Gym Class Heroes will bring their radio-friendly rock to the Tavern March 24 for the Student Union Board’s first concert of the semester.
The show is free for students with AU IDs and limited to the first 500 students who line up on the day of the show.
The group formed almost 10 years before they hit it big with the 2006 single “Cupid’s Chokehold,” when singer/emcee Travis McCoy and drummer Matt McGinley met (where else?) in gym class at their high school.
After beefing up their lineup with a few more members, the band hit the Warped Tour circuit, playing small shows and festivals across the country.
Along the way, Gym Class Heroes attracted the attention of former Fall Out Boy and scene golden boy Pete Wentz, who signed them to his label Decaydence Records.
Wentz’s Fall Out Boy bandmate Patrick Stump produced the band’s breakthrough album, “As Cruel As School Children.” Stump also lent his vocals to what would become the group’s biggest hit of their career, the Supertramp-sampling radio hit “Cupid’s Chokehold.”
On the success of “As Cruel As School Children,” Gym Class Heroes rose from scruffy Bamboozle upstarts to rising stars, and McCoy in particular gained visibility as the band’s high-profile frontman, dating Katy Perry and appearing on the “Snakes on a Plane” soundtrack.
The band disbanded for a few years for the members to pursue their own projects, but reunited last year to make “The Papercut Chronicles II,” which yielded the popular single “Stereo Love” featuring Maroon 5’s Adam Levine.
If you loved We the Kings last semester, make sure to check out fellow Warped Tour alums Gym Class Heroes in the Tavern March 24.
mmcdermott@theeagleonline.com
