Wait...please tell me this EP is not just three songs...one of which is something they've been playing live for the past 4 years.
I've never seen them live so it's all new to me! "Send Her To Heaven" sounds like a blend of old and new Weezer. I'm into it. "Gen Why?" sucks. "Demons" has really cool verses, but I'm not into the chorus as much. The song's got a pretty cool vibe though. Almost sounds like they're trying to be Twenty One Pilots.
I haven't seen them live since 2012 (and they didn't play DGAF then), but I've seen dozens of videos of them playing it live on YouTube and stuff. It was a pretty big deal back when they started playing it because everyone thought it was going to lead to a new album...and here we are 4-5 years later.
Seems this is just the first push back out. Licensing on the EP is with Epitaph so I can assume they're releasing an album at some point.
None of these really stand out to me but it's been a long time since I've given a listen to AAR so my tastes have likely changed.
Are you referring to Sweat and Close Your Eyes as the other two? Those were in the summer of 2017. I know they released a demo of Stay last summer, but that was from the When the World Comes Down era. Just bizarre that a band that hasn't released an album in 7+ years announces an EP finally and then it's just 3 songs and that DGAF song, they've been playing live for 4-5 years now.
Full press release: The All-American Rejects have released Send Her To Heaven, a three-song single, out today in partnership with Epitaph Records. The video for the title track, “Send Her To Heaven” can be viewed here. The songs were written and recorded over the last two to three years with different producers, a process that was a relatively new experience for the band. “The last couple of records were fun to make but they were pretty draining, whereas I think recording this way keeps us on our toes and excited,” guitarist Mike Kennerty explains. “We recorded each of these songs on their own and didn't think of them as a package. We just took each song and went to a different producer to see what we would come up with,” he says of the process, “Because of the way we went about it, I think we created a diverse group of songs that might not have happened if we did it the way we've always recorded in the past.” Send Her To Heaven kicks off with the title track “Send Her To Heaven,” a Pixies-inspired song that came out of a co-writing session vocalist Tyson Ritter had with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. In order to capture the guitar-driven energy of the song, the band recorded it with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, OK Go) in a live setting that recaptured the dynamic of the band's early days. Then there's “Gen Why? (DGAF)” a song that Ritter likens lyrically to “a tongue bursting through a cheek.” According to Ritter, the inspiration for the song came from a very real place. “I was driving one night next to this teenage girl who was smoking with the windows up and looked like she was part of this crazy lifestyle that I had no understanding about,” he explains. “Lyrically it was a truthful moment and I think all we've ever cared about as a band is writing something that didn't seem forced.” Send Her To Heaven culminates with the massive-sounding ballad “Demons,” which “is about things that people experience in their late 20s when you're struggling with your own isolated ideas and then something happens and your consciousness is broken wide open and you start to care about yourself in a really unique, thoughtful way, even though it's frightening,” Ritter explains. The All-American Rejects will perform at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (Del Mar, CA) as part of their summer concert series this Friday, July 19, in celebration of the racetrack’s 80th anniversary. The band will also perform this weekend at Warped Tour’s 25th Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, July 21 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre (Mountain View, CA).
I dig this EP Had never heard DGAF, as i was waiting for a studio version. It’s a fun song. I’m really just happy they didn’t hang it up, so good hearing Tyson’s voice on new songs Gonna have to do a obligatory AAR discog run today
I mean, ultimately it's whatever. I'm not even a huge AAR guy. I like them, and will check out their stuff and was looking forward to finally getting some new music from them and I guess I'm just disappointed that after a very, very, very long wait, it's ultimately just two songs I haven't heard before. I don't see this moving the needle for a lot of people. If it does, that's great (although early feedback on this site has been...not good).
Dunno, that's kinda the life of a band that's not really active. They record some stuff, release it when they want to, and that's where they're at right now. 5 new songs over the past few years is what they've wanted to do while focusing on their other projects.