Rekindling their passion

American rock band The All-American Rejects drop their new album Sandbox tomorrow.
The release is rooted in pop-punk, alternative rock and emo-pop, and marks the ensemble’s first since Kids in the Street (2012); for a while, it was believed to be possibly their last project.
However, after playing at the iconic When We Were Young festival in 2022, the crowd’s cheers and scream-alongs rekindled their passion, as they realised that their music still mattered.
“That was a really cool festival for us to play,” frontman Tyson Ritter said in an interview.
“We hadn’t done much in the decade before that, as far as any sort of relevant festival. I thought it was just this heritage kind of show about the scene. So it was a joke for us. But everybody out there, all the bands backstage, they were putting on the skinny pants and getting all their old uniforms on,” he added.
“The audience were singing deep cuts loud, singing these songs that we’d been kicking around for 20 years to much smaller crowds. That was a really revelatory experience.”

Tyson believes the latest record to be the band’s most honest work. It will feature a lot of the 42-year-old’s personal life.
“The thing that happens when you cross 30, life hits you in the face. Families change, relationships change. I had something to say.
“Sandbox feels very random musically, but I think we’ve always been that. We’ve made a lot more strong choices as a band to just say ‘What can we do where we’re not chasing some sort of major-label expectation?’ And I think I’m really happy with the way the record’s turned out,” he said.
Formed in 1999, The All-American Rejects include lead singer and bassist Tyson alongside lead guitarist and backing vocalist Nick Wheeler, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Kennerty, and drummer Chris Gaylor.
They are best known for their 2005 single Gives You Hell, and the 2008 hit Dirty Little Secret, which registered sales of over ten million units in the US alone according to the Recording Industry Association of America.