The All-American Rejects are a rock band sometimes referred to as AAR, from Stillwater, Oklahoma formed by Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler in 2001. Their breakthrough album, The All-American Rejects was re-released in 2003, launching them into their mainstream capabilities with their hit, Swing, Swing. They followed up with Move Along, which catapulted their status to one of the top pop rock bands, producing three Hot 100 top twenty hits (two of them being top tens). Move Along has been certified double Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA and their self-titled release in 2003 has been certifield Platinum. They are planning on releasing their third album When The World Comes Down on November 18, 2008.
In the summer of 2001, the Rejects released the EP Same Girl, New Songs and began to tour the American Midwest with Clayton Rhoades. By the tour's end, the band had signed a contract with Doghouse Records — the label of such bands as River City High and The Get Up Kids.
Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor joined in 2002. That year, with producer Tim O'Heir (who had, in the past, worked with bands like Superdrag, Sebadoh, and Juliana Hatfield), the Rejects recorded their self-titled international debut album, The All-American Rejects. From this album came the single "Swing, Swing" for which the Rejects were best-known for several years. Their self-titled album hit stores on October 15 of that year.
On July 12, 2005, they released Move Along, from which came the single "Dirty Little Secret." The music video for the song was filmed at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania in Summer 2005 and featured images from the collective art project PostSecret.
The second single, Move Along, was released in January 2006. Some reports indicated the video for Move Along was a tribute to their deceased touring keyboardist Timothy Jordan II. Within the first weeks after premiering their video, it had been on the Total Request Live countdown ever since, hitting number one four days in a row, moving from place to place. Oddly, on the Billboard Hot 100, the single didn't hit peak until almost six months later in June, making it one of the longest-lasting singles by the Rejects. "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. In addition, the band performed "Move Along" live at the VMAs on Thursday, August 31, 2006. The band was also nominated for Choice Rock Group in the Teen Choice Awards, but lost out to Fall Out Boy. The song "Night Drive" was featured in 2005 Cars video game as well as Madden 06.
In May 2006, they performed a cover of Def Leppard's "Photograph" on VH1 Rock Honors. In August 2006, the third single released from Move Along, "It Ends Tonight", was released. The video for "It Ends Tonight" debuted in the UK on August 28, 2006. "It Ends Tonight" debuted at number 10 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown. The video also peaked at #2 in TRL.
To promote the band, the Rejects released a small EP, The Bite Back EP. It is currently available only on the popular music service, iTunes. The band has agreed to take the year off and rest from their tour.
On New Year's Eve 2005, the Rejects performed The Cars' "Good Times Roll" with Fall Out Boy on MTV. On New Year's Eve 2006, they played a special in Las Vegas's Fremont Street, which also included bands OK Go, Five for Fighting, Rock Star Supernova, and Chicago.
In 2007, The All-American Rejects teamed up with Danny Elfman to create the song "The Future Has Arrived" for the Disney animated film Meet the Robinsons.
The band released a DVD on July 17, 2007 featuring performances from the "Tournado" tour and other extra content.
Ritter and Wheeler have played with Bon Jovi on MTV Unplugged on June 22 and have also aired on VH1 on June 23, and on CMT on June 24.
The band began recording their third studio album during the summer.
The band opened for Bon Jovi on November 9, and November 10 as part of Bon Jovi's 10-night stand to open The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The third album is slated for a release during the fourth quarter of 2008. In an interview, Nick Wheeler stated that they currently have 9 songs written for their next record. On November 16, 2007, the All-American Rejects took stage at the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert at the Ford Center. They played their hit song, "Move Along." At the conclusion of the song, Tyson Ritter did a personalized good bye to the people of Oklahoma, serenading an elderly man in the crowd. The band received a standing ovation.
They have appeared in the December 2007 issue of Alternative Press, where the band's third album made the number two list of the most anticipated albums of 2008.
The splash screen of the official All-American Rejects website changed in February 2008 to display a picture of sound equipment with the caption, "Recording. No Bullshit. Go outside. Later..." and a link to the site's homepage. Currently, the splash screen contains a chatroom for fans and a video window labeled "Rejects TV." The Rejects make sporadic, live, "from-the-studio" broadcasts through this video window with the Justin.tv service.
One of the songs off of the new album, "The Real World" was confirmed to be on the soundtrack for the video game, Madden NFL 09
In an interview on July 2nd, Tyson Ritter said that the album would probably be called "Hope it Gives You Hell" or "Mona Lisa", which are the names of two tracks on their upcoming album. Ritter also revealed the names of a few other tracks for the first time. These tracks include: "The Real World", "Breaking's What the Heart Is For","Another Heart Calls", and "Believe."
The band recently joined up with the Body by Milk foundation to be featured at their website. The ad will be placed in schools and music stores around the world.
They played "I Wanna Touch You" at Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas on July 29th and they announced that the same song would be featured on The House Bunny, a film which Ritter is in.
The band finished recording all the songs for the 3rd album on August 21, 2008.
AAR reported to Rolling Stone Magazine on September 3rd, 2008 that the name of their 3rd studio album would be "When The World Comes Down." It is expected to be released on November 18th, not November 11th as originally planned.
As of September 10, 2008, the band's official website homepage was remade, adding the title of the new album, and a countdown timer for the album's release.
On September 17th, the band had a photo shoot for the cover of their album. The cover is the AAR logo made out of crayons that are on fire.
On September 21, the band released the new album's first single, "Gives You Hell", on their official website.
*"Dirty Little Secret" was re-released in 2006 in the UK and made it to number 18 on the UK Singles Chart, which was better than its previous peak of #96.
