Interview with Mike Gaylor and Mike Kennerty of the All-American Rejects

Cotton Club-- Atlanta, Georgia

May 28, 2003

Leah Weinberg: Would you guys introduce yourselves, please?
Mike Kennerty: I am Mike Kennerty and I play guitar in the All-American Rejects.
Chris Gaylor: I am Chris Gaylor and I play drums in the same band.

L.W.: How old is everyone in the band?
Mike: I am 22. Chris is 24. Nicholas is 21. And Tyson is 19.

L.W.: I know that the band started with Tyson and Nick, so when and how did you guys join the band?
Chris: Mike used to have a band called Euclid Crash back in our hometown and they played a couple of shows with the Rejects with their old drummer when they were a three-piece band, and they were looking for another guitar player to fill out the sound more. And so Mike joined the band. But before Mike joined the band, I was filling in for like two shows for his band Euclid Crash, and the second show I played was with the All-American Rejects at a club in Oklahoma City called the Green Door. And they were kind of looking for a drummer because theirs wasn't working out too well and they got me to play drums, and so the line-up was solidified.

L.W.: So you guys are from Oklahoma too.
Chris: Yes. We're actually from a town called Edmond, which is about 45 minutes south of Stillwater.

L.W.: How long ago was that?
Mike: I joined in last July and Chris was in October.

L.W.: Was that before or after signing with Dreamworks?
Mike: We signed to Dreamworks in September. So for me it was before, for Chris it was after.

L.W.: Why did you guys decide to go to a major label?
Mike: Well, honestly, indies are limited with distribution, so just going to a major makes sense for just getting it out there more. I thought Dreamworks, they seemed like a good label that would work with us and not get us lost in the shuffle like a lot of major labels do. So it seemed like a worthy risk to take. And it worked out pretty well.
Chris: It's like the coolest major label you could possibly be on pretty much. It's more like a family. It's a lot more intimate as far as major labels go than any of the other ones would be. We actually hang out with people from the label and stuff.

L.W.: What was the music scene like in Oklahoma?
Mike: It's kind of weak. There's one all ages venue in Oklahoma City that's cool called the Green Door, which Chris mentioned. They get a lot of shows through there. There's some local bands but local support definitely isn't Oklahoma's finest attribute.
Chris: It's getting better, but it's still not where we'd like it to be. But it's getting better. It's not like Atlanta or anything.

L.W.: How crazy have things been for you over the past several months?
Mike: It's been pretty cool. Just non-stop touring since last year, about six or seven months now.
Chris: It's kind of happened so fast we haven't had time to notice anything.
Mike: Like shows have gotten bigger, but other than that, like for us nothing has changed too much. We're around the same eight or nine people the whole time.
Chris: We haven't had enough time off to see ourselves on TV or have people recognize us in the mall or something like that.

L.W.: Do you guys want a break or just keep on going?
Mike: We have two weeks off in June and I think that will be perfect and then we'll keep going again for a long time.
Chris: That will set me for another year.
Mike: Anytime we're anywhere for more than a few days, we get really bored.
Chris: So two weeks will do me just fine.

L.W.: Are you guys stoked to play Warped Tour this summer?
Chris: Definitely. It's a lot of really good bands. Except for the weather, I'm really excited about it. Cause we're doing like Texas and the South and stuff like that, so we're doing like the really hot and humid climates. Other than that, I think it's gonna be cool.

L.W.: Playing with bands like Rancid and AFI, are you at all worried about how the band is going to be received?
Mike: I think it will be pretty good. I went last year or the year before when Good Charlotte and New Found Glory were headlining and they got a really good response. Not that I'm putting us next to those bands, cause we'd kind of rather not be, but we definitely have a similar fan base, and so I'd imagine it will probably be pretty cool.
Chris: Since both of us actually listen to a lot of punk rock and stuff like that, we both like the music and the bands, and we can say that easily because we didn't even know the guys when they wrote the songs and recorded the album.

