ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: "Guilty As Charged" is apparently the only track on the Gym Class Heroes' upcoming album The Quilt that features Estelle, and after hearing this track, I'd love to hear more collaborations between the British singer and the upstate New York outfit. Unlike the album's other leaks, "Guilty" is a loose-limbed R & B jam with a go-go-inspired, piano-assisted and a crazy horn break right near the end; lead Hero Travis McCoy's contributions to the track actually play very well against Estelle's cooler-than-cool vocals. File under "the most pleasant surprise I've heard all day," and color me a little more curious about what else might be hiding within the Gym Class Heroes' upcoming album.

WHERE TO FIND IT: The always-reliable Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul.

OCTOBER
3 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live!
4 Norfolk, VA The Norva
5 N. Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
6 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle
7 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues
8 Miami, FL The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason
10 Houston, TX Meridian* (w/ Estelle only)
11 Dallas, TX The Palladium Ballroom
12 Austin, TX The Backyard
14 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee
19 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
21 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium
23 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom
24 Chicago, IL Congress Theatre
25 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit
26 Toronto, ONT Sound Academy
28 New York, NY Roseland Ballroom
30 Worcester, MA The Palladium Downstairs
31 Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Park Convention Hall

NOVEMBER
1 Albany, NY Washington Avenue Armory

THE BANDS: In rough order: I arrived just as The Academy Is... launched into their set, and once again, they were 100% enjoyable, playing two new songs and causing nearly every female in the audience to have conniption fits. Some band on a side stage covered Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and it just about fell apart at the end, although their take on it made the song much more tolerable than L. Lewis'. Gym Class Heroes' set was very tight, blending a few new tracks with songs from their SUNY Fredonia era, and their cover of Lamb Of God was surprising both in its actually happening and its being kind of good. Japanese all-lady ska outfit ORESKABAND was ridiculously fun, and brought back skanking to Long Island, something I thought I'd never see again on my home turf. Disco Ensemble were a Finnish dance-rock act possessing both catchy songs and a rock-star exuberance that reminded me of Vains Of Jenna, who also brought a full-on arena spectacle to a crowd of about 50 people when I saw them open for Poison last year. The lead singer of You Me And Everyone We Know's pleading voice was very much in the Ted Leo vein, which isn't all that surprising given that they, too, are from DC. The female-fronted British three-piece Tat played next to the skate ramp, which was fitting for their competent, if a bit cliched, punk. (The lead singer said her band was from "London town," which should give you an indication.) Automatic Loveletter's first song came off like a slightly crunchier Paramore, but then lead singer Juliet Simms strapped on an acoustic and went barreling into Alanis territory, complete with too-long outro. Ludo charmed me for the entirety of their set, in large part because their frontman's voice sounded like it belonged to a bookish alter ego of Placebo's Brian Molko. Cobra Starship's "Guilty Pleasure" was probably my favorite song of the day. Against Me! had an older average audience than any other act I saw all day, and they were tirelessly good. Say Anything made me write the words "too many syllables" in my notebook, an opinion that I suspect will bring out many people who will tell me that I am a thousand per cent wrong. Bring Me The Horizon made the audience collectively freak out with its grimy British death metal, and then encouraged the audience to form a huge mosh pit, during which I saw many punches thrown. And then there was Katy Perry, about whom more in a second.

THE BOOTHS: Each band, each corporate sponsor, and various other entities had booths set up around the sidelines, where people could buy merch, collect free swag, sign petitions, or find out how to properly examine their breasts. My favorite one was the Rock Band tent, where I was given the chance to play the game for the first time. (Research, right? I do write about it.) And as it turned out, the drummer and one of the guitar players in my band were none other than sidemen for Katy Perry, a fact that I found out after I got a 90% for screaming the lyrics to "Creep" into the drummer's ear. (I hope I wasn't too loud!)

The line outside the AT&T-sponsored booth offering autograph sessions with the likes of Gabe Saporta and members of All Time Low was super-long for most of the day, as was the one leading into some Trojan-sposnored "ride" where people I think got free condoms at the end. (The swag was being inflated and batted around during various sunset sets. Safe sex, everyone!) Pretty much every booth offering a meet and greet had a long line leading to it, a fact that helped make it impossible for anyone to see everything, since maneuvering around them was sometimes a bit of a trick; there were certain artists with whom it was possible to spend pretty much your entire day, between watching their normal set, watching their acoustic sets in various tents, and waiting in line for them at a meet and greet.

