Between an entire Warped Tour, an up and coming headline tour, and a lot of fan loving, it’s hard to believe drummer Matt McGinley and the Gym Class Heroes have time to perfect their own version of Pee Wee’s “Tequila” dance. But these guys are more primed than ever to release their newest album, The Quilt, this September. Matt gave us and inside glimpse of the band’s fresh sound, influenced by only the best music idols—they’re establishing identities, generating movements, and just plain kickin’ ass.


It’s well known that you and Travis met in high school gym class, but can you clear up once and for all—is this really the inspiration for your band’s name?
Not really. I don’t really think we had any real revelation when we were a couple 14 and 15-year-old kids about the band’s name. It was more just a name that was funny and suitable at the time. It’s kind of like that friend who sleeps on your couch and just won’t go away, who just hangs around forever.

How’s Warped Tour treating you?
I enjoy performing outside a lot. It’s a way different energy. It’s pretty exciting to play a tour like Warped Tour—a festival audience is usually big, massive crowds and the sound just escapes into the environment, which is pretty exciting as a performer and also as an audience member.

What’s a typical day on the road?
I usually wake up around 11:30 a.m., and I feel it out if there are any showers close by—there’s usually not, so I grab a couple cans of water and douse my head with them, then put some shampoo on it. So even if the rest of my body is unclean, at least my hair looks good.

Do you guys have any weird on-tour quirks or good luck rituals?
When we were in the UK two years ago, a fan who was also a tattoo artist gave us this little baby doll. He had already started to tattoo the little doll, and then the doll also had these really tight, sweet Dickies shorts and a fitted Yankees cap and some jewelry. The guy had named him “Baby Jacob.” We’ve basically had Baby Jacob on every tour we’ve done since—so if you ever come on our tour bus, you’ll see this freakish baby doll that is really funny. I’ve actually seen it scare kids before—he’s pretty out there. I don’t know if it’s so much a good luck thing as it’s just a tradition.

What can you tell us about The Quilt before its release?
It’s cool—the title is appropriate and fitting because each song has its own identity. We have songs that lean very hard-core toward the club/hip-hop side, to stuff that sounds like Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys because he produced it. We’re kind of indulging in all of our
inspirations and influences on this record.


Who was your favorite “celebrity” producer or artist to work with on the album?
Daryl Hall. We did a song with him called “Live Forever” and that was just a dream collaboration. The way we look up to Hall and Oates is just kind of ridiculous and so it’s pretty wild to have a moment in your career where you can actually create something with artists that you’re extremely smitten with.

Do you have a dream celebrity artist to work with?
I’d probably say Pee Wee Herman. He does the “Tequila” dance really well.

Explain to us this whole “Peace Sign/Index Down” thing. The song is spreading like wildfire! How surprised were you by your fans’ response and how far do you expect the fad to go?
I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by how well it’s being accepted because I think when Travis came up with the concept I was instantly like “Whoa! That’s a movement, man. That’s huge!” That song is definitely a lot of fun to perform live. We look out to see just a massive sea of peace signs and then a couple seconds later just a massive sea of middle fingers. It’s really cool to get that reaction out of a crowd.

Where do you think GCH’s music is headed now with this new album, or are you hoping it will change at all?
As a band, we’re always going to be evolving and changing. I really couldn’t tell you where the music is going to go from here—it all depends on where we’re at musically and as people the next time we go into the recording studio. But I would hope that it would change and progress. I never want to recreate the same album just packaged differently.

How excited are you for your tour with The Roots?
That’s going to be dope, It’s kind of like another Daryl Hall/cream-dream in the making! That’s a band that I grew up playing along to their records, so to be collaborating with them on a tour is pretty monumental for us as musicians. We also have an artist named estelle who is a new artist but she’s going to be on tour with us and she’s really amazing—she’s also on the first track on our new record The Quilt. Hopefully she’ll be performing that live with us on that tour.

By Katie Peterson