Inside All-American Rejects Star Nick Wheeler’s Custom At-Home Studio

All-American Rejects guitarist Nick Wheeler is opening the doors to the creative hub where his band’s long-awaited fifth album was carefully curated—years after he brought his dream of having a private recording studio to life at his Tennessee home.

Wheeler and his bandmates, Tyson Ritter, Mike Kennerty, and Chris Gaylor, are embarking on their first major European tour in more than a decade, weeks after releasing their album “Sandbox.”

But the guitarist took time out from rehearsals for that tour to open up about the integral role that his at-home studio played in helping to fuel their comeback.

The rocker sat down with Realtor.com® to offer an inside look at the freestanding creative sanctuary he spent years dreaming up—and nearly two years bringing to life.

Located in Nashville, the standalone structure sits behind Wheeler’s residence and serves as both his personal workspace and a collaborative hub for fellow musicians and producers.

The space also played a major role in the creation of the band’s new album, which is the group’s first full-length release since 2012.

In the latest installment of Celebrity Sanctuary, Wheeler reveals how he found the perfect Nashville property where he was able to finally build the studio of his dreams—and how the space ultimately became the headquarters for the band’s latest chapter.

I moved to Nashville in 2015, and I’ve had a place there for over 10 years now. It was actually right before COVID when I had an opportunity to move to my favorite part of town, over on the east side, and build a freestanding studio.

It’s a separate building, it is on my property, but yeah, it’s a completely stand-alone, separate space that I use. I built it for myself and my own projects, and then that turned into a very big band project.

But I also rent it out, not just to anybody, but I kind of try to curate artists and other producers to come through and work on projects there as well. Because I’m touring a lot and split my time between Nashville and the West Coast, I don’t want it just sitting there.

I’ve been recording bands, my bands, other bands, in my bedroom since eighth grade. Every iteration of my life, whether it was growing up at my parents’ house, having an apartment, a townhouse, or an apartment in L.A., I always had a studio space in a spare bedroom.

There was always the room I could go and be creative and work on whatever I was working on at the time.

I had been looking around town for houses that had a large enough backyard to build a studio, or maybe a guesthouse, or a garage, something where I could make a separate space.

Me and my real estate agent found a few spaces that could work, but it was one of those things where I felt like I’d been working my whole life for this opportunity. We found an amazing house, but there was no yard, so couldn’t build a studio.

We found a really dumpy old Tudor house that would’ve needed a lot of work, but had this state-of-the-art studio in the backyard.

After about a month of looking at places all around town, my agent called me with an opportunity. It was this guy who was building a house.

What they’re doing a lot in Nashville is taking one lot, cutting it in half, and building two houses. But I met the guy, we vibed, and he knew what I wanted to do. He decided to sell me the whole thing with just one house on it and help me put a studio in the back, too.

I was at a place in my life where I was ready. I wanted to get this going.

I got under contract with the builder in February of 2020. There were all kinds of shortages, price hikes. I feel like it was a crazy time to take on an undertaking like this.

I just lived and breathed and stressed about building this space during COVID. All the lumber prices going up, all the shortage of subcontractors in Nashville because there was this building boom.

It was the end of 2021 when I moved into the home, and the beginning of 2022 when the studio was finished.

I was able to build it out and stock it with everything that I like to work with, gear-wise. I really tried to focus on the vibe and create a space that not only I was inspired to work in, but other people could come in and be inspired.

I wanted it to feel like a classic recording studio from the ’60s or the ’70s, but I wanted it to be new. I wanted it to be vibey and have that feeling while still being new and reliable.

There’s a control room, an isolated live room, and an isolation booth. We’ve got a kitchen and a bathroom. Like I said, they’re not going to my house to use that stuff.

There’s also a great outdoor space. It’s not my backyard, it’s not my personal space, it’s its own thing. It’s got a firepit, a grill, a picnic table, all that stuff.

It definitely became the hub of this process. Tyson was in Oklahoma, Scott was in Austin, I’ve been on the West Coast this past year, but I’ve got this space in Nashville.

We would get on Zoom meetings or phone calls and toss ideas back and forth. Then I would spend a week in my studio. For that record, myself and my space were the common denominator.

We haven’t been to Europe in 14 years. We’ve done a couple festivals in the U.K. since then, but this is a proper European tour.

It’s been a minute since we’ve done that over there, so it’ll be exciting to see how things have changed.

This has been a long time coming. Since I had one of those old Walmart computer desks back in 1996, this is what I’ve been working toward. I’m super proud of it.