The All-American Rejects

...f Stillwater, Oklahoma, the All-American Rejects have built their career on the melodic side of pop punk and emo, sending punchy highlights like "Dirty Little Secret" and "Move Along" high into the pop charts. Their eponymous 2002 debut put them on the national map, but it was 2005's Move Along that broke them to the masses. "Gives You Hell," from their third album, When the World Comes Down, became their first chart-topper, and they remained a strong chart-presence into the 2010s with 2012's Kids in the Street. Although they continued to release the occasional single as well as a 2019 EP, a new album failed to materialize. The All-American Rejects finally re-emerged in the mid-2020s with a barrage of singles and the announcement of their fifth album, Sandbox. Tyson Ritter (vocals, bass) and Nick Wheeler (guitar, drums) formed the All-American Rejects in 1999, while still in high school. Maintaining a full lineup proved to be difficult in the early days, and their two early demo releases — 2000's The Blue Album and 2001's Same Girl, New Songs — were largely made as a duo. This arrangement carried over to their self-titled debut album which was released by indie label Doghouse Records in October 2002. While touring with Motion City Soundtrack, their music found its way to major label DreamWorks, which reissued their debut the following year and helped them score a hit with the effervescent single "Swing, Swing." The album itself went platinum and made it to 25 on the Billboard 200. By this point, Ritter and Wheeler had been joined by guitarist Mike Kennerty and drummer Chris Gaylor, establishing the group's core lineup. The All-American Rejects signed with Interscope ahead of their sophomore album, Move Along, which appeared in July 2005. Propelled by three strong singles ("Dirty Little Secret," "Move Along," and "It Ends Tonight") Move Along became the band's mainstream breakout, hitting number three in the U.S. and going multi-platinum. With their heightened success came an expansion of the band's sound. Sessions for their third album included orchestrations and a more varied instrumental palette. The cinematic When the World Comes Down was released in 2008 and yielded the band's biggest hit to date in the buoyant chart-topping "Gives You Hell," a song that emphasized their pop side. They continued to tour through the end of the decade and in 2010 made high profile appearances at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and Superbowl XLIV. After this, the band worked with producer Greg Wells to record their fourth album, Kids in the Street. Released in early 2012, Kids in the Street peaked in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 and became the group's highest-selling U.K. album to date. Over the next several years, their output consisted mainly of singles like "There's a Place," which they wrote for the 2015 film Miss You Already, and 2017's "Sweat" and "Close Your Eyes." After parting with Interscope, the All-American Rejects signed with Epitaph and released the 2019 EP Send Her to Heaven, featuring the Pixies-indebted title track, as well as "Gen Why? (DGAF)" and "Demons." During the early part of the 2020s, the group entered an unofficial hiatus, broken by the 2024 release of their cover of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta." Finally, in early 2025, they kicked off the promotional cycle for their long-awaited fifth album with its title track "Sandbox." More singles followed throughout the year including "Easy Come, Easy Go" and "Get This," as they built up to Sandbox's 2026 release date. ~ Andrew Leahey & Timothy Monger