L.W.: Who are you guys looking forward to seeing on the tour?
Chris: Poison the Well's playing.
Mike: That would be cool. Poison the Well. Rancid.
Chris: Rancid's gonna be awesome. I've never seen Rancid. I've listened to them since I was like 16 and never seen them.
[Some fan starts knocking on the door of the tour bus.]
Mike: What did they say?
Chris: What did they want?
Dave (roadie): I don't know. I don't talk to those people. They wanted some shit signed. I was like, they'll sign shit later.
Chris: Don't knock on the, this is our house.
Dave: I was like, they're not here right now. And he was like, I know two of them are. And I'm like, yeah, they're doing an interview.
Chris: This is our only bit of privacy that we get. Anyway. We're not dicks, I promise. But like, it's your house. But, who else besides Rancid? There's just a shitload. I saw the list the other day and I was like, Oooh. It'll be good.

L.W.: I know you guys are tired of answering this question but what exactly happened with CKY?
Mike: They just weren't very nice people and they didn't like us. And we really didn't like them. So, yes, they kicked us off their tour. But they needed a reason, so they attributed it to us stealing their beer, which we did, but so did the other opening band but they didn't get kicked off the tour because they actually liked them. It was ridiculous.

L.W.: And why on earth were you guys put on that tour in the first place?
Mike: We have the same booking agent and we just signed up with her so it was like the first thing she could get us.
Chris: I wasn't there for the tour, so I have no clue. I just know they got kicked off for stealing beer. That's what I heard. It was funny I thought.

L.W.: What's one thing on the tour bus you can't live without?
Chris: My books and my walkman and my bunk.
Mike: Definitely headphones. This is our first tour with a bus. We've been doing it in a van forever and that was definitely something I needed always while we were in the van. So now we have like TV and stuff so I don't need headphones quite as much but I'd still say that because no matter what they're still entertaining.
Chris: I fall asleep to music every night on my headphones. I read for like an hour while I'm listening to music and I put the book down and [fall right asleep], pass out.

L.W.: So is there much partying after shows or anything? Mike: A little sometimes.
Chris: We usually get that out like the first couple weeks of tour and then after that....Every now and then there's a party. It's not like an every night thing. No naked groupies on the bus.

L.W.: So no cool stories to tell?
Mike: No, we're actually pretty lame.
Chris: We're pretty lame as far as getting the ladies goes. I'm intimidated by them.
L.W.: Plus they're all like 15 years old.
Chris: Yeah. I don't know. They just don't do it for me. It's hard to, yeah, I'll stop there. I'm thinking too hard.

L.W.: Obviously punk and all of its subgenres like emo and screamo and pop-punk are incredibly popular right now. Do you think that some of the interest in bands like The Used and you guys and New Found Glory is a result of people just following trends or do you think they really like the music?
Mike: It might be a little bit of both. I think they like the music, but it's also trendy or whatever. We have like a lot of kids sing every word to every song regardless of whether it's the single or not, so I think that shows that even if it is the cool thing, they dig it enough to learn everything. That's kinda cool.
Chris: I hope they all like it. I know when I was 15 or 16, that's when I was really into music and I just kind of stayed in it. I hope they're the same way.

L.W.: Any recording plans?
Mike: I think we're supposed to keep touring until next July, so no. Right now that's pretty much the only thing on our minds.
Tyson Ritter [vocals/bass]: Nick and I are going to be doing some tracking when we have this break. But outside of pre-production on our next record, that's probably all we're going to get done. And we may just do a couple of songs on a split for Doghouse or something.

L.W.: 3 words that describe the All-American Rejects.
Mike: All-American Rejects.
L.W.: Besides All-American Rejects.
Mike: Ha ha ha. Three words.
Tyson: Dirty.
Mike: Dirty. Okay, Chris you get one and I'll do one.
Chris: Four skanky guys.
Tyson: I like that better.
Mike: There you go. Four skanky guys.

Related Links:
All-American Rejects -- All-American Rejects Review
AAR Interview from March 2005
All-American Rejects Photos
Official Website