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 Guitarist MIKE KENNERTY is unequivocal about ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS’ new album When The World Comes Down, writes ALEXI SEBASTIAN.
“It’s definitely the most versatile record we’ve done,” declares Kennerty, fresh from a brief run of European dates. “From start to finish there are different styles we hadn’t approached before and somehow we made this mish-mash of all these songs that we randomly brought together. And I think that’s what makes us so proud, it’s definitely our most varied and stylized record. And sonically our producer Eric Valentine made it sound better than anything we’ve done before.”
There was no conscious effort to diversify and build on 2005’s Move Along insists Kennerty, who prefers a PRS guitar and Marshall amp combo.
“It was more a desperation to write,” he says. “We’ve never been a band that’s been able to write songs while touring and we tour a crap time so when we did get off the road for our last album we felt the pressure to buckle down and come up with stuff.”
Whilst hindsight suggests Move Along’s producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance) wasn’t a good fit for AAR, the Oklahoma quartet’s alliance with Valentine (Queens Of The Stoneage) for their third record made more sense.
“I mean, Howard Benson does a great job but he has a real assembly line approach to recording,” says Kennerty. “Luckily we were super-prepared and knew everything we wanted to do going in and were able to knock that record out in just a matter of a few weeks. But this one, because we were doing the songs in a different style, not just full-on guitar, bass and drums rock songs, we needed some time and little guidance to help construct them properly.
“A lot of them have piano or are driven by other instruments and Eric just helped give us that vision at a time when we were getting burned out trying to rehearse. He was the fresh ear we needed and he was an extremely hands-on guy. He makes sure he has our stamp of approval, which helps.”
Whilst the respective rise and fall of American presidents Obama and Bush did not inspire When The World Comes Down, Kennerty admits personal politics certainly did.
“People were giving us shit for it as if we’d caught on too late about Bush moving out,” he laughs. “But it had more of a personal significance. The title comes from a lyric in a song called Mona Lisa on the record and it’s kind of a love story set against an apocalypse situation.
“It seemed appropriate because the making of the record was such a stressful and long and arduous process for us that we definitely had moments when were ready to break down and say ‘fuck it, let’s quit’. So this record represents our world coming down but we made it through.”
Mainstream success has come knocking for AAR in recent years but Kennerty has a solution to fame’s fickle finger – keep busy. “The band has gotten us to where we are to have this dream that I don’t think any of us thought we’d accomplish,” he says. “We would have just been happy to pay the rent on the apartment we all shared and just tour in a van.
“But we’re kind of a grass-is-always-greener band with recording versus touring and we like to do each to the extent where we’re absolutely sick of them. We love touring and we probably put ourselves out there more than we need to. But I love it – it never gets old for me.”
ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS play the Tivoli on Wednesday Aug 19, with Hoobastank and The Sundance Kids. WHEN THE WORLD COMES DOWN is out now through Universal. www.myspace.com/allamericanrejects
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