historycal music: History The All-American Rejects

Formation and The All-American Rejects (1999–2004)

The band formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1999 while members Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler were still in high school. The two originally met in 1997 at a club where an early band of Nick Wheeler was performing. It was here that Ritter offered himself for bass duties. Eventually it was only Ritter and Wheeler, and they decided to form The All-American Rejects.The name of the band came from two suggestions: "The All-Americans" and "The Rejects". Influenced by The Cure, Jawbreaker, and Green Day, the two began to tour the American Midwest, along with drummer Tim Campbell. At the shows, they gave out the Same Girl, New Songs EP, full of demos of songs written by the band. Due to tensions in the band, Tim Campbell left. Same Girl, New Songs soon was sent to independent Doghouse Records, where an intern saved the disc from the trash, and revealed it to the label owner. The All-American Rejects were soon signed to a recording contract.

In 2001, with producer Tim O'Hier, they recorded their self-titled debut album, The All-American Rejects, and released it along with single "Swing, Swing" towards the end of 2002. Edmond, Oklahoma residents Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor joined shortly after. They were then signed by DreamWorks Records and both the album and single were reissued. "Swing, Swing" peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #60 as well as #8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the debut album peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200. The single "The Last Song" was also released spring 2003, and climbed to #29 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Then, in spring 2002 The All-American Rejects set out on their first headlining tour, called the Too Bad For Hell Tour. In later 2003, The All-American Rejects released, Live from Oklahoma... The Too Bad for Hell DVD!, their first live DVD – which was later certified Gold by the RIAA. During this time, they performed on the Vans Warped Tour. They would later be part of the lineup again in summer 2005. In November, The All-American Rejects joined the band Motion City Soundtrack for six shows in the United Kingdom, the first date on the sixteenth, and the last on the twenty-second.

Move Along (2005–2006)

In the summer of 2005, The All-American Rejects released their second studio album, Move Along, produced by Howard Benson. The album's first single, "Dirty Little Secret", was also released in the summer to radio stations.

At the end of 2005, The All-American Rejects embarked on the The Rise of the Fall Tour along with The Academy Is... and Rooney. Then, on December 13, The Bite Back EP was released on the iTunes music store, and on New Year's Eve 2005, the band performed The Cars' "Good Times Roll" with Fall Out Boy on MTV. In 2006, the second single and title track from Move Along, was released. Within the first weeks after premiering their video, it had been on the Total Request Live countdown, hitting number-one four days in a row. The single did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 until almost six months after its release, in June. On March 15, 2006, the All-American Rejects began a tour of the United States that wrapped up on May 13, 2006. On May 25, the All-American Rejects performed at the first ever VH1 Rock Honors, covering Def Leppard's "Photograph".

In September 2006, fourth single, "It Ends Tonight", was released from Move Along. The video debuted at #10 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown. The video also peaked at #2 on TRL. Later in the year The All-American Rejects launched the Tournado tour in support of Move Along. The tour kicked off at Hartford, Connecticut on October 27, and wrapped up at Champaign, Illinois on December 20.

That New Year's Eve, The All-American Rejects performed on a special on Las Vegas' Fremont Street, which also included the bands OK Go, Five for Fighting, Rock Star Supernova, and Chicago.

When the World Comes Down (2007–2009)

The All-American Rejects began writing material for their third studio album. The band also collaborated with composer Danny Elfman on "The Future Has Arrived", which was included on the soundtrack of Disney film Meet the Robinsons. The song was created in junction to the film's musical score.

On July 17, 2007 The All-American Rejects released their second live DVD, titled Tournado, with content from the 2006 headlining tour of the same name. In December 2007, the songs "Move Along" and "Dirty Little Secret" were released as downloadable content in the video game Rock Band.In the summer of 2008, The All-American Rejects canceled their dates on that year's Warped Tour to complete When the World Comes Down. The demo of the song "I Wanna" appeared in the movie, The House Bunny, in which Tyson Ritter played a minor role.The demo for the song "Real World" also was selected for the soundtrack of Madden 09. Also during the summer, they covered "Jack's Lament" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was featured on Nightmare Revisited.

On September 30, 2008 the first single from When the World Comes Down, "Gives You Hell" was released on October 8, 2008. The All-American Rejects were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and were awarded with "Rising Star.The music video for "Gives You Hell" was released November fifth and reached number one on VH1's Top 20 Countdown. On the sixth, in support of "Gives You Hell", the band started the Gives You Hell Tour, which hit many small venues and clubs. Then, on the eighteenth "Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down)", another song from the band's upcoming album, was released digitally on iTunes. In the first week of December, the album version of "Real World" was made available for download on Rock Band for the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3.

