STILLWATER, Okla. — After a whirlwind year and a half of world touring and stomping the pop charts, Stillwater’s pop-rock band All-American Rejects are taking it easy.

The band is developing songs for a new album, which could be released as early as summer 2010 or by year’s end. No one is rushing, lead guitarist Nick Wheeler said.

“We’re kind of just getting settled, getting our lives back together and getting our heads on straight,” Wheeler said in a telephone interview with the NewsPress from a coffee shop in Hollywood.

The band is coming off its most successful year to date. Its hit single “Gives You Hell” was the most ubiquitous song of 2009, garnering more plays on top-40 radio than any other single.

The song’s success topped such hit makers as Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift. Oddly, “Gives You Hell” nearly didn’t make it onto the band’s most recent album, When the World Comes Down.

Wheeler said the song required lots of retooling, and was nearly cut before final touches created the chart topper.

The band is working on a new album in Los Angeles. Its goal is to retain its pop sensibilities, and explore new directions, Wheeler said.

“We don’t like to be one of those bands that writes the same records over and over again,” he said.

The group has seen that happen while creating new songs.

“I’ll be playing something, and Mike (Kennerty) will be playing something, and we’ll kind of already know what’s coming next. We’ll realize, oh of course, we’ve already used that trick before,” Wheeler said.

To help writing process the band is trying to avoid playing shows. It recently played gigs in Miami as a promotion for the Super Bowl and Whistler Medals Plaza in the cold mountains of Canada during the recent Winter Olympics.

While one show let band members bask on the sunny beaches of Florida, the other left them in the frigid cold.

Wheeler said the show for the Vancouver Olympics was especially tough. “It was brutal. I might as well been playing with mittens on,” he said.

The band has booked 18 shows on the upcoming Vans Warped Tour in June and July. The will not bring the Rejects any closer to Stillwater than Dallas on July 3.

Wheeler did not rule out a possible homecoming show in the band’s hometown. The previous show was in 2006 as the band warmed up for its tour to accompany the album Move Along. Wheeler said the band also has wanted to play at Oklahoma State University’s Orange Peel, but the timing hasn’t worked out, yet.