Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen recording group Gym Class Heroes have slated a series of major television appearances celebrating the release of their much anticipated fourth album, “The Quilt.” The collection – which features the hit songs/videos “Cookie Jar (Feat. The-Dream)” and “Peace Sign/Index Down (Feat. Busta Rhymes)” – is available today in stores and at all digital retailers.
First up,
Gym Class Heroes will perform live on the Wednesday, September 10th installment of NBC’s Late Night with
Conan O’Brien. Later this week, the
Geneva, New York-based outfit will appear on an episode of MTV’s TRL as well as on Mi TRL on the MTV Tr3s network, followed next week with a spot on BET’s Rap City – check local listings for details.
The alt-hip-hop heroes will then hit the road on a major co-headline tour with
The Roots. The North American schedule – which features support from Homeschool/Atlantic Records R&B sensation Estelle – begins on October 3rd at Baltimore’s Rams Head Live! and then traverses the continent through a November 1st finale at Albany, New York’s Washington Avenue Armory (see attached itinerary). One dollar from each ticket sold on the tour will be donated to
The Boys & Girls Club of Geneva and
The Triple Threat Foundation.
“The Quilt” – which follows GCH’s 2006 RIAA gold-certified breakthrough, “As Cruel As School Children” – has received unprecedented response at MTV.com’s The Leak, where the album has streamed in its entirety over the past week. “Cookie Jar (Feat. The-Dream),” the album’s first single, is currently ascending the charts at multi-format radio outlets nationwide, including CHR/Top 40, Urban, and Rhythmic. Produced by The-Dream (Rihanna, Usher, Chris Brown), the track has also just been added to the Top 40 playlist at Sirius Satellite Radio.
The “Cookie Jar” companion video recently had its television premiere on MTV’s Fnmtv and is now in rotation at MTV, MTV2, and mtvU. What’s more, the clip - directed by Dale “Rage” Resteghini (Lil Wayne, Jim Jones, The Game) – is also in play at Fuse and The N. In addition, the video for “Peace Sign/Index Down,” another track off “The Quilt,” has just entered rotation at BET’s Rap City.
Gym Class Heroes – who spent their summer blowing it up as headliners on the Vans Warped Tour - will be among the featured artists in AT&T’s blue room, located here, on September 30. Additionally, this fall, the band will be included in AT&T’s Music For Every Generation Project, alongside such artists as Frank Sinatra, Nickelback and Foreigner.
“The Quilt” has already received critical hosannas from a range of national publications. Alternative Press – which features GCH as its current cover stars – awarded the album four-and-a-half stars, hailing it as “the sound of four musicians who can now do whatever they want. A sampler of styles (sweet reggae, early-‘90s rap, blissful punk-pop) where every square makes sense… It’s fitting GCH are the first hip-hop outfit to grace AP’s cover since Outkast in 2001; they’re just as innovative.”
People awarded “The Quilt” with three-out-of-four stars, calling the album “all kinds of synth-soaked fun” and praising “the band’s refined sound, complete with horns, reggae nuances, and amazing guitar solos.” Us Weekly also bestowed three-out-of-four stars to “The Quilt,” while YRB gave the album a four-starred rave: “Gym Class Heroes completely satisfies even the pickiest of listeners…GCH’s fresh sound can easily be described as the hot, sweaty, in-your-face lovechild of Fall Out Boy and Talib Kweli.”
Additional features and reviews are slated to appear in upcoming issues of Vibe, Blender, Complex, Giant, CosmoGirl, King, Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. The band is also featured in the September of Spin and will be “taking over” Spin.com this Friday, September 12.
“The Quilt” sees Gym Class Heroes teaming up with a number of extraordinary collaborators. In addition to The-Dream, producers include Cool & Dre (Yung Joc, Young Jeezy, The Game) and the Geneva, NY-based band’s longtime friend and collaborator, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. What’s more, “The Quilt” features special guest contributions from the one-and-only Busta Rhymes, UK soul sensation Estelle, and the legendary Daryl Hall.
Acclaimed for their unique approach to alternative hip-hop, Gym Class Heroes became an international sensation in 2007 with their #1 blockbuster hit, “Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast In America.” The track was a multiple chart-topping crossover smash, spending five consecutive weeks at the top of the Top 40 chart, catapulting “As Cruel As School Children” to RIAA gold certification for sales exceeding 500,000.
The band was named “Best New Artist” at 2007’s MTV Video Music Awards, beating out such stars as Amy Winehouse and Carrie Underwood. GCH were all over music television, with live performances and videos for such tracks as the anthemic “Clothes Off!” appearing on MTV, its affiliated networks, and Fuse. Additional Gym Class Heroes TV appearances included performances on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
A remarkably dedicated live act, Gym Class Heroes have toured nearly non-stop in recent years. In addition to headlining a number of packed-out tours, the band played at countless festivals and radio-sponsored shows, and shared stages with Fall Out Boy and Gwen Stefani.
Gym Class Heroes are:
Travis McCoy (lead vocalist)
Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo (guitarist)
Eric Roberts (bassist)
Matt McGinley (drummer)
For up-to-the-minute news and tour information, see the official Gym Class Heroes website or the band’s MySpace page.
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