All too often kids pick up instruments with the hopes of becoming rich and famous, only to find out that goal is nothing more than a fantasy for all but a select few. The road to stardom is lined with the bodies of unlucky dreamers that have been chewed up and spit out by the exclusivity of reality. The further an artist travels down that road, the more depressing it can be as the faces on the bodies grow increasingly familiar. Artists you've known, liked, and even played with never quite made it to the velvet finish line.
Despite popular opinion among music elitists, there is no formula for success. There is no right way or wrong way to make it. Some artists sprint down the path, easily bypassing any obstacle. Some scratch and claw their way along for years, fighting hard for every opportunity. Others, like The All-American Rejects, casually stroll along, occasionally locking arms and skipping merrily down whatever path they come across. They didn't start down this road looking for fame and fortune, they simply wanted to have fun for a living. And they are. It is rare to find a band so absolutely content with where they are, blissfully unconcerned with potential obstacles ahead.
2005 was a big year for The All-American Rejects with their very successful album
Move Along. Now they're on the road again with a whole host of new tunes from their 3-year labor of love,
When The World Comes Down, in stores December 16. I got on the phone with guitarist Mike Kennerty to ask a few questions and get high off his positivity.
How's it goin?
It's going well! We're on an off day in New York so we're doing a bunch of press and stuff.
You guys are playing Irving Plaza tomorrow, right?
Oh yeah! It'll be really cool. This whole tour has been a small venue run for like a month now. This is the one show that's in a decent sized club and it sold out really quick. So, that's kinda neat.
You've played there before, haven't you?
Yeah, we've played there a couple times, actually. It's definitely one of our favorite places to play in New York.
Where would you like to tour that you haven't yet?
We haven't gone south at all. Never been to South America or Mexico. We hear these awesome stories about bands playing in Brazil so I think it would be great if we could make it out there some time.
So, 3 years to make a record. What was the hold up?
We took our time. There are 2 ways you can go about it. Once you have success it's like 'oh shit, we better take advantage of this and shit out another record.' Or you can take take your time and get great songs together. We chose the latter. We're really proud of this record!
Have you heard the whole thing yet?
We finished it 3 or 4 weeks ago, and yeah we've heard the whole thing. We were really pushing deadlines and it took forever, but we finally got it done. We all love it!
I thought maybe it took so long because Tyson was in The House Bunny. [laughs] [laughs] That took him about 2 months. It was before we started tracking though. While we were still accumulating songs, so it wasn't a big hindrance or anything.
So how did you end up at Skywalker Ranch?
Our producer, Eric Valentine recorded there before. He did the first Third Eye Blind record and they went in there to do some recording. He loved some of the sounds he was able to get. There is a huge live room in there where John Williams records. We went up there for like a week and recorded a number of things. The ballads, some gang vocals, other little things. It was amazing. Not at all what you would expect. It was very quaint.
So, no Storm Trooper security guards? [laughs] No Storm Troopers. It seems like they go out of their way to avoid any sci-fi aspect. I mean everything is named after Star Wars, but it's like if your grandma had a ranch house.
Have you ever looked yourself up on Wikipedia?
I haven't.
You should. Nick seems to be the only one with a decent page. Your page was the funniest, though. The only personal information it has about you is that you used to work at Taco Bell and you love Dr. Pepper.
Those are very accurate statements. I love my Dr. Pepper and Taco Bell.
Surely there is more to you than that, though?
Not much!
[laughs] I remember my sister calling me a while ago saying my Wikipedia page says I was born in Miami. I wasn't born in Miami. It is true though that I worked at Taco Bell in Edmond, Oklahoma for 3 years. I never got sick of it. I still eat there once a week!
I have a theory that Nick created all of your Wikipedia pages. That's why his is so much better.
You know, that's possible.
[laughs]
How did you guys land the Nightmare Revisited thing?
That's something that was offered to us. We had worked with Danny Elfman before for a song on
Meet The Robinsons. I think it came about because of that. It was pretty easy, really. We did it a long time ago, it just took a while for it to come out.
So, I am surprised to see that you guys release so much vinyl...
Oh yeah, everything we've done we have released on vinyl. That's one thing we still do with our old label, Doghouse. They release all the vinyl. The picture disc is going to be a freaky thing for people to buy at the indie stores. We're going to do another 7" soon...whatever the next single is gonna be. I'm a vinyl dork so we want to do as much of it as we can.
[laughs] I saw that you guys were inducted into the Oklahoma Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's a very exclusive club. [laughs] [laughs] Yeah, we're on the wall between Woody Guthrie and Color Me Badd. It's a very distinguished honor. The mayor from Muskogee gave us a key to the city. He's only like 19, so that was cool. We don't have an alley named after us like The Flaming Lips, though.
How horrible is that? Garth Brooks gets a highway, The Flaming Lips get a rape alley with nothing but a dumpster in it. [laughs] Well, at least it's in a cool part of town!
[laughs] Yeah, I guess that's something. You guys seem to ALWAYS have a blast. Any time I see you on TV or on your little Rejects TV stuff on your site...you're always having a great time. Is it ever hard for you guys?
There's times when you get frustrated, of course. But we definitely acknowledge that we got really lucky. We have an amazing life. I could still be working at Taco Bell, you know?! So we definitely make the most of it.
http://www.myspace.com/allamericanrejects
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All -American Rejects - Move Along CD Sample
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The All-American Rejects guitarist Mike Kennerty
