SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
When it comes to the quintessential pop rock bands of the early 2000s, The All-American Rejects are probably at the top of that list.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIRTY LITTLE SECRET")
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS: (Singing) I'll keep you, my dirty title secret. Dirty little secret.
DETROW: For a long time, the group was really prolific, putting out a full-length album or EP every couple of years. But 2012 was actually the last time the band released a new record.
TYSON RITTER: The first 15 years of this band was so devotional that I think we just identified as the band.
DETROW: That's Tyson Ritter, one of the band's members.
RITTER: Getting to build our own lives was really nice.
DETROW: He says that time away was crucial for reflecting on where the band has been and where it's going. And when they did try to make new music, there was another problem.
NICK WHEELER: We didn't feel the magic that we felt making those first four records, though. So we knew we weren't ready.
DETROW: That's Nick Wheeler, another All-American Reject. He says when the band got back together to do some touring, though, it did rekindle something.
WHEELER: We were all on the same page the summer of 2023, and then we all decided to go into the studio. So there were these - a few different moments that were impactful in informing, you know, all of us that we're ready to do the thing a hundred percent.
DETROW: That effort led to their newest album. It's called "Sandbox."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SANDBOX")
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS: (Singing) The sandbox is thirsty.
DETROW: I recently spoke with Ritter and Wheeler about the album and asked about the inspiration for the title track.
RITTER: This record touches on a lot of different themes. And I think I was writing, and I remember it was - like, there was some sort of war going on. And I kept idling on the fact that it was 2025, and how are we still doing this to each other as people? And I thought, oh, well, you know what? I think the way that this song wants to be is, well, what happens if we put a war on a playground? Will we - because I feel like we all still have sympathy collectively for children. And so I just put the sandbox on a playground.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SANDBOX")
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS: (Singing) And the toy soldiers set sail. Even the bully knows war is hell.
RITTER: And I felt like it informed what I was trying to say lyrically about just my feelings about how just absurd that we're still sticks and stones with each other.
DETROW: Yeah. Nick, can I ask you how you all think about the right approach in this moment? Because you know deep down so well how powerful nostalgia is and how much people will pay money to just kind of hear the songs from when they were in high school. And it seems like to me, like, you all kind of nod to that but also are unapologetic about continuing to evolve your sound and not fully playing that game the way that many other bands from this period of time are. How do you think about this?
WHEELER: I think we experienced the power of that when we chose to do a headlining tour in 2023. It wasn't to capitalize. It was more just, like, let's see if people will come. It ended up being the biggest tour of our career. So we did see the power of that. But I think when it comes to making new music, that's somewhere where we would never compromise and just, you know, try to make "Dirty Little Secret Part 2" or "Gives You Hell Part 2." I think with that, I've always looked at our various albums as like a moment in time or, you know, a snapshot, a Polaroid, whatever. And that is us in that moment, making that music.
DETROW: Yeah. To that end, "Green Isn't Yellow."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GREEN ISN'T YELLOW")
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS: (Singing) I once heard someone say green isn't yellow.
DETROW: Tyson, can you tell me about that? 'Cause it's, like, it's folksy and twangy. There's a little bit of country. Like, very different. Very different sound than what people might have expected from the earlier stuff.
RITTER: We're from Oklahoma. We've always had red dirt in our shoes. And this is a song that is an homage to that, where we come from.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS SONG, "GREEN ISN'T YELLOW")
RITTER: And I was home and this song kind of just came out of me. A lot of stuff on this record is me looking back at my family and the way I was raised and finding that catharsis in a song like "Green Isn't Yellow." I paint too, and I did this show last year, and it was all these cowboys and these people that I remember, like, my parents looking like when they would go out on a Friday night when I was a kid. And I think I just really reconciled a lot of - you know, I saw them for the first time as just people instead of, like, my parents. And I was like, man, they were so young. They didn't know what they were doing, but they got us raised.
DETROW: Nick, I'll steer this question to you. You all talked to NPR a couple years ago about the way that you approached, you know, releasing your albums and touring these days and kind of the independent choices you made and how satisfying that is to you. I'm wondering, looking back to when you started your career to now, what are the most positive changes in the music industry? What are the most negative changes in the music industry that you're navigating?
WHEELER: Hmm. Our experience is totally different but also exactly the same. The way we kind of went about "Sandbox" was completely independent of any outside voices. No label. Nobody trying to get us in the room with whoever's cranking out the hits these days. It's just us having fun making songs. And the fact that the industry embraces that and will accept that, and we have an outlet to release that music that we're having fun making, like, that's positive. I think the negative way that that has impacted the industry and the way artists are creating now is, I need to find my audience, you know, on social media first, not even necessarily with my music. I just need to connect to people somehow by, you know, doing dances or skits. And then maybe they'll realize that, oh, I'm an artist too.
DETROW: Yeah. Tyson, how do you think about all of the evolutions you've had to navigate in the music industry?
RITTER: The industry is preying now on the fan, the superfan, where they are just trying to monetize them in every way possible. And yeah, you see other bands that are like, man, the only communication they have with their fans is when they have an expensive tour or a new piece of vinyl or another piece of merchandise. And I think that connection has been abused. And off of these house party tours that we've been doing, being eye level with an audience that isn't necessarily the haves of the world.
DETROW: Can you tell us a little more about the house party tours for people who aren't familiar? 'Cause it's a cool idea.
RITTER: Basically, we asked our audience, hey, man, we want to play backyards. Do you have a backyard for us? And we overnight got, you know, a million RSVPs to a house party tour that didn't exist and 15,000 different venues. But in the process of doing these shows, I think we really kind of tapped into some sort of thing about this post-COVID generation that hasn't had these experiences of intimacy and concerts and being able to be - to crowd-surf and even be a**es to elbows with their peers for the - you know, again. So it was like this crazy cultural artifact that was, like, a bit of an awakening for a small portion of a generation. And I think it speaks to the bigger problem right now, which is the one thing that we need as culture is art and music, and it's becoming like a gatekeeping scenario for those experiences.
DETROW: That was Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler of The All-American Rejects. Their new album, "Sandbox," is out now. Thanks so much.
WHEELER: Yeah, thanks for having us.
RITTER: Thanks for having us. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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