The All-American Rejects is a four-piece American rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, formed in 1999. The band consists of lead vocalist and bass guitarist Tyson Ritter, lead guitarist and keyboardist Nick Wheeler, rhythm guitarist Mike Kennerty, and drummer Chris Gaylor.
Their debut self-titled studio album, The All-American Rejects, was originally released in 2002, producing the successful single "Swing, Swing". The album went on to sell over one million records in the United States and was certified platinum by the RIAA.
The band's second album, Move Along (2005), brought the band more mainstream success. The album produced three hit singles; "It Ends Tonight", "Dirty Little Secret" and "Move Along". "Dirty Little Secret" and "It Ends Tonight" reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Move Along" peaking at number 15. "Dirty Little Secret" and "Move Along" were also accredited double platinum status with over two million digital sales in the United States. The album Move Along itself was certified double platinum in the US by the RIAA.
The All-American Rejects' third album, When the World Comes Down, was released on December 16, 2008. The first single "Gives You Hell" garnered much attention internationally, with the song peaking Number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 2 on Pop 100 charts, as well as in the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart and number three on the Australian ARIA Singles chart.
Since the start of their career, The All-American Rejects have sold over 10 million records world wide. Though the band did not make Billboard magazine's Artists of the Decade, the All-American Rejects were ranked #73 on the Hot 100 Artists of the 2000s, as well as #183 on the Billboard 200 Artists of the decade.
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 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)
n 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 Rise of the Fall Tour along with The Academy Is... and Rooney.[11] 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 from Move Along, was released: "Move Along". 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 didn't peak on 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".
The music video for "Move Along" was later nominated for "Best Editing in a Video" and "Best Group Video" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, the latter of which they won. In addition, the band performed "Move Along" at the show on August 31, 2006. The band was also nominated at the Teen Choice Awards for "Choice Rock Group" and "Choice Rock Track" for " Move Along".
In September 2006 the band's fourth single, "It Ends Tonight", was released from Move Along. The video debuted at number 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 and "It Ends Tonight". 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 bands OK Go, Five for Fighting, Rock Star Supernova, and Chicago.
When the World Comes Down (2007–present)
The All-American Rejects then began writing material for their third studio album. The band also collaborated with composer Danny Elfman on "The Future Has Arrived", which was contributed to 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 was released: the vengeful "Gives You Hell". 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 received moderate success. "I Wanna" was released internationally on July 8, targeting major countries Australia and the United Kingdom. Another song from When the World Comes Down, "Real World", is 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, with "I Wanna" receiving the hand in promotion. In late summer The All-American Rejects joined Weezer 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, a large amount for a country of that size.
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 have announced that they will be performing their last show in support of When The World Comes Down at Hollywood, California on December 14th. 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 19th.
For the year of 2010 the All-American Rejects has 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.
Band members
- Tyson Ritter – lead vocals, bass guitar, piano (1999–present)
- Nick Wheeler – lead guitar, keyboard, backing vocals (1999–present)
- Mike Kennerty – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
- Chris Gaylor – drums, percussion (2002–present)
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