All-American Rejects
By: Joanne Vitale

Can you fill us in on some background info on All-American Rejects?

We are from Oklahoma. Tyson and I played in a band all through high school and so did Mike and Chris. A few years back we played a show with their band. Then we stole them! The rest is this.

How long have you been together?

The four of us about three years. My and Tyson made the record in the beginning of 2002 and then we met these guys at the end of that year.

What's the scene like in Stillwater?

Stillwater has a lot of bar bands and cover bands. There's a few kids in high school that have some bands, but there is no where to play. All the venues are bars and 21 and over places.

About a year and a half ago, you were doing very well as a band with a headlining tour that was selling out all over, being on the cover of Alternative Press as well as many other things...

Where did we go?

You read my mind! Yeah, what happened to you guys? What have you been up to?

We have been writing a new album it comes out June 28th. We had to do it right, you know? There's a lot of bands that have come back with a second album that sounds like the first one. We didn't want to do that. We defiantly took our time. The songs that have been talked about being the singles are the ones that were just written a few months ago. So it ended up being a good thing that we took our time. We are doing this tour to find out if people still give a shit. We are pretty surprised with the turnouts because there wasn't any promotion involved besides our website really. We are excited!

You said your new CD is coming out June 28th, what's the album called and how many tracks will be on it?

It is called MOVE ALONG with 12 tracks. One more than last time.

On your last CD most of the songs were about girls. Can we expect the same thing or have you broadened your lyrical content?

A little bit. When you are in high school girls are all you know about. We barley were on the road at all when we wrote the first album. I'm speaking for Tyson though. You usually write what you know. This time around, there is a lot more experiences to put in there. Whether you are you learned from the lyrics or the music. There has been a lot more stuff that we have seen. We have been on the road for about two years and we grew and hopefully matured a little bit. But I don't know about that. Hopefully that will come through on the music in the new record.

How do you think MOVE ALONG stands out more than the last album?

Well, like I said, we didn't know Mike or Chris when we wrote the first album. Tyson and I played everything on it. This one defiantly has more of a band feel on it. We all did get in the studio and play together. There's more of a live band feel about it, a bigger record. We actually had a budget this time, the first record was made for freaking crap. It's defiantly our next record. We are excited about it!

What are you hoping your fans get out of it?

I hope they have a blast listening to it. So many people said that the first record was fun to listen to and have a good time. There is so much music that is depressing, or makes you depressed, makes you want to hate something, or makes you want to get in a fight. We just love music and we have a blast playing it, so you should have a blast listening to it. We hope they like the songs to!

That would be a good thing! What are some of your guys musical influences?

In our case, it's more the bands we grew up listening to and got us to play music. For me it was whatever my sister had in her tape collections. What ended up being stuff like The Bangles, Def Leopard to stuff like Motley Crue. Tyson grew up listening to ACDC with his dad. Mike and Chris are more into punk rock. The bands they talk about I have no freaking clue about!

So what label are you guys on? Is it Doghouse or Interscope?

We are on Interscope. We were on Doghouse and then we got signed on Dreamworks. Which they basically bought us from Doghouse. Then Dreamworks collapsed so we are on Interscope.

You guys are doing Warped Tour this summer? Are you doing the whole thing or just select dates?

We will be on it from June 18th to July 26th. I think we are doing mostly western and midwest dates. I think we are on the main stage this year. We did it a couple years back and we were on the Maurice Stage. We are excited to do it for the long haul. At least this is the longest we ever did it. We are excited for the kids and the food. The food? The chicken that they serve gets old after a while! Who all are you looking forward to checking out this summer?

I'm a really big fan of the Offspring! So defiantly them. I don't really know who else is on there this year.

What have you guys been jamming to in the van lately?

Not much, since we made this record we have been pretty much self-absorbed in what we are doing. I know there is some Tegan and Sarah that was been being played quite often. I just usually put my I-pod on shuffle and whatever comes up. Sometimes the stuff that comes up, I look at it and I'm like, "What I have this?"

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Warped Tour and after that we are open. Hopefully after that we can jump on a big tour as an opener or headlining on our own. We are not big on stealing everyone else's fans. So we like headlining our own shows and make our fans. Defiantly some over seas stuff!

Any final words?

Hope you like the new record coming out on June 28th!