The All American Rejects Made Their First Album Since 2012 Inside Guitarist Nick Wheeler’s Hand Built Nashville Studio

Most people know Nick Wheeler as the guitarist who co-founded one of the most recognizable rock bands of the 2000s. What most people do not know is that for the last decade, he has been quietly building something far more personal in East Nashville.

A private studio. A freestanding structure behind his own home. Something he spent his whole career dreaming about.

That studio is where the All American Rejects recorded Sandbox, their first album in 14 years.

Since Eighth Grade, There Was Always a Room

Wheeler moved to Nashville in 2015. For the first few years, he did what he had always done. He found a corner, set up his gear, and got to work.

He told Realtor.com that he had been recording in whatever space was available since eighth grade. Every apartment, every townhouse, every place he ever lived had a room he could disappear into. It was just how he operated.

But this time, he wanted something different. His own building. His own walls. Something that was not a spare bedroom with foam panels.

He spent about a month searching Nashville with his real estate agent. Some houses had no yard. One had a state-of-the-art studio already built but the house itself was a wreck. Nothing quite fit.

Then his agent called with something unusual.

The Builder Who Said Yes

A developer was splitting one Nashville lot into two separate homes, which is common in the city right now. Wheeler met the man, they clicked, and the builder agreed to sell him the entire lot as one property with just one house and space in the back for a studio.

Wheeler got under contract in February 2020. Then COVID hit.

Lumber prices surged. Subcontractors became nearly impossible to book. Nashville was in a full building boom and everyone was stretched thin. He moved into the home at the end of 2021. The studio was finally finished in early 2022.

He said it plainly: “I just lived and breathed and stressed about building this space during COVID.”

The finished structure has a control room, a live tracking room, an isolation booth, a kitchen, a bathroom, and an outdoor space with a firepit and picnic table. Separate from the house entirely. Its own world.

The Space That Became the Hub

Once the studio was done, Wheeler started renting it out selectively to artists and producers he trusted. He was splitting time between Nashville and the West Coast, and he did not want the room sitting empty.

But then the band started talking again.

Wheeler was in Nashville. Tyson Ritter was in Oklahoma. Scott Chesak was in Austin. The three of them would get on Zoom calls, toss ideas around, then Wheeler would go spend a week alone in his studio working through them.

He told Realtor.com that for the making of this record, he and his space were “the common denominator.”

That is not a small thing. The album did not get made in a label-owned building. It got made in a room one of them built, because one of them had spent years making sure that room would exist.

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Why This Matters

The All American Rejects have sold over 12 million albums worldwide. “Gives You Hell” hit No. 1 on the Top 40 in 2009 and stayed on the charts for 36 weeks.

Sandbox, released May 15, 2026, is their first fully independent release, put out through their own label imprint with no major label involved.

Before the album even dropped, the single “Get This” had crossed nearly 3 million streams and was charting on TikTok Viral Charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany. Both Distorted Sound Magazine and Hot Press reviewed Sandbox at 8/10.

The band is now heading to Europe for their first proper tour there in 14 years.

None of this happened because a label decided it was time. It happened because one member of the band moved to Nashville a decade ago, found the right property, survived a pandemic-era construction project, and built the room where it all eventually came together.

Wheeler said it himself: “Since I had one of those old Walmart computer desks back in 1996, this is what I’ve been working toward.”

That is 30 years of intention landing in one place.

Key Takeaways

• Nick Wheeler has been recording music in home setups since eighth grade, and Wheelhouse is the version he always worked toward
• He moved to Nashville in 2015 and spent years finding the right property to build a freestanding studio
• He got under contract in February 2020, just before COVID hit, and finished the studio in early 2022
• The studio sits behind his home in East Nashville as a fully separate structure with its own outdoor space
• Sandbox was recorded primarily at Wheelhouse with Wheeler, Tyson Ritter, and Scott Chesak producing
• It is the band’s first album in 14 years and their first fully independent release
• “Get This” charted virally in four countries before the album dropped

What do you think, does knowing a musician built their own studio change how you hear the album they made there? Or does the music stand on its own regardless of where it was recorded? Drop your take in the comments.

Wrapping Up

Nick Wheeler did not just build a studio. He built the conditions that made the record possible. The room, the freedom, the time, all of it was already in place before the band even decided to come back.

Sandbox is what happened when everything he had quietly built finally had somewhere to go.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available information at the time of publication.