All american Rejects

Winning the MTV award was a huge milestone in the bands’ career. When talking about it, Nick explained that making music videos is very difficult while you’re on tour and trying to promote a record; adding that often they would decide on a date to shoot their video before having an idea or a crew to help make it happen. This was the case for a personal favorite of mine, ‘Dirty Little Secret’. Nick said that the treatment for the song came from the website post-secret.com; the idea behind it coming from a man named Marco who had worked with AAR on their ‘Swing Swing’ video. The guys loved ‘Dirty Little Secret’ so much that they wanted to take it to a whole new level for ‘Move Along’ and make it something amazing. Years later, Nick is still incredibly enthusiastic when talking about winning the award.

“And look what happens! When you work hard, people award you for it! So that was definitely a highlight, because I mean we grew up watching that show, the video awards, and it was definitely an honor to get to play on it”.

In December 2008, All American Rejects released ‘When the World Comes Down’ which has had amazing success so far. The first single off the album, ‘Gives You Hell’, was number one on the charts for over a month- a first for the guys. During my interview with Nick, I was curious to find out more about how they went about choosing their singles. I’ve been following AAR’s career since high school and I think that through the years this is one of the bands that have surprised me the most from one album to the next, featuring such a variety of melodies and genres on each one.

I wasn’t the least bit astonished to find out that they specifically chose each of their singles to be different from one another. The example that we spoke about was their most recent release titled ‘The Wind Blows’. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s one of the slower ballads on the album, and a very unlikely choice for the radio.

“I think for a song like ‘Wind Blows’ it’ll actually: 1- Challenge our fans and 2 -Maybe broadens our audience” Nick said about making the decision. Adding that they had taken a big chance on ‘Wind Blows’ because it is not a fan-favorite but they really wanted to show listeners a different side to their group. And I think it’s fair to say that after three full length studio records, 3 million albums sold to-date, and 7 years with their current line-up, the All-American Rejects know what they are doing, a fact they have proven time and time again.

The band started promoting their latest album – When the World Comes Down – last October and they have been making the rounds in North America all spring with their headlining, ‘I Wanna Rock’ tour. The release of the single, ‘the Wind Blows’, in late April has helped them bring in larger crowds at these shows, proof that their methods are working.

In a few days, the guys will be heading across the Atlantic for a European tour; the band Spark the Rescue opening the show. The following month will be spent in Asia and in the fall, they will be back in North-America for another headlining tour. If you haven’t had the chance to catch an All American-Rejects show yet, make sure that you check out when they are coming to a city near you. You won’t be disappointed.

After making music for close to a decade, the All American-Rejects continue to gain momentum in the industry. With each record they release, their fan base increases exponentially; numbers that will no doubt continue to grow, following rumors of a possible tour with Blink-182.

Although we know that AAR doesn’t plan to disappear off the music scene yet, if their career were to end today, they would have no regrets.

“If the band were to end right now, ‘When the World Comes Down’ would be our legacy.” Nick said to me. “It’s the best that we’ve done. We’d be happy; we wouldn’t feel unfinished”.

It really says something about a band- collectively and individually- that they do not take their success and their talent for granted. Maybe it has something to do with their Oklahoma roots, but it’s refreshing to see a group of young artists that have been around this long and still take it all in stride.

For more information on the band you can visit them at one of the following websites:

http://www.myspace.com/allamericanrejects
http://www.allamericanrejects.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/AARejectsTV

And if you wish to read the full transcript of my interview with Nick, you can do so here.

Also, to view the entire set of our I Wanna Rock Tour pics, visit the picture gallery.