All-American Rejects Title New LP "When the World Comes Down"

"If the world ended, I'd want to be listening to our record," says a confident Tyson Ritter, the All-American Rejects frontman on the band's follow-up to 2005's double-platinum Move Along. AAR spoke exclusively to Rock Daily about their new record (entitled When the World Comes Down after its first single), Barack Obama, and the wackiest gig they've ever played from backstage at Nike's Human Race on Sunday, where the band headlined a concert on New York's Randall's Island.

"You guys have the nicest asses ever," Ritter yelled to the crowd before diving into a power-packed set that included "Swing, Swing," an acoustic "It Ends Tonight" and a track off the new record called "Mona Lisa." Afterward, swigging a beer on the band's tour bus, Ritter said, "We just played the world's biggest [one-day] race — that's something I can use to pick up chicks!" After playing to a sea of athletes, the boys began to recount another wacky show they recently played: a million-dollar budgeted bar mitzvah, complete with Yankees players and a Cold Stone creamery. "The kid had a AAR cover band that opened for us. It was nuts!" guitarist Nick Wheeler says.

Reiterating what the band told Rock Daily in July, they said the new record has taken over three years to produce because "We don't like to shit out a record," Ritter said. "We craft our songs, not rush them." Guitarist Mike Kennerty adds that AAR is cooking up a Website revamp to get fans amped for the release. "It'll just say, 'The World Comes Down 11/18.' Our own viral thing."

Ritter, who's been extremely vocal about his Obama endorsement, didn't hesitate to talk about the nominee — even showing pictures he snapped on his iPhone of a car that sported "Choose Life" and anti-Obama bumper stickers in his Destin, Florida hometown. "It's so hate-filled," Ritter said of the stickers. "In reality, Obama is making us stoked about the upcoming election."

Related Stories:
• All-American Rejects Getting Reflective, Going Hollywood on Third Album

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter