It’s been well over a decade since the All-American Rejects released their last full-length, 2012’s Kids in the Street. But instead of simply revisiting the glossy pop-rock formula that turned them into staples of the 2000s, their new album, Sandbox, feels far more unpredictable.
That restless energy has already defined the rollout for Sandbox. After teasing fans with the title track last year, the band doubled down on the chaos. They launched their House Party tour, performing everywhere from a fan’s backyard in Nashville to a Sheetz gas station in Pittsburgh. They launched their own video game for “Search Party!” and made a Christmas-movie parody video for “Get This.”
Read more: 10 most criminally underrated All-American Rejects songs
There’s still a lot of signature AAR throughlines on Sandbox — sarcasm, infectious hooks, and the same reckless drive that made people first fall in love with the band decades ago. Below, Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler take us inside Sandbox track by track, breaking down the stories behind each song.
“Easy Come, Easy Go”
“Easy Come Easy Go” was written in an air of ferocity that only certain songs can fly free in. My brain was begging to purge about someone from my past who never got their proper due. It’s a song about a weathered love, thunder and lighting after the sunshine and rainbows. —Tyson Ritter
This was a tune that Tyson and our former keyboardist Scott Chesak started a while back. Scott sent me the demo session, and we dug in and made it a Rejects track that just happened to fit perfectly on Sandbox. —Nick Wheeler
“Get This”
I wrote that hook for the Eels. E was trying to finish his record, and he was like, “Do you have any more songs?” I said no, but I was driving my son to school that morning, and right when I dropped him off, I heard the chorus for “Get This,” and [it] just came out. It was going fast, so I got home, and in 10 minutes, it was done. I sent it to him, and he was like, “I don’t think I can pull that off.” And I was like, “Good, because I want it.” That song, in the spirit of this record, was just pure fun. I showed Nick the demo, and he loved it. It came together the fastest out of all the songs. Super easy to put together. The good ones are easy. Sometimes everything about a song like that is just easy. It’s where we have always rung the bell as a band, just a fun song. It doesn’t mean anyone any harm. —Tyson Ritter
This song is a great example of what could have been a perfectly polished pop/rock song, but it was more fun to lean into more raw performances against a fun drum loop. —Nick Wheeler
“Search Party!”
This song is about things feeling “out of balance” and “out of whack.” Feeling like the playing field is often uneven and unfair. Whether in love, life, friendships, family, or just existing in a world filled with joy and chaos, there is often someone on cloud nine and someone trying to cut them down. Mania, depression, joy, love, and hurt are all emotions expressed in “Search Party!” While not about anyone or anything in particular, the juxtaposition between misery and a clown at a party, helping guide someone out of the dark and into the light, is the real message in “Search Party!” —Tyson Ritter
This is a deeply personal song to Tyson that didn’t really stand out to me at first, but after approaching it in the studio, it became one of my favorites on the record, and we love playing this one live. —Nick Wheeler
“Eggshell Tap Dancer”
This is the first tune we officially produced as a threesome with Scott, and it afforded us the ability to create in our own spaces and showed us that we could work together remotely, which is how much of the record was recorded. “Eggshell” is another one that could’ve been more produced and polished, but we chose instead to embrace the chaos. It also has one of my favorite outros we’ve ever done, complete with sirens that passed by the studio when we were recording the quietest part of the song. —Nick Wheeler
“Green Isn’t Yellow”
This one is all about growing up in Oklahoma, and it’s the perfect time capsule for our experience there as kids. —Nick Wheeler
“Sandbox”
It was the name of the first song, and then it became the world that we are building with the record. To exhaust the literal side of the metaphor, you go to a Sandbox and can find all kinds of crazy shit in it. I think this record is perfect for that. I have a Peter Pan complex, and I think that is what keeps me so excited about writing music. It’s the one place where when I know I’m doing it correctly, it’s because I’m doing it through the curiosity of the search, and not the intention of the result. So, I think this record is touching on some things that are reconciling youth, finally having to stand on your own two feet as an adult, and also facing the outside world, which is just so oppressive. This is a record that has helped me survive in these modern times. Not only where I am in my life, but in the world. —Tyson Ritter
This is the first song we recorded for the album. Tyson and I produced and recorded it ourselves in my Nashville studio, and it informed where we were going to go musically for this record — more serious subjects performed loudly with feeling while embracing the imperfections. —Nick Wheeler
“King Kong”
