Affection by The All-American Rejects

Album: Kids In The Street (2012)

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This song finds The All-American Rejects joined by a full orchestra. Guitarist and co-songwriter Nick Wheeler told Pop Crush about hooking up with the classical musicians: "We were in Chicago after Warped Tour and we were approaching the song called 'Affection.' I was watching a lot of the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at the time and I really liked that fluttery, woodwind, string driven theme song to the show and I wanted to try something like that.

I orchestrated the song and we put this big full band session in the end; but for the first couple of verses and choruses it's this really fluttery - almost 'Fantasia'-esque sound. We actually got a string arranger to dig in a little further who does a lot of Disney stuff, [and] it came out really cool. We went to a soundstage in Burbank, California and we cut it live with the orchestra. They would be playing the first couple of minutes of the song and Tyson would be singing live, and then the rest of the band came in and played the song live with them."
Mixing engineer Rich Breen recalled on his blog the recording session, which took place in June 2011: "Pretty wild session today over at Warner Brothers on the Eastwood Stage; Orchestra recording for the All American Rejects – straightforward, right? Well, the Rejects wanted to record one song ("Affection") live with the orchestra; this means full drums, two loud electric guitars, bass, piano, and vocal live. We were able to iso the drums and guitars, but vocals and piano would need to be on the floor with orchestra. I thought this was a recipe for disaster, but the band was adamant that they could do it, so… Lo and behold, it was a beautiful thing; those guys are pros, no ruined takes because of lousy band performances, everybody came through with flying colors. The band's engineer (Ian MacGregor) did a great job getting basic rhythm sounds on the band, and we sort of split the board up between us to get it done quickly and efficiently. The crew at WB was fantastic, and made it all seem fairly easy!"

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