Thug Life Army

Travis McCoy, lead vocalist for Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen recording group Gym Class Heroes, will be the special guest of Daryl Hall on the fourth installment of his free live webcast, Live From Daryl’s House, tonight  Feb. 15 at 8 p.m., exclusive at www.livefromdarylshouse.com .

The two collaborate on a version of the Daryl Hall-penned “Everytime You Go Away,” a #1 U.S. and Top 5 U.K. hit in 1985 for Paul Young, and a brand-new take on “You Make My Dreams,” mashed up with the Gym Class Heroes’ track “The Queen and I,” off of their RIAA-certified Gold release, As Cruel As School Children.

Live From Daryl’s House debuted last Nov. 15, featuring Hall’s longtime collaborator T Bone Wolk, while partner John Oates guested on the second installment, a holiday special highlighting their Home for Christmas album in December.

Hailing from Geneva, NY, Gym Class Heroes’ alternative hip-hop style and use of live instruments in favor of canned beats and looped samples caught the attention of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, who signed them to his Decaydance imprint. The band’s breakthrough album, As Cruel as School Children, featured one of the biggest hits of 2007, the #1 smash single “Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast in America.” Gym Class Heroes also took home the 2007 MTV Video Music Award for “Best New Group”, beating out the likes of Lily Allen, Peter Bjorn & John, Carrie Underwood, and Amy Winehouse. 

McCoy has long expressed his admiration for Daryl, even going so far as to name one of the band’s previous headlining concert jaunts the Daryl Hall for President Tour ’07.

Gym Class Heroes is currently in the studio working on the highly anticipated, follow-up to As Cruel As School Children. Hall guests on the forthcoming, as-yet-untitled album, slated for release this summer.

Said McCoy of his relationship with Daryl: “Part of me was horrified before working with Daryl to be honest. There are 2 people I hold high on my caste system of people I think are cooler than me, my father being the other. I grew up on Daryl’s voice. I am forever grateful for the chance to work with and befriend someone I''ve looked up to all these years.”

Commented Daryl: “Words fail to express the fun and creative fulfillment that I had recording and playing with Travis. I think the combination of his poetry and my musicality came together in a very historic way, and I don’t say that lightly.”

Adds Hall: “I haven’t felt this way since the Apollo Theater, back in the day, when I worked with the Temptations, except now the roles have been reversed.”

Each new edition of Live From Daryl’s House will take place at one of Daryl’s homes in either upstate New York, Maine, London or the Bahamas.

“Daryl’s House is a state of mind,” he says. The latest edition, with Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, is a meeting of musical minds.