And finally, the booth selling the following T-shirt gave me an anchor on which I could stand all day:

I like to think that this is the one point Pitchfork Music Festival attendees and those people at the Warped Tour can (maybe) agree on.

THE CLOTHES: Many people chucked off whatever shirts they were wearing and put on whatever apparel they'd purchased at the tents, which I guess means the "don't be that guy" rule is as old as I am. Other popular Warped Tour fashions included: homemade shirts/chest-coverings advertising "free hugs" and "free kisses" (which, as the day went on, evolved into pleas for free blow jobs and breast-reveals from some dudes); bikini tops; Appetite-era Guns N' Roses t-shirts (seriously, I saw about 10 of them); shutter shades of all colors; Chuck Taylors, natch; and plaid shorts.

THE CONFUSING MESSAGES: PETA and other pro-vegetarianism organizations were, perhaps unsurprisingly, out in full force, although vegetarian foodstuffs were few and far between; there were a few stands selling French fries, including one that was inside the Coliseum and on the opposite side of the parking lot, but fries and pretzels were pretty much it as far as non-meaty food options went. Which is less than ideal for something that runs through lunch and dinner. Perhaps this was an issue with Nassau Coliseum's catering arm, but it sure did make me wish that the "vegetarian starter kit" one organization was handing out came with some soy dog samples. Also, for a festival that had its own booth touting its eco-consciousness, a) there sure were a lot of unopened bags of Doritos collecting in the corners and b) water was five freaking dollars a bottle.

THE END: Idolator bete noire Katy Perry was placed in the de facto "headlining" role for Saturday's show, so I had pretty much nowhere to hide during her set. (Most of the merch tents had packed up by then, thanks in part to gusty winds that were causing many a banner to skip across the lot.) She was pretty much as annoying in person as I expected, and the guitar on "U R So Gay" sounded like it had been lifted directly from some Swap N' Shop-worthy smooth jazz. Highlights, if you can call them that, included her taking a break to shout the word "PENIS!!!!" really loudly and prefacing her show-closing rendition of "I Kissed A Girl" with a call to her mom on a "bananaphone." (I told a friend that I was somewhat surprised she wasn't phoning home via hamburger, but perhaps even Perry thought that would have been too obvious.)

I did, however, enjoy that there were a few young ladies who took advantage of the mostly female crowd in front of Perry to hop up on top of everyone and crowd-surf. It was very '90s. As was some of the feel of the festival—the activist tents, the Converse, the Long Island Roller Derby team that had a a tent (!!), the surprisingly high number of chick-fronted acts I happened to run into—although the piles of merchandise offered by every act did bring the proceedings smack back into the current century, what with every band on the bill needing to make some extra scratch thanks to the recorded-music business being in its current state. I would go back next year, sure. Although I would definitely try to find a way to smuggle in my own water bottle, and maybe a granola bar or two, if only to stave off the exhaustion that kicked into my old bones at around 6 p.m.

Idolator [Twitter]

Pretty awesome graphic for your new album, dudes, but I don't know...it feels like something's missing.

Much better.

Gym Class Heroes Artwork [Absolutepunk]

Gym Class Scuffle [absolutepunk.net]
Gym Class Heroes Frontman Arrested For Assault After Reacting To Racial Slur [RS; HT Christopher Weingarten]

"You won't know who is on the album just by looking at the liner notes. You'll know only if you listen and recognize the person's voice. This way, people know we didn't do stuff for name sake, but really because that person belonged on that song."

Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, John Oates, K-OS and Busta Rhymes are among the guest features, while Cool & Dre and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump have assisted with production.

The set includes the Oates-featuring "Fly With Me," a dedication to McCoy's cousin who committed suicide last year. "It's sort of a Romeo and Juliet-type of story," he says.

Featuring Oates but not featuring Hall? I thought Darryl and Travis were tight!

I suspect there's drama in the world of rock'n'soul'n'emo-rap.

Guests Blend Seamlessly On New Gym Class Heroes Disc
Queen And I [YouTube]

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."

Only two, Travis? Only two people in this world cooler than you? No wonder you always look so self-satisfied. But what does Daryl think?

"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."

If only we had a jealous response from Oates to complete this cycle. Here's a video of Hall & Oates with the Temptations at the Apollo "back in the day":

We'll have to wait until Friday at 8 p.m. to see if Travis and his many facial piercings can top that. And if, for some reason, you're particularly interested in the Hall/McCoy collaboration you can watch a video of the pair awkwardly discussing Daryl's cat on McCoy's blog.

Live from Dary'ls House [Official site]
Travis McCoy's blog [traviesblog.com]