The All-American Rejects have managed to outlast most of their early 2000s emo-pop peers. They are back with a new record, Kids In The Streets, their first since 2008's When The World Comes Down. Guitarist Nick Wheeler talked to us about writing and recording the new record, touring, and fans that care about their personal well being a little too much.
Ology: So what was the inspiration for this new record?
Nick Wheeler: Kids in the Street is the new record. It's somewhat autobiographical. Lyrically, Tyson kind of reflected on the fact that we've been doing this for ten years and we're still here and we still get to do it for a living. It's kind of a polaroid of those times where you wouldn't give a sh*t and there wouldn't be consequences. There was a lot of that you know back in Stillwater, Oklahoma when we were growing up. There's not much to do there. The sh*t that goes on there on the back roads, that's the stuff that you remember.
Then there's a song like "Gonzo", which is more about when we first started touring. The first couple years of touring is when I have the most memories of. The last six or seven are kind of a blur for me, maybe it's alcohol, but I think it's because when we first started doing this everything was new and exciting. I think that’s when all my memories were made. Musically it's the exact opposite. We've been pushing ourselves to try something a little new.
So it's a nostalgic record for you guys? Looking back fondly on all those times?
Some of it is. Some of its more autobiographical over the last two years of making this record. Like the song "Beekeeper's Daughter" is one of the earlier songs we had written when we got off the road after that whole "Gives You Hell" thing that happened, we kind of came to a screeching halt in Los Angeles, that's where we were living at the time. It kind of eschewed reality. It's an alternate reality, Los Angeles. It's real life, but it doesn't feel like it sometimes. And the sh*t that happens there only happens there.
Some of those earlier songs are the darker ones because he was enjoying himself and making some mistakes and learning from them. I think the song "Beekeeper’s Daughter" and there's another one, those are the darker ones on the record that are truly autobiographical and snapshots of those moments. And then it gets a little more reflective with “Someday’s Gone” and “Gonzo” and there’s another one called “Heartbeat Slowing Down”, which I guess is the ballad of the record. We’re extremely proud of that one. It may be one of the best songs we’ve ever written. He definitely had to dig real deep lyrically to make that one happen.
Have you played any of the new songs live yet?
We’ve been playing “Beekeeper’s Daughter” and we’re sneaking a few more in there. People are trying really hard to sing along to them which is really cool. It’s a different feel for us. There is no live bass, it’s all synth bass. But people seem to be really digging it. The tune “Someday’s Gone” which is the one we did the DIY video for a few months back. The song called “Fast and Slow” is one of our favorites to play. Also this little acoustic song called “I For You”, which we actually wrote and recorded in a little cabin a couple years ago and ended up making the record in that form. It was such a perfect moment, to recreate that in a studio would cheapen the sentiment of the song and performance.
Was the songwriting process for the record any different than the previous ones?
I think the one thing that we never change is that our songwriting ain’t broke. There’s always the doubt, there’s always the fear that the well’s run dry sort of thing. We always seem to push ourselves, and isolate ourselves to the point where we kinda go crazy and then magic happens. But the actual songwriting process is about the same. I think where we mix it up is when we go into the studio. We’ve never made two records with the same producer. And lot of this record was cut live, which is something we’ve been doing more and more with each record. We started out as just two people so you can’t really cut a record with just two people. Each record is just a little more of us playing together. This record, I think, sounds most like us actually playing. It’s not overdubbed and it’s not protooled or whatever bands do these days. It’s actually living and breathing like the band playing these songs.
Are you at all nervous about the reaction to this record?
Everytime you send your baby off to the first day of school it’s a little nerve wracking. But We’ve put so much into this and we’re so fucking proud of it. Whatever happens we can die happy because this is our defining moment, this is our record. Whether people realize it now or ten years from now, whatever.
What has the reaction been to the “Beekeeper’s Daughter” video?
I think people seem to really enjoy the video. We went so far down the rabbit hole with that whole thing. The original idea was really dark and didn’t really suit the song as well as what we ended up using. The edit process is always tough with us. More and more so every time we make a video because we know exactly what we want, we’re perfectionists. But at the end of the day we’re like “Fine, the deadline is here. Let’s just put it out and see what happens. But I was not expecting this reaction, everybody is really excited about and thinks it’s cool, so that’s awesome. I’m glad we took the time to work on it and edit it so much.
If you could tour with anyone living or dead who would it be?
I think all of us would say Queen. I’m not talking about Queen with Paul Rogers, or even Queen with f*cking Adam Lambert now.
Have there been any crazy fan experience that has stuck out in your mind?
There’s this one chick that used to work at an airline and she would get all of our personal phone numbers from their database and she would call us on our birthdays and that was always weird. Sometimes if our flight was delayed she would call us be like “Hey, I’m sorry that your flight’s out of Atlanta has been delayed... Are you okay?”.
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