Interviews

All-american Rejects

Interview with Nick on May 4, 2005 by Archive Bot

The All-American Rejects shot to national prominence in 2003 with their huge radio hit Swing, Swing. Their debut went gold, and AAR become a ubiquitous commodity that summer. If their song wasn’t currently playing on the radio, then you could be sure AAR was, at that very moment, playing live to thousands or appearing in print or on TV. 
 
So how does a band go from obscurity to the big time, changing labels along the way?  Punkbands.com’s own Greg Weissel tracked down Nick Wheeler, guitarsmith for Oklahoma’s most exciting export, and begged him for the downlow on the pratfalls and perks of sudden fame, the intensity of recording a follow up to unexpected success, and along the way learns a thing or two about the 46th state. 
 
Nick of course was down with a combination of the plague and a hangover which kept the grilling to a minimum, but luckily Greg was just as hungover. Despite the medical shortcomings of each, Nick and AAR went on to deliver a steady show, and Greg thoroughly enjoyed watching them command a packed room at The Catalyst one balmy April Saturday in Santa Cruz.
 
Punkbands.com: Were you punks growing up? Like DIY anti-corporate kids, all about keeping it indie, or did you desire large scale success?  If not, what is it like to have success thrust upon you?  Did you have to make ethical compromises to be in this position?
 
Nick: We grew up in Oklahoma, there’s not to many punk kids from where we’re from.  Me and Tyson have been playing in bands for a long time.  It may seem like it’s been an overnight kind of thing, but when you’ve been playing in bands eight years before it happens, you feel like you’ve paid some dues.  I’m sure a bunch of fifty year old dudes who haven’t had a break would say other wise.  But we’ve always dreamed about being the biggest band we could be.  We’ve still got a long way to go.
 
Punkbands.com: How did you get picked up by Interscope?  Is it a partnership between them and Doghouse, or was it a more outright purchasing of your contract?
 
Nick:  Well, we got signed by Doghouse, and then Dreamworks basically bought us from them. Then Dreamworks collapse and we got moved to Interscope.
 
Punkbands.com: So AAR seem to have been largely embraced.  Any plans to change the name to reflect that status?  I was thinking the All American Accepts or the more low key All American Regulars if you want to keep the whole AAR thing going.
 
Nick:  You know, we kind of forget about the name. It’s kind of one of those things you accept, like a tattoo.  After a while you’re like, ‘Oh yeah. That’s our name.” It never meant anything to begin with and now it means even less if possible. I mean, it’s just a name.
 
Punkbands.com: Do you have an in band nickname for All American Rejects?  Do you abbreviate? Do you pronounce it ‘aaarrrr’?
 
Nick:  (laughs)(coughs)  That was amazing. Um, that’s funny.  No, you know, you never say your own name. Personally.  If anything we just say A.A.R.
 
Punkbands.com: Do you feel a certain pressure in releasing the follow up? What’s the new record called?
 
Nick:  We think it’s called Change Your Mind. It’s a track on the record.  But if you say it all together it’s “The All-American Rejects Change Your Mind.”  Which could have a lot of meaning behind it, but it doesn’t have to. But yeah, pressure out the ass - both from the label and from fans, plus from ourselves.  It’s going to be fun though.  Good pressure.
 
Punkbands.com: You guys are headlining on Warped Tour this year - did you go as kids?  Who was your favorite band to go see? I was always about the Rancid.
 
Nick: You know, the only time Warped Tour came through Oklahoma, I had to help my mom work that day so I couldn’t go.  But Rancid is definitely who I wish I could have seen. Otherwise, this year I’m stoked to see Offspring every day.  It’s going to be bad ass. I grew up listening to them a lot.  I was excited to see Bad Religion a lot when we did Warped Tour a couple years ago.  That was awesome.
 
Punkbands.com: Well, there are a bunch of summer tours this year - all aimed at the same audience.  Do you think there is room in this crowded marketplace or it the proliferation of big summer punk shows a good thing?
 
