There’s Been No Wrong Turns, There’s Just Been Detours: An Interview with the All-American Rejects
by Evan Sawdey
PopMatters Associate Interviews Editor

All-American Rejects guitarist Nick Wheeler doesn’t care about matching the success of his last album, what other people think of him, or what album covers he lands on. All he cares about is his music.

Maybe we’ve all been wrong about the All-American Rejects.

The Rejects, lead by songwriters Tyson Ritter (vocals) and Nick Wheeler (guitar), were always a bit hard to categorize. After all, though their emo-ready looks made them instant Alternative Press pinup stars, the sound of AAR was always closer to pop than rock, as if the band just couldn’t resist a good melody when it hit them. When recording their eponymous 2002 debut, Wheeler & Ritter often used tinny drum machines to flesh out their dual-guitar attacks, soon expanding into the full-band format with 2005’s mega-hit Move Along, a soaring guitar-pop disc that spawned hits like “ Dirty Little Secret” and the title track. Now, with their new album When the World Comes Down having come out in December of last year, the Rejects are ready to once again conquer the charts and possibly the world.

There’s only one problem: they don’t really care.

When interviewing guitarist Nick Wheeler, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. When I mentioned burgeoning alt-rock acts like AP-darlings Forever the Sickest Kids, Wheeler responded simply: “I was gonna say ‘Who?’ but then you said AP and I’m like ‘Oh—yeah, I don’t really give a fuck anymore.’” Instead, he got excited by the mention of sugar-pop maestros Fountains of Wayne, noting that FOW bassist Adam Schlesinger wrote the Oscar-nominated theme song to the 1996 Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do! Instead of trying to categorize himself into any particular genre, all Wheeler would admit to is that “I like upbeat rock music that you can sing along to: that’s it.” Even when I asked him if he felt like he was selling out given the Rejects’ multitude of cross-promotions with the likes of Pepsi and Honda, Wheeler said that he didn’t care what people thought, instead asking, “Who wouldn’t want to design a Pepsi can and get 500 million of ‘em out in fuckin’ every Wal-Mart across the country?” With his celebrity, he’s presented with opportunities that most of us will never have, and instead of worrying about his standing with the rock community, he instead seizes every once-in-a-lifetime moment that he can, never once looking back with regret. When you take all of this into account, the band’s acoustic cover of Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” starts to make sense.

Though this interview was conducted a few weeks prior to the release of When the World Comes Down, it didn’t stop Wheeler from discussing how the band is terrible at picking out singles, how little he cares about matching the commercial success of his past albums, and how he’s only now overcoming his sudden and inexplicable two-year loss of love for music.

Click here for the interview.

Source: www.popmatters.com

Rockers The All-American Rejects had a taste of Kiwi this week and it inspired them to start work on their next album.

The four-piece were in the country to play their first New Zealand show, hitting the stage in support of Fall Out Boy.
And they were so overwhelmed by the response of the crowd, they not only pledged to return before the end of the year, frontman Tyson Ritter said they were spurred into planning fresh material.

“We actually had our first conversation about new stuff, Tyson brought it up,” said lead guitarist Nick Wheeler. “I guess being here made him think about it.”
They had only a couple of days in Auckland, and while keen to skydive and visit mud pools, contented themselves with some local booze.

“I’m a big fan of New Zealand wines I like the reds, and it was great to taste a few here where they were made,” said Nick.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

The All-American Rejects say they don’t want to be a support act for other bands anymore.

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the alternative pop-rock band who have just played their final gig supporting Fall Out Boy on their world tour.
The band’s latest single Gives You Hell is riding high in the New Zealand Charts.

But despite having fun on tour lead singer Tyson Ritter says they’d like to headline their own gig.
“I don’t like playing a 40 minute set. I like owning the crowd – not just getting them riled up and then handing them off,” he told Stuff.co.nz.

“It’s a bit like going into a bank, holding it up, robbing it, putting all the money in bags and then just giving it to someone to take. Here, I bagged this shit up, did all the work, now you can just go ahead and take the money.”

“I don’t like that. I like keeping the booty.”
So who would the guys want opening for them on tour?
“The Gaslight Anthem – they’re getting really big in the UK. They’re good dudes, a great band and we enjoy their music,” said guitarist Mike Kennerty.

Kennerty said he was impressed with fans at Monday’s show at Vector Arena.
“When we played Give You Hell, they were definitely the loudest chants we’ve ever had,” he said.
Ritter said the band’s next album is likely to make fans sit up and listen.

“We’ve already proven we can write good pop songs, we need to challenge our listeners even more with our next record,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to coming out with something that’s completely unorthodox.”

Source: Stuff.co.nz

Thanks to Listen_Loudly at __AAR__ for the info =)

Nick did an interview with ilikemusic.com, he talked about the new record, recording, touring, and many more!

When The World Comes Down is the third studio album from The All American Rejects. Formed in 2001 by lead singer Tyson Ritter and lead guitarist Nick Wheeler, this four piece went on to sell over three and a half million albums worldwide, spawn hit singles such as Swing Swing, Dirty Little Secret, Move Along and It Ends Tonight, and achieve Gold status for their second album Move Along in the UK.

Having toured the States relentlessly for nearly a decade, as well as crossing the seas to play numerous gigs across the globe, The All American Rejects are a hardworking band who blend their form of punk rock into a more mainstream bracket with catchy riffs and sing a long lyrics. After spending the majority of 2008 working on their third studio album, When The World Comes Down, ilikemusic caught up with guitarist Nick Wheeler to chat about putting the album together, music he likes, playing live shows and his first tiny, three-stringed red guitar.

“I Like Music because… it doesn’t only pay the bills, I enjoy the hell outta doing it.” NICK, THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS (Nicely said, Nick ;D)

Click here to read the full interview. This interview soon to be added to the ‘Interview’ section.

Tyson was On-Air with Ryan Seacrest on Kiis FM. Go listen the interview on Kiis FM official site by clicking here. Tyson is hilarious! Oh man, I just realized that “Gives You Hell” is actually made for a guy, LOL.

Tyson did an interview with Destin.com, they talked about his adopted hometown, Destin, FL, and the new record. Check it out.

DESTIN, FL – Tyson Ritter, frontman for the rock band All-American Rejects, couldn’t say enough nice things about his adopted hometown during an interview last week.

“We love Destin,” he said. “I may be from Oklahoma, but Destin is home to me.”

The 24-year-old and the rest of the band – Nick Wheeler, Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor – hail from Stillwater, Okla.

That all changed about five years ago.

“How did we discover Destin? That’s a good question,” Ritter said. “We were flying on Thanksgiving break, or a little bit before it, on a Delta flight. I was flipping through a magazine and see an article that says ‘Florida’s New Hot Destination.’ What a sweet play on words.

“About that time, Nick and I were pretty tired of our hometown. You know, it just gets smaller and smaller, it seems, the longer you stay after high school.

“We saw the beautiful sandy beach. And, Destin, we were like, wow, I put my foot down and it squeaks. We’ll stay here forever.”

» Read More…