Travie McCoy
7/22/202656 min
On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Travie McCoy.
This summer heralded Gym Class Heroes’ “Universal Language,” doubling as their first music since 2011’s The Papercut Chronicles II and a taste of their upcoming album.
Quickly, news of their Back to Basics tour with Lupe Fiasco followed, which kicks off in September.
Before heading out on the road, McCoy stopped by the Artist Friendly studio to talk about his journey through addiction and recovery, the legacy of Gym Class Heroes, and how creativity helped him find purpose both on and off the stage.
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Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on Spotify.
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Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden
Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King
Producers: Janice Leary, Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin
Director/Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer
Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray
Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray
Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer
Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Travie McCoy· Guest0:23
Every summer, and we- you know, it started in the tent, then we moved to Hurley Stage, and then, you know, and the next thing you know, we're headlining the shit.
Joel Madden· Host0:33
Yeah.
Travie McCoy· Guest0:33
And it was, it was a gradual climb, but we got smacked with a lot of tomatoes, man.
Joel Madden· Host0:38
[laughs] Of course.
Travie McCoy· Guest0:39
But we took them on the chin and ran with it, you know?
Joel Madden· Host0:41
'Cause it was different at the time.
Travie McCoy· Guest0:42
Absolutely.
Joel Madden· Host0:43
Which is crazy to say now.
Travie McCoy· Guest0:44
In fact, like that, the, the cover of As Cool as School Children is kind of a metaphor for that. Like, on the front cover, you see this big f- this chubby blue kid that's just smiling, and all these kids are behind him, "Ah," picking on him and shit. And then you turn the page, and he's still smiling, and you're like, "Why isn't he upset?" You know? And then the next page, everybody's wearing the same shirt he's wearing and has his hairdo, you know what I'm saying?
Joel Madden· Host1:08
Yeah.
Travie McCoy· Guest1:08
And, like, that's kinda Gym Class Heroes in a nutshell. Bad times, I don't wanna have bad. So, [laughs] uh- Tell me how you broke your neck ... so I, I wa- uh, I took my homeboy out to dinner, and, uh, it started to get nice out. You know, in New York, like, when it gets nice out, when it gets 50, we think it's summertime, you know?
Joel Madden· Host1:29
Mm-hmm.
Travie McCoy· Guest1:29
So I'm like, "Man,