The All American Rejects

In the fashion of many rock stars before them, The All-American Rejects decided to put their fame to good use. In order to raise awareness and money while promoting their entrance into the studio, they put forth the Don't Hate On Haiti contest, which benefits frontman Tyson Ritter’s charity, Don't Hate On Haiti.

On April 15, the band announced the winner who donated over $1,500 and won a signed guitar and an in-studio Skype session with the band while they are recording their first album since 2008 When the World Comes Down. (Ultimately, the money goes to Charity: Water, a not-for-profit organization that builds one clean-water well in Haiti per every $5,000.)

The pop-punk band formed in the late 1990s in Stillwater, Oklahoma with Tyson Ritter (vocals, bass) and Nick Wheeler (guitar). The two friends were still in high school and used the band as an outlet to escape small-town life. Wheeler, a self-taught musician, got the idea to start a band watching MTV. Unable to maintain a full line-up, Ritter and Wheeler used drum loops and pre-programmed rhythm tracks for early performances. The four-piece now includes Chris Gaylor (drums) and Mike Kennerty (guitar).

Doghouse Records originally released their self-titled debut album, but the buzz around their first record led to a deal with DreamWorks who reissued to album. The 2003 release brought mainstream success. It produced the hit single, “Swing, Swing,” and went on to become platinum.

Two years later, the band released Move Along. Their sophomore album brought them even more success spawning three hit singles, "Dirty Little Secret," "Move Along," and "It Ends Tonight,” all of which were in the top fifteen on the Billboard charts. "Dirty Little Secret" and "Move Along" both sold more than two million digital downloads, solidifying the band’s mainstream success.

The video for “Dirty Little Secret” features people holding up postcards exposing their intimate secrets. The concept was based on the PostSecret project where people sent in anonymous postcards with their secrets written on them. The band paid for the use of the concept, giving money to a non-profit organization that funds a suicide hotline.

Using a different approach to writing for their third album, the band intentionally entered the studio less prepared. Guitarist Wheeler explains,

We used to go into the studio with notes… We were over-prepared. All the songs were done, etc. This time around.... It was scary but at the same time we were kind of excited to be able to create a little bit on the spot. We certainly had an album’s worth of songs, and we started recording the ones that we liked the best, and most of them made the record. But there was a couple that came about in the studio.

The product was, When the World Comes Down released in 2008. It included the single, “Gives You Hell,” which climbed to number four on the Hot 100 chart.

The band has found the perfect balance between catchy and substantial. While the lyrics are often centered on the immature struggles of love lost, they seem to contain and preserve the spirit of young love and personal struggles. Simple lyrics mixed with the right blend of pop-punk makes their songs fresh and catchy. With each album, the band has produced an anthem for the weary, confused, frustrated and broken hearted. “Gives You Hell” throws a middle finger up at former loves and has no doubt been the cure for many a break up. Ritter credits many relationships as inspiration for his songs.

After almost ten years of nearly nonstop touring, Ritter feels like a veteran. While gearing up for the band’s third run on the 2010 Vans Warped Tour, Ritter told Rolling Stone that he still wants to rock the hardest.

I really get satisfaction out of showing these kids how to…do it. It's nice to be like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the old man but watch what this old man can still do…” I'm only 26, but Jesus, it's so funny half these kids now in these bands are all tweenagers and I'm just like, "My knees hurt."

Even as a young veteran of the stage, Ritter has no plans to stop. He tells Rolling Stone about his love-hate relationship with touring.

I think what's great about touring is the fact that you unplug from reality... 10 years of nonstop touring…it's totally a drug I can't live without now, and I've been off the road for like, four months now and it's maddening, man. It's grueling, but you sort of end up having to live for it, it's sort of a catch-22…because I don't know what I'd do without it now…

The band has not only earned a place in the hearts of many fans, it has solidified itself as one of the voices of a decade, placing #73 on the "Hot 100 Artists of the 2000s." They won a 2007 ASCAP Award, 2006 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video (“Move Along”) and were nominated for nine Teen Choice Awards from 2006 to 2009.

They recently joined artists like Avril Lavigne, Franz Ferdinand, and 3OH!3 in contributing to Almost Alice (2010), an album inspired by Tim Burton’s film “Alice in Wonderland.”

Fans cans look forward to a 2011 release that has been hyped up as a new sound for the band. Without exposing too many details, Ritter explained that the band would try a less conventional release method.

We're not going to just put out a record this time… We're not going to do this record the way that normal people are. We're not going to shoot a video, release a single, and then do it again. We're going to do something different.