Search Results for: the all-american reject

About two months before the release of his band's third studio album, "When the World Comes Down," All-American Rejects singer/bassist Tyson Ritter is spending most of his free time drinking beer and engaging in kite-flying wars on the beaches of Northern Florida. "I've been getting completely hammered and enjoying myself," Ritter says from his home in Destin, Florida. "I'm 24 and I know I'm not going to be able to do this s–t when I'm 50. Sometimes you've got to live." The All-American Rejects frontman has reason to enjoy his time off. In the two years since the release of… Read more »

After more than two years on the road in support of their Move Along album, the All-American Rejects finally wrapped things up in early 2007, with everyone returning home for a much-deserved break. So how did frontman Tyson Ritter spend his time away from the spotlight?”I’ve had a place for nearly three years now, but I was never home, so I finally got around to hanging some pictures up,” he said. “And now I just wake up, stay in my bathrobe all day and sit at my piano. It’s pretty nice, actually.” He’s being modest. Because ever since the Rejects… Read more »

The All-American Rejects’ second album is truly a work in progress. There are still so many nails exposed and the paint is still so wet that if this album were an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Ty Pennington would be bellowing stuff like “Come on, guys! Let’s take it up a couple of notches!” into his megaphone. He would also probably be shirtless. The point is, for a record that’s been in the works for eight months, there’s a whole lot that needs to be done. Like, for example, choosing a proper title. When Interscope Records mailed out promo… Read more »

Ever since The All-American Rejects jumped from independent label Doghouse Records to DreamWorks, the Oklahoma band has been experiencing the inevitable cries of “sell-out” from former supporters in the indie crowd. “I think a lot of people don’t respect us anymore,” reflects drummer Chris Gaylor. “When we were on Doghouse we were this cool indie-pop band and that was awesome. But when you sign to a major, you’re just some dumb boy-band pop group. I don’t see how that differs. We didn’t change any of ourselves or any of the music.” Originally issued in October of 2002, their self-titled debut… Read more »

From Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” in the 1970s to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” in the ’80s, and R. Kelly’s “If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time” a decade later, songs about stopping time are as numerous as sands in an hourglass. The All-American Rejects extend the time-honored tradition with their third single, “Time Stands Still.” The song, which follows “Swing Swing” and “The Last Song,” is similar to the themes that flow through the Oklahoma band’s self-titled debut album in that they’re all about singer, bassist and lyricist Tyson Ritter’s girl problems. But… Read more »

All-American Rejects are itching for new tunes. The Oklahoma rockers’ self-titled debut was released by Dreamworks in January, but it’s really almost a year-and-a-half old, having been first released last fall by indie Doghouse Records. “We’ve got some new stuff going on,” says guitarist Nick Wheeler. “We’re totally stoked on doing a new album.” More than half of the new album is already in demo form or in the head of frontman Tyson Ritter. “He comes up with the melody and the basic chord structure, and then I’ll come in and do the music-theory, geeky shit to it,” Wheeler says.… Read more »

Subtlety is not a trademark for the All-American Rejects, but neither is specificity. Most of the band’s songs address bad relationships and broken hearts, but details of the scarring experiences are often missing. On the group’s next single, vocalist Tyson Ritter sings, “Life is turned, the day I knew you would leave/ I can barely breathe/ Can you hear me scream?” That’s about as close as the Rejects get to confessional revelation. So what exactly is the tune about? “It’s about 96-beats-per-minute and it’s in the key of C major,” quipped bassist Nick Wheeler in a most unhelpful manner. “It’s… Read more »

Even the most heartbroken among us would benefit from distancing themselves from the pain every once in a while. For Tyson Ritter, a reprieve from his songwriting muse helped make “The Last Song” such a pleasure to pen. “I got inspired to write something that wasn’t about an all-girl topic,” the All-American Rejects singer/bassist said. “Every other song [on the band’s self-titled debut] is about one girl, so to put a song on the album that wasn’t about her, that made it a little extra special.” The second single off The All-American Rejects is one of Ritter’s favorite tracks, inspirational… Read more »