All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter talks to us about #TourLife

After a 10-year hiatus, The All-American Rejects are back on tour – and as singers Tyson Knight exclusively shares his dirty little tour secrets Us weekly‘s backstage pass.

The Band – Ritter, lead guitarist Nick Wheelerrhythm guitarist Mike Kennerty and drummer Chris Gaylor – are headlining the Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour alongside New Found Glory, with support from Motion City Soundtrack, the Starting Line and the Get Up Kids on select dates. The bands will stop in Minneapolis on August 27th before taking a short break and resuming the tour in Denver on Friday, September 22nd.

The band first rose to stardom after releasing their self-titled debut album in 2002, which went platinum. So she’s no stranger to touring – but Ritter, 39, says this tour has a special meaning.

“This is the biggest headlining tour we’ve ever done in our career,” said Ritter Us. “That it happens after more than 20 years of our career [and] That we can do it at all is what I’m most happy about.”

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Ritter doesn’t party before shows like he used to, which he says makes for much better performances. “I used to drink about a bottle of wine and smoke joints and it was like, ‘Cool, let’s go,'” he said. “[Now] I can do this consistently and in a way that I see fit [the] the best we’ve ever heard. I have the feeling that we are actually up to the task now.”

His pre-show preparations currently include Kundalini yoga and other healthy rituals. “I do a warm-up for an hour [and] I have a harmless crop, coconut water – Throat Coat tea is essential,” he revealed. “Twenty minutes of good, thoughtful stretching, and then I say a little prayer to the universe.”

The place where he prepares is also important to him. And for that he channels the legendary musician Stevie Nicks.

“You get a good tapestry that looks like Stevie Nicks’ tea room [and] “Anything that looks like Paisley,” he shared. “Basically like the inside of a yurt [she’s] I’ve been lying down for the past week. For me, when you walk into a place like this, it’s like, ‘Oh cool, we can make this space ours.’”

Ritter has a soft spot for performing “There’s a Place” live, which he wrote for the 2015 film Miss you alreadyIn the main role Tony Collette And Drew Barrymore. “This song came out of me,” he said as he wrote it in his London flat with a ukulele. “I wrote this late in our career and it had a life of its own without any publicity. That was a very special moment for me.”

After the show, the band still party – but in a much more sophisticated way these days. “My guitarist is getting a really nice, big-bodied Cabernet,” said Ritter Us. “Maybe someone has a really nice indica to get everyone off and just enough energy to have a few drinks, play some good dice, and maybe lose a hundred dollars.”

After 20 years of performing, touring and releasing hits, Ritter is still a fan who fondly remembers performing with some of his favorite musicians. “I got to be a giant butterfly on the Flaming Lips show and that was a groundbreaking moment,” he said. “We both performed and they were like, ‘Hey man, you want to be on the show?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, yeah. Pinch me.’ That was really amazing.”

The band paid tribute to Def Leppard at the 2002 VH1 Rock Honors, performing the English rock band’s hit song “Photograph.” “It was all these bands, and they all got to choose who would honor them,” Ritter said Us. “Def Leppard picked us, and that was kind of crazy.”

Another “pinch me moment”? Bon Jovi He carefully selected The All-American Rejects to open his 2008 shows at Madison Square Garden. “That led to me getting to do a duet with him,” Ritter said, describing the experience as “surreal.”

Now that the band is touring for the first time in a decade, Ritter can’t help but appreciate just how far they’ve come. “When we were kids, it was just piss, vinegar, momentum and the wind on our backs,” he said. “This time we’re making it with a really conscious effort of performance to do what we’ve sort of honed over the last 20 years… we’re going to ring like a bell out there.”

Tickets for the Wet Hot All-American Tour are available immediately.