think not).
Gym Class Heroes recently announced their fifth studio album, Free Time, would drop in February of next year.
They play the Madison Theater. Get show details and Sound Advice here.
