In the grand scheme of things, one year isn't all that long, but in industry terms, it's an eternity. That's how long it's been since [artist id="1904930"]Gym Class Heroes[/artist] released [article id="1594565"]The Quilt[/article] (actually, it's been like 15 months, but, hey, who's counting?), an album that was supposed to carry them to the next level but, thanks to an [article id="1574086"]increased focus on hip-hop[/article], confounded most GCH fans, and quickly disappeared from the charts.

And when that disappointment was coupled with frontman [article id="1626166"]Travis McCoy's talk of a solo album[/article], well, those 15 months started to seem a bit longer -- and the wait began to make many Gym Class fans worry about the fate of their beloved band.

But according to McCoy, there's nothing to fear. Because while, yes, he's currently working on his solo debut -- an album called The Lazarus Project -- he's not slacking on his Gym Class duties either. Far from it, in fact.

"Man, It hasn't really been that long since The Quilt," he laughed. "But, for real, I'm actually wrapping up my solo record, which is called The Lazarus Project, which will hopefully be out this spring, [and] we've already started demo-ing for the new Gym Class record, PCC II. I won't get into what that acronym stands for, but anybody that's followed GCH for a while knows what I'm talking about.

"We're about 12 demos deep," he continued. "All I got to say is it's definitely going back to the essence of Gym Class Heroes, which is four dudes sitting in a room, vibing off each other and making organic, dark metal."

Cool, like those dudes from Norway? Longtime Gym Class Heroes fans will, of course, recognize PCC II as a reference to the band's breakout 2005 album, The Papercut Chronicles, which makes it sound very much like GCH is returning to their roots. But things are going to be a little different this time around. For starters, McCoy has grown up, and, as an ambassador for MTV's Staying Alive Campaign -- which supports young people working to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS -- he traveled to South Africa, India and the Philippines.

So things are gonna get a lot worldlier the next time out. Sort of.

"If you go back and listen to earlier on in the Gym Class catalog, we definitely tackled social issues and whatnot," McCoy said. "I wouldn't necessarily say after this trip I'm going to be getting my Zach de la Rocha or Boots Riley on, but it's definitely made me well aware of a lot of things I wasn't aware of before, you know? And I tend to write about experiences in life, and this was definitely a huge experience."