Gym Class Heroes Abandon MySpace Despite Song They Named After It.

It seems a little ironic that when the Gym Class Heroes came to Toronto on tour last week, they lost their one opening act that was Canadian. Even more ironic was the fact that last week was Canadian Music Week and, to top off the irony of the subject, the act that decided not to play their show was k-os, a Torontonian that has been one of the premier Canadian artists over the past few years now.

“I think he’s played too many shows at the Opera House,” said Travis McCoy, MC/lead singer of the Gym Class Heroes.

The entire band is enjoying the fact that they’re part of a festival like Canadian Music Week but haven’t really had a chance to enjoy it.

“I love it here, but we got in at 5 a.m. and I’m sick and tired,” said McCoy, “(playing Canadian Music Week) is awesome but I wish we could get the free health care. We’ve all been sick a lot on tour.”

McCoy is also a fan of other Canadian acts as well as our amenities.

“We’ve toured with Swollen Members which was great,” said McCoy, “I’ve really liked Esthero for a really, really long time.”

After their show, they’ll be hitting the road again and won’t even have a chance to take in some of the local acts.

While k-os may have bailed on a homecoming show, Gym Class Heroes are looking forward to theirs.

“We’re looking towards a huge homecoming show,” said McCoy, “we haven’t played at home in so long and the people are starting to miss us.”

Since having their CD fall into the lap of Fall Out Boy bassist and Decaydance Records founder Pete Wentz, the Gym Class Heroes have been incredibly busy. The Gym Class Heroes have been had their schedules full with touring, promoting their work and even recording with Wentz’s band-mate Patrick Stump.

“Patrick (Stump) sees where we’re trying to go,” said McCoy.

Stump had a huge roll in their hit Billboard 100 top 5 hit “Cupid’s Chokehold” which became so popular after their push that they had to redo the original video which was a favourite of the bands’.

“The first (version of the video) is one of my favourite videos ever,” said McCoy, “but after the push and the momentum we gained, we had to re-shoot it. The first one was kind of poor quality and meant for the internet more than TV. We also figured ‘why re-shoot the same video in better quality.’”

The internet and particularly MySpace has played a big role for the band and even released a video for “New Friend Request,” a song that tells the tale of a guy trying to get a girl on the website. But while they acknowledge the website’s impact on society, in particular, the younger generation, they’ve actually started a pseudo-campaign against it.

“Our drummer Matt and I have both erased our profiles on MySpace,” said McCoy, “(our campaign) is called Erase Your Face. We think that when you’re on there, you lose your inhibitions and it’s too impersonal.”

While their campaign may or may not pick up steam, it’s for certain that, as a group, they are and should continue to as long as they keep up their hard work.

- Dan Bilicki








© 2007, All Rights Reserved