Interview: Gym Class Heroes’ Matt McGinly

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Interview by Laura Kezman

The bell rings and Gym Class Heroes runs another lap around the track. The hip-hop centered, indie rock-incorporated group recently released their fourth full-length album, The Quilt, in the beginning of September. While currently on tour promoting the new album, drummer and co-founder Matt McGinly recently spoke with Fan-Belt upon waking up on his tour bus in Denver.

Fan-Belt: Is the new album being received as well as you initially anticipated it to be?

Matt McGinly: I think with the success of “Cupid’s Chokehold,” which was never conceived to be a big radio hit song – we wrote in raised it in under four hours for under $200 – we kinda stuck to the same script of just writing music that put us first and made us the most happy, so that’s what we did for this record.

F-B: How was it working with Busta Rhymes?

MM: I remember going in and recording drums on that song and during the playback while I was recording my parts, hearing his vocals in my drum monitors. It was a pinch-yourself moment because I’m used to only ever hearing Travis’ voice. And the coolest part about it was that he actually approached us about being on that particular song, “Peace Sign/Index Down.”

F-B: What artist or band would you most want to work with in the future?

MM: Prince would be pretty cool; that’s definitely shooting for the stars. On a more humble level, maybe Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, I think that would be a pretty cool match-up.

F-B: How does Gym Class Heroes today compare with the way you and Travis envisioned the band when you first started it?

MM: It’s definitely what I envisioned it in terms of being at the reigns, or at the steering wheel of the Gym Class Heroes car. No matter how much success we have, we always wanted to be the masters of our own. For us, we always maintain control in what we do and how we’re presented.

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Gym Class Heroes played the Eagles Ballroom with The Roots and Estelle last Thursday.

?uestlove 4th of July DJ Set @ Stonefly!

In case you’ve been Rip Van Winkled these last few weeks, The Roots are playing the Miller Lite Oasis at Summerfest this Friday, July 4. But even bigger is the news that, afterward, drummer Amhir “?uestlove” Thompson will be doing a DJ set at Stonefly (735 E. Center St. / Milwaukee).

Uh, what? For real? YES, for real.

For the uninitiated, this is a pretty special event. Kind of like when Kraftwerk chose Milwaukee as one of only four cities it was performing in this past year. Only for Hip-hop. Thomspon’s rubbed musical elbows with everyone from J Dilla and Jay-Z (the recorded an entire “Unplugged” album together), to John Paul Jones (watch this) and Al Green (he produced Green’s latest album– one of the best Green’s recorded in years). He also has a tendency to share tales online of both his unique international crate digging finds, and MP3s of projects that either haven’t yet happened, or never will. (*cough* D’Angelo’s third album *cough*).

Tickets are $15, while they last. Element Everest and Sose will be your hosts for the evening, and the ubiquitous Kid Cut Up opens up on the turntables. The show starts at 10 p.m., so if you’re smart, you’ll get there as soon as humanly possible.