history of the all american reject

The All-American Rejects

All-American Rejects
The All-American Rejects performing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on their Tournado tour
Background information
Also known as	AAR
Origin	Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States
Genre(s)	Alternative rock, power pop
Years active	2001–present
Label(s)	DGC / Interscope (2004-present) Doghouse (2001-present) DreamWorks (2002-2004)
Website	http://www.allamericanrejects.com/
Members
Tyson Ritter Nick Wheeler Mike Kennerty Chris Gaylor
Former members
Tim Campbell

The All-American Rejects is a four-piece American rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and bass guitarist Tyson Ritter, guitarists Nick Wheeler and 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.^[1]

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.^[2] "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.^[1]

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.^[2][3][4]

History

Formation and The All-American Rejects (2001–2004)

The band formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 2001. The band was formed by members Tyson Ritter (currently dating Phoebe Wallace) and Nick Wheeler, and the name 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. Then, after being noticed by independent Doghouse Records, The All-American Rejects then signed onto their roster Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor.

In 2001, with producer Tim O'Heir, they recorded their self-titled debut album, The All-American Rejects, and released it along with single "Swing, Swing" towards the end of 2002. The song was also featured in MVP 2003. 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. They also embarked on their first headline tour during spring 2003, 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 played twice at the Vans Warped Tour, once in 2003 and again in 2005.

Move Along (2005–2006)

In 2005, the group released their second album, Move Along, which featured the singles "Dirty Little Secret", "Move Along", "Top of the World", and "It Ends Tonight". The music video for "Dirty Little Secret" features images from the collective art project PostSecret.

The All-American Rejects released the The Bite Back EP on the iTunes music store at the end of 2005 followed in 2006 by the second single from Move Along, "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. "Move Along" was then nominated for "Best Editing in a Video" and "Best Group Video" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, the latter of which they won.^[5] In addition, the band performed "Move Along" live at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 31, 2006. The band was also nominated for Choice Rock Group in the Teen Choice Awards^[6] "Move Along" was also featured in episode 2 of season 3 of One Tree Hill.

In May 2006, The All-American Rejects performed a cover version of Def Leppard's "Photograph" on VH1 Rock Honors. In September 2006 the band's third single was released from their Move Along album, called "It Ends Tonight". The video for "It Ends Tonight" debuted at number 10 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown. The video also peaked at #2 on TRL.^[7]

On New Year's Eve 2005, the band performed The Cars' "Good Times Roll" with Fall Out Boy on MTV. On New Year's Eve 2006, they played a special on Las Vegas' Fremont Street, which also included bands OK Go, Five for Fighting, Rock Star Supernova, and Chicago. The songs "Move Along" and "Dirty Little Secret" were also featured in the video game Rock Band.^[8]They also contributed the song "The Future Has Arrived" to the soundtrack of Disney film Meet the Robinsons.^{[citation needed]}

When the World Comes Down (2007–present)

The group then went into writing the next record which took about two years. In the summer of 2007 the band began recording their third studio album. During this time they also released a DVD featuring live content from their Tournado tour.They spent around six months in the studio recording When the World Comes Down with producer Eric Valentine. They debuted their song demos of the songs "Real World" and "I Wanna". "Real World" appeared on the soundtrack for Madden 09, and "I Wanna" was heard in the movie, The House Bunny, in which Tyson Ritter played a comparatively small role.^[9] On October 8, 2008, the band was honored as a "Rising Star" by the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.^[10] The first single from When the World Comes Down was "Gives You Hell"^[11], which was released in September 2008. The music video was released November 5 and reached number one on VH1's Top 20 Countdown. On November 18, the band released "Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down)" exclusively at iTunes.

Finally, three years after Move Along was released, the group's third album, When the World Comes Down, was released on December 16, 2008.^[12] Also during this time they covered a song from Nightmare Before Christmas "Jack's Lament" on the Nightmare Revisited album. 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. Then, On May 9, 2009 in an interview with MTV at KIIS-FM's Wango Tango festival in Irvine, California, they hinted that they would be going on tour with "a nondescript band that is rumored to be reuniting," leading those to believe that they will be joining blink-182 on their summer. Later The All-American Rejects released a second single in the United States, entitled "The Wind Blows". Another single was released in the UK and Australia, which is called "I Wanna". 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. The song is also available for download on Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360/Playstation 3.^{[citation needed]} Also The All-American Rejects recorded footage for a future DVD at the Roundhouse, London, England on June 9, 2009 during the European Leg of their I Wanna Rock Tour. ^[13]

The All-American Rejects were featured alongside Hoobastank, Raygun, Boys Like Girls, Pixie Lott and Kasabian as one of the live acts at Asia's very first MTV World Stage concert that was held in Malaysia on the 15th of August 2009^[14], and they joined Weezer and Taking Back Sunday for the second half of the Blink-182 Reunion Tour summer 2009. In September of 2009, the band announced they will be co-headlining with Taking Back Sunday and Anberlin for a full U.S. tour but no dates have been released yet. ^[15] They rang the bell opening the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2009.

In an interview with Shave Magazine, Mike Kennerty revealed that the band may have a new album out by the end of 2010. ^[16]

Band members

Current members

• Tyson Ritter – lead vocals, bass guitar, piano (2001–present)
• Nick Wheeler – lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (2001–present)
• Mike Kennerty – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
• Chris Gaylor – drums, percussion (2002–present)

Former members

• Tim Campbell – drums, percussion (2001)

Touring members

• Kevin Saulnier - keyboard, backing vocals, percussion, guitar (2006–present)
  • (Recorded keys on When the World Comes Down)
• Nick Foxer - keyboard, backing vocals, guitar (2006)
• Timothy Jordan II - keyboard, guitar, vocals (2005)