Nick: I don’t know. Definitely record sales and ticket sales they are down, just because kids don’t care as much anymore.  Either that or the prices are too high or whatever.  Like you said, we haven’t been around very long, just a couple years.  So we didn’t really know what it was like, but we’ve been blown away by the turnouts at Warped Tour that we’ve done and some festivals, especially overseas.  But I don’t know.  I guess we’ll see.
 
Punkbands.com: Ever tour with label-mates Limbeck?  Those guys are rad dudes.
 
Nick: Yeah, a couple times. Those guys are awesome. Just great.
 
Punkbands.com: Who is the average AAR fan if you were to describe him or her?
 
Nick:  Describe them? That’s a tough one, cuz you’d be surprised how diverse it is.  Like, my parents are fans and then you’ve got all these pre-pubescent girls out there who are fans, and then last night we met this lady who’s son is nine years old.  He makes his mom wash his rejects shirt every other day so he can wear it.  So that’d be tricky to find the average one, because there does seem to be quite a different few.  And then sometimes these big fucking burly forty-something year old crew guys will come up to us and say, “Hey, that was kickass!”
 
Punkbands.com: What has been the high point for AAR in the past three years?
 
Nick:  Last summer we got to play in Japan for sixty thousand people on a main stage at this festival called Summersonic.  It was pretty sweet.  I think Green Day headlined and Pennywise, and the Darkness.  It was fun.  It was a blast.  They had the megatrons on either side of the stage and they actually took all the shots from the megatron and dumped it onto a VHS and we took it in the van and popped it in the TV on the way to the airport - it was intense.  We were like, “We just did that.  It was the fucking best.”  It was awesome.
 
Punkbands.com:  Were you turning around during the show to check yourselves out?
 
Nick:  No, these were out in front of the stage so we couldn’t see them while playing.  I didn’t even know they were there really, until we watched the tape.  I was like, “Oh yeah.”
 
Punkbands.com: Any low point where you felt used by the big music hype machine?
 
Nick: No, you know, you hear all the horror stories but I think everyone’s always got your best interests in mind. So we haven’t really felt that way at all.  But we’ll see.  We’ve been on three different labels so far -  each one’s different.
 
Punkbands.com: What’s the best thing about growing up in Oklahoma? -or- What should a road tripping punk visit in your hometown?
 
Nick: That’s tough.  It’s one of those things. Oklahoma is just home. There wasn’t too much exposure to anything. I mean, Oklahoma’s got cities just like any other state does, but me and Tyson are from Stillwater, which is a little college town, and the only things you know are what you see on TV. It was kind of a pure upbringing.  It was nice. Not a lot of outside influence.
 
Punkbands.com: Did you have to do lots of drugs growing up to keep from being bored?
 
Nick:  No.  Oklahoma doesn’t have a lot of drugs.
 
Punkbands.com: How have file sharing, or fears of leaking affected the recording and processing of the new album?
 
Nick:  The only thing we’re worried about is kids not coming to the shows. With all this new technology, it’s going to happen, so you just have to be prepared for it. With all the things they’re trying to do, such as watermarking CDs that go out and sending out MP3 players.  We haven’t been affected as far as that goes yet, but I guess we’ll see.
 
Punkbands.com:  Do you think your last album’s bug hit “Swing Swing” was in some ways helped by people passing it around on the internet?
 
Nick:  Maybe. I think we’re fortunate in that a lot of our fans buy records. If you’re talking about a bunch of eighteen year old dudes, I think they’d be more likely to download and burn CDs.
 
Punkbands.com: Do you get in bad shape on tour? All that sitting around. How do you stay fit?
 
Nick:  I know - different beds every night. I’m so sore. I’m wrecked right now.  We haven’t been on tour in a year and a half and I’m a wreck.  But I mean, you get used to it, to the lifestyle, and even if you shouldn’t you drink every night.  It’s tough, but you learn to live it.  It’s the best fucking lifestyle in the world.