For me, that song is about leaving LA. I think I made LA this monster. I’m from a small town in Oklahoma, and I moved back home. That song was written there, and it’s just about… you can follow the lyrics. I fell into an interesting crowd when I got here, and it just turned me off from every aspect of life, because it didn’t fit me. Just the quintessential “I’m in LA in my 20s and early 30s” life. It’s a town where everyone is chasing the same industry, and there’s no real life about it for me that I experienced until I left. That song came together quickly. The good ones happen fast. And the production, I think it’s the most collaborative song on the record. When Nick got in with it, he brought quality to the song that I didn’t see coming, but it felt natural. Even though we didn’t approach it how we used to, it felt like a combination of our efforts. —Tyson Ritter
We always said we’d never move to LA, but of course we eventually did, and this song is about Tyson’s experience there. It’s classic Rejects in the sense that every time Tyson and I passed the song back and forth to each other, we were able to elevate the song and make it better. We kept adding to it well into the mixing process, and for me it’s the standout track. —Nick Wheeler
“Clothesline”
Tyson showed us a demo of this song on a boat, and it was instantly a vibe. We leaned into that floating feeling and rocked softly with clean guitars and lots of “ooh’s.” We actually just filmed a music video for this song… on a boat! —Nick Wheeler
“Lemonade”
This was the last song we recorded for “Sandbox”, although it existed in some form for almost two years. It was in the first batch of ideas Tyson sent me when we decided to record new music, but it was overshadowed by songs like “Eggshell” and “King Kong.” But once we dug in, Tyson made some lyrical changes, we finished the arrangement, and it became the perfect number to round out the record. —Nick Wheeler
“For Mama”
That song is tough. It almost didn’t make it onto the record. Honestly, I’ll be fully open about this. The one thing nobody tells you about life is that the older you get, your perfect family starts to show its underbelly. Everyone has to suffer through life, and you don’t think that about your family. You just think about your own experience. The thing is that we keep telling ourselves what fits to make a complete thought on this record.
To me, that was never the intention. Nick and I were just like, “This has to be fun for us.” Defining what this record needs, song-wise, has been the most pain in the ass process for me. I think all of it should be on there because it’s all part of it. There is one thing about curating an experience with classic vinyl, sit down, put the record in your hand, and you wanna feel like it’s a complete thought. But I welcome every song for this record because I love them all. We were like, “We’re gonna kick ‘For Mama’ until the next thing.” But by the time we kick it to the next thing, I’m gonna hate that song so much. That is what I fear with delaying that song. The only thing that matters about this record is that it’s a bookmark of time, and that song was a part of that bookmark. —Tyson Ritter
I left Tyson alone in the studio for an hour and came back to him having written this entire thing on a paper towel. I really wanted to challenge myself to create a somber, almost haunting fingerpicking guitar part, which has never been my strong suit. We got some excellent horn players and an accordionist in Nashville to contribute as well, their instruments almost acting as the different characters Tyson is speaking to throughout the verses. —Nick Wheeler
“Staring Back at Me”
Of all the songs, that is the wildest experience I’ve ever had writing a song. We were in a studio tracking Chris’ drums for this Johnny Cash cover that Warner Chappel wanted us to do, and we were like, “Fuck it, maybe we’ll get an Olympics commercial or some shit.” So, that was the objective for the day. My friend did this movie, and he said, “I can’t afford this song.” There were no stakes. It was me and Chris, and I started writing it in the control room, just this acoustic opening thing. I was like, “Let’s see what happens when Chris gets out there and hits the drums.” And I call that the forgotten song. That was the title of it with the engineer. I was like, “I don’t even remember the last section.” I’d write it, he would play along, and I’d be like, “Good, let’s move on.” And I’d write the lyrics for that section, and we’d move on.
It was all written in a stream of consciousness. I remember we had the studio until 8, and it was 4 when we started writing the song and tracking it. By the end, it was done. I don’t even know how to play the bass part on that song. We were writing to it as it was flying out, but we were holding it right by the tail, and it was drawing us through the process. I didn’t know if we were gonna get anything, let alone anything for the Rejects. But I liked it, so I sent it, and I think it’s one of the coolest songs for this band. It’s so different. It gives me hope that bands like us, a band that has been around for a while, can find something that feels alive within you that is real and vibrant. It’s not your radio hit song, and I don’t give a shit. This is truth. This is real and pure, and it’s true, and it’s alive. We did this. That’s cool to find in yourself as a writer. —Tyson Ritter
What started as an impromptu jam session between Tyson and Chris turned into one of the hardest-hitting songs on the record with a really interesting arrangement. This one holds the record for most locations throughout the recording process, but it was always the perfect closer for the record. —Nick Wheeler