Finally, three years after Move Along was released, the group's third album, When the World Comes Down, was released on December 16, 2008.After the Gives You Hell Tour wrapped up, the band embarked on a world tour until coming back to the states to start the I Wanna Rock Tour, which hit many major venues in the United States.

In May 2009 The All-American Rejects released a second single in the United States, entitled "The Wind Blows", which achieved moderate success. "I Wanna" was released internationally on July 8, targeting major countries like Australia and the United Kingdom. Another song from When the World Comes Down, "Real World", was featured on the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" soundtrack released on June 23, 2009, but is not featured in the film. In July, both "Real World" and "I Wanna" were released as singles in the United States in their own respective formats. In late summer The All-American Rejects joined Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday for the second half of the Blink-182 Reunion Tour.

On the 15th of August The All-American Rejects made history, performing alongside Hoobastank, Raygun, Boys Like Girls, Pixie Lott and Kasabian as one of the live acts at Asia's very first MTV World Stage Live In Malaysia concert.This performance gained them recognition in Malaysia. When the World Comes Down soon sold over 15,000 digital and physical copies in the country.

In October 2009, The All-American Rejects were forced to cancel shows due to an injury to frontman Tyson Ritter. He performed from a wheelchair with his leg in a brace on September 27 during a show in Tampa, Florida, amid reports suggesting the singer had undergone knee surgery to remove a tumor that had been there for many months. Ritter's wound had then received an infection and stayed in the hospital for five days. Tyson Ritter made a full recovery in time to return to kick off the Battle Of The Bands Tour with Taking Back Sunday, with the first date at MSU in Michigan.

The All-American Rejects announced that they will be performing their last show in support of When The World Comes Down at Hollywood, California on December 14. Since the date soon sold out, the band added a second date at the venue for the next day. However, the band played one more show at the "Jingle Bell Bash" in Seattle on December 19.

2010

For 2010, The All-American Rejects have a major performance set at the Winter Olympics at the Whistler Medals Plaza, as well as Direct TV performances at Super Bowl XLIV and a special set to air in February. The band also has a line of Warped Tour dates set, beginning June 24 and ending on July 18. Also, in an interview with Shave Magazine, Mike Kennerty revealed that the band may have a new album out by the end of 2010.A more recent interview with Tyson Ritter in Kerrang Magazine stated that the band was going to try to get a new record out before summer 2010.

Equipment

Using mainly Fender and Gibson guitars, The All-American Rejects use numerous models. The microphones utilized by the band are of Sennheiser make. The All-American Rejects also use Ernie Ball strings for their guitars, and Dunlop Picks.

Lead singer and bassist of the band, Tyson Ritter uses two makes of Fender Precision Bass, one a Highway One with Rosewood Fretboard and 3-Ply Parchment Pickguard. The other model is a Precision Bass released as part of a vintage modified series by a Fender owned guitar company, Squier. Another Fender series frequently used by Ritter is the Jaguar Bass. Ritter also uses Gibson makes, including the Gibson Thunderbird and the Epiphone Flying V.

Lead guitarist of The All-American Rejects, Nick Wheeler, primarily uses Gibson guitars. Wheeler's main guitar is the Gibson Firebird. He primarily uses a Vintage Sunburst Firebird V. Wheeler owns a rare cherry Firebird VII, which he no longer uses for live shows. He also uses a Classic Gibson Firebird. Wheeler frequently uses a Gibson ES-335. This guitar is notably used live for the intro of "Top of the World", taking the place of the classical guitar originally used in the "Top of the World" recording. It is also commonly used in the songs "It Ends Tonight", "Real World", "Stab My Back and "Dance Inside". Another guitar that Wheeler favors is the Gibson EDS-1275 doubleneck guitar, which he uses live on "The Wind Blows". He has also been know to occasionally use the Gibson Flying V.

Rhythm guitarist Mike Kennerty mainly uses the Gibson SG and Washburn Guitars.

Chris Gaylor, drummer for the band, uses Remo heads for his drums. Gaylor used to endorse Tama drums, but now he endorses C&C drums. He has a set with a Rootbeer Sparkle wood finish, as well as an acrylic kit. Gaylor's most-current set up contains 7 drums. He uses a 12x7 rack tom, 14x10, 16x12, and 18x14 floor toms, a 14x6.5 Nickel-Over-Brass snare, a 12x7 effects snare, and a 24x16 bass drum. Gaylor uses Tama hardware.

Also, Gaylor uses Vater Universal drumsticks, and his cymbals are Sabian. His hi-hats are Sabian 14" HHX Evolution. His 3 crashes he uses are an 18 inch HHXplosion crash, a 19 inch AAXplosion crash, and a 20 inch HHX stage crash. Gaylor also uses 22" HH Power Bell ride cymbal. Gaylor also includes an LP cowbell in his set. The drummer also uses a Alesis ADAT HD24 for recording purposes.