USA News Today: All-American Rejects singer answers burning questions about those viral pop-up shows

USA News Today: Frontman and bassist Tyson Ritter acknowledges the band responsible for guitar-chiming emo-pop earworms “Swing Swing,” “Move Along,” “Gives You Hell” didn’t really take their gig at the When We Were Young festival too seriously.

Ritter and bandmates Nick Wheeler (lead guitar), Mike Kennerty (rhythm guitar) and Chris Gaylor (drums) all dressed as Elvis Presley. They were playing opposite topline artists Paramore and Death Cab for Cutie.

Yet 30,000 fans crammed in front of their secondary stage singing not just the ingrained hits, but deep album cuts as well.

And they are.

The All-American Rejects are back and storming the country with pop-up shows in barns, bowling alleys and backyards.
For the past week, AAR have stormed barns, bowling alleys and backyards – places suggested by fans on their Instagram – for a series of free pop-up concerts. 

Notice is short, but response has been overwhelming. Crowds are filled with millennials who appreciated their spiky pop the first time and college kids eager to experience a viral tsunami.

The band recently released “Sandbox,” the first single from their first album in almost 14 years and will tour more conventionally starting Aug. 10 as openers on the Jonas Brothers’ stadium tour.

A few hours before storming Nashville with a secret location concert, a humble Ritter talked about the “comet” the band has been on and why he is beside himself “with gratitude” before ultimately declaring, “I guess I have a horseshoe up my (rear-end) right now.”

Question: So how did this idea to play in backyards and barns originate?

Answer: We did a show in LA that was the kind that you have to do when promoting new music. It left a sour taste in our mouths and in this giant gorilla of an industry we’re clawing our way back into, we decided to put on a show the next day. Our manager had the idea to have the local college radio station host us. We gave a five-hour  heads up that we were playing a kid’s house at University of Southern California and we start playing and there were 40s (alcohol cans) hoisted in the air and people crowd surfing. I looked into some of their eyes and I saw a rite of passage moment was happening. That they’re going, “I saw pictures of my parents doing this, but I never got to.” The only culture most of them had was EDM and that environment is so different from rock. We were lifting that veil for kids.

And then you kept on going?

My wife (Elina) is due on June 11 and we saw a hole in the calendar this month and said, let’s do this again. It was really the brainchild of our manager (Megan Kraemer). She’s 29 and has inspired such energy in the band. The first show was in Green Bay and it started this wildfire. Honestly, we’re in the Icarus moment.

You seem really excited about everything happening.

It feels incredible and indescribable right now. It’s from this hope to have something to say again as a band and present to an audience we didn’t resonate with anywhere but radio and MTV. We never had the culture that a lot of bands of our time did, like Blink-182 with fashion and skate culture. So to be able to put out new music and find our footing as a band with this activation, I’m so beside myself with gratitude. We’ve always been the “songs that have that band” and now we can be “that band that has those songs.”

There is a lot of online discussion from the generation that grew up with you that the band returning is a comfort in an exhausting world. Do you feel that way?

No, I mean anything you do with intention, especially writing music, you’re asking for a failed experience. If we would have planned this any more than the sketch that it was designed in, it would have felt really false. We’re just holding onto a comet right now.

Nick Wheeler (left) and Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects perform onstage during the Allstate Party at the Playoff hosted by ESPN & College Football Playoff at POST Houston on Jan. 6, 2024 in Texas.
What are the biggest and smallest crowds you’ve played for so far?

The biggest was 5,000 in Ames, Iowa, and the smallest was probably Chicago. We were in a backyard where the capacity was 120 so I walked over to the neighbor and said, “I want to buy 45 minutes in your yard, what will it cost?” He was shaking me down (laughs). He wanted $750. I said how about $500 and after haggling we landed on $600 and got about 400 people to fit. It was a suburban area so it was people coming from the backyards around us, sitting on porches. Everything has been so cinematic.

You also got a visit from the police during the house party in Columbia, Missouri.

(Laughs) Oh yeah, that was great. We had heard that the police there were really firm with the college kids and when five cop cars showed up my manager had this face of doom. I walked offstage and our guitarist did this (gives a thumbs-down with both hands) and everyone booed so loudly that I said to the police, “If you want everyone to get out of here peacefully, let us finish.” One cop was like, “We didn’t know it was YOU!” I said “thank you, officer,” and we did “Gives You Hell” and got out! But it’s that kind of positive energy that is following us.

What are the criteria for where you’re going to play once you get the requests on Instagram?

The bigger the yard, the better. The more removed from town, the better. Roller skating rinks are welcome. I really want to play a roller skating rink. I can picture (the skating move) shooting the duck while doing “Gives You Hell.”

The new video for “Sandbox” is such campy fun. Where did you get the idea for murderous puppets?

We’re DIY right now. We’re not on a major label so we’re boot strapping it all. My manager found (director) Joseph Kahn’s info on LinkedIn. He’s done videos for everyone (Britney Spears, Imagine Dragons, Backstreet Boys) and he pitched an idea that really resonated with the single. The song is about a war on a playground and … needed to be paired with something that speaks to childhood innocence and he said, “How about murderous puppets?”

When is the full album due?

January. Since it’s such a DIY thing, every chance to release a song is a microphone. So we’ll release a new song every few weeks until the Jonas Brothers tour.

The All-American Rejects attend the College Football Playoff and ESPN's Allstate party during the Playoff at POST Houston on Jan. 6, 2024 in Houston.

So how did that pairing come about?

I met them at an activation in New Jersey and was really taken aback by their professionalism and hard work. I think they played eight shows that day for their fans and I knew they were fans of ours, but I went in kind of blind and quickly realized, these guys are top shelf.

Playing stadiums will be a big swing from playing house parties. Do you think you’ll have to do much physical preparation?

Playing a backyard stage is a perfect size. MetLife (Stadium) in August … (laughs). Keeping up with the Jonas Brothers, man, I'm going to have to jump on a treadmill. We’ll be traveling with ointments.

Which is probably a little different than your tours back in the day.

Yeah, back then we were sleeping in vans and our bones were made of rubber.