Hushed Heroes

Not all music interviews aspire to get at the pith of an artist or band's identity, or to say anything all that insightful about them. No, sometimes interviews exist just as a means to give an artist a chance to voice a bit of his or her personality and, if the stars align, give readers something to enjoy for a few minutes out of their day. Of course, this works only when the artist in question — like, say, Travis McCoy of hip-hop-fueled punk outfit Gym Class Heroes — actually has a personality for readers to enjoy.

When this journalist got on the phone with McCoy, he found himself wondering if the frontman was on some sort of medication, or if he was just somebody with a penchant for short, muttered answers. To make matters worse, the gimmicky premise was simple: All McCoy had to do was say a few sentences about whether or not various celebrities, politicians, and pop-culture figures were heroes or not, given his band's name. After agreeing to this, the following is how he handled his interview.


Tue., Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m., 2008