RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS
THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS was formed by the brothers Ronnie and Randy Winter in 2003, and it was Virgin Records who snapped them up & released the bands RIAA platinum debut record ‘Don't You Fake It’ in 2006.
Second album ‘Lonely Road’ followed in 2009. They became fully independent in early 2010. Since then it’s being done "the Red Jumpsuit way". ‘Am I The Enemy’was released in 2011, ‘4’ on July 4th, 2014 and ‘The Awakening’ in 2018.
We got to talk to Ronnie Winter from Red Jumpsuit Apparatus about there upcoming tour and more.
TM- What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
RW - we are supporting our new album that's doing really well in the United States. We just found out again that we are States number one for the 10th week in our genre on Billboard and we have just finished our US tour. Now we are starting our world tour which is starting in Bali, then going to New Zealand and then Australia.
TM- Congratulations on getting number one! That is really exciting!
TM- What are you look forward to most doing in Australia?
RW - We are just really happy that people like our music, we have been in a band for a really long time, I am an old man, I'm 35. Sometimes you get a little nervous, we haven't put a record out in 4 years so we got nervous when we put out this record but happy that everyone likes our songs.
TM- You are not old! I am 28 now you are making me feel old haha.
RW - 28, enjoy being young while it lasts
TM- (laughs) I will
TM- What songs will you play on the Australian tour?
RW - We will probably play three or four new songs and the rest of the set list for play most of our hits and we have a lot of hits.
TM- Would you ever consider playing your music with an orchestra?
RW - We write a lot of orchestral arrangements and I was classically trained. I can read and write music, I played in an orchestra in college and my brother a percussion and piano player. The thing is you have to have a massive stage and Orchestra enough microphones and cables there's a lot of logistics involved, I wouldn't rule it out it's sort of a dream come true type of thing but most of the stages we are playing arent big enough.
TM- that would be awesome though, even just a one-off show would be sweet to watch.
Definitely, i will have a think about it, you just need to make the logistics work.
TM- Do you write while you are on the road or do you only write while in the studio?
Yes, we do write, I have written songs on a plane in a backstage green room, hotels at night after I showed you very rarely write in a studio. On our last album, I wrote some of the guitars in Paris in all places. Now we can just whip out our iPhones where ever we are and write a riff wherever we are in the world, then later we can put it on my computer and actually record it. You never really know where the writing is going to happen it's pretty random.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for The Awakening?
This time I co-produce the album with my wife and my brother. We did everything engineering, tracking and recording so it was fun. We also used our original mixer Paul, he has been mixing for me for over 20 years so it gives set an old school feel.
TM- You wrote some guitars to one of your songs in Paris so what's your favourite country you've been to?
RW -Yes, Randy wrote some guitar to one of the songs in Paris with my brother, he plays guitar and I remember when he sent me the song, the title said Paris and I said this has nothing to do with Paris and he said oh yeah that's just where I was at and I was like ok.
If I could play anywhere I would play in Australia. I hate to sound like a dork but i really love Australia and also we're going to New Zealand for the very first time and I'm excited about that because I'm a nerd and I'm kind of in sci-fi and fantasy and all that and Lord of the Rings.
TM- Are you going to do a Lord of the Rings tour?
RW - man if I can
TM - They have the hobbit set just outside of Auckland so I think you should go and check that out.
RW - I just heard about that yesterday for the first time in my life so hopefully I get a chance to go and see it.
TM - Auckland really cool anyway it has some really cool stuff, so if nothing else just walk around Auckland come for the day.
RW - I will, a lot of people don't realise that when you're in a band and you fly in and take a van to the venue. We don't have cars, so we can't drive anywhere. It is nice and you play a city and the City itself is really nice I feel the same about Sydney.
TM- Can you tell us a Crazy tour story?
One time we were headlining a festival in the Philippines and me and my wife flew in early because my wife is Filipino, we flew in early to hang out with her cousins aunt's and uncles for a little while. The band flew in two days after me and a plane caught on fire, so they had to return to JFK. That incident threw all the fights off and then they had to fly over to the festival.
TM- Do you like flying?
RW - I don't really like flying, but I have gotten used to it I have a ritual now.
TM - What's your ritual?
RW - ok so if that's an international flight like Australia that's a long m***********, so what I'll do is I'll make sure I stay up so I get that really good first round of food and then I sleep for as long as I can and then I watch a couple of movies and then pretty much of it on the ground.
TM- Twhat's your favourite gig memory?
RW - We do a lot of shows, for the troops in Australia and America. We recently just played a show in Italy on the base and it was just incredible. We do a lot of things like raising awareness for domestic violence, mental awareness for the youth and thanking the military in all countries. When we show up there a lot of those men and women are younger. I remember when I did a show in Iraq which was a holding Point, all the guys were Australian, English or American so I just try to be that guy out there that says thank you to you guys for what you do.
TM- That is so sweet! I really admire you guys for doing that.
RW - Thank you
TM- How did you come up with your album cover for The Awakening?
RW - I came up with the album cover, I was never really into antiques my wife was super into it, she was dragging me out to all these antique shops in Southern California and slowly I got to like it all. The candelabras and typewriters and all these things in antique shops, I kept on thinking of this typewriter over and over again and I was going to buy one. My original idea was take a picture of it and have a whole bunch of stuff in the background and I got squashed.Then I showed my wife the idea and she made it for me.
TM- That is awesome that she made it for you! She must be creative!
TM- What's the craziest thing that's happened on the road when touring?
RW - One time when we were playing in the UK, I was connecting from LA to New York and there was a strike at the airport and that was the weirdest thing, because when we got off the plane the airport was just empty. Normally JFK it's like a mad house and there everyone's just running around, it is loud, there are all these different smells but it was like a ghost town. I was thinking what is going on, it took us a while to figure out what was going. The reporter outside was talking about the strike and we were left there for a day and a half.
TM- that is crazy, a day and a half. That is complete chaos.
TM - If you could have any bands play one of your songs, which band would it be, which song would it be able to be in your style or their Style?
RW - My Chemical Romance doing Face Down.
TM - that would be sweet, My Chemical Romance are awesome!
TM - What's your favourite memory of watching someone else perform live?
RW - we played a festival in Japan called punks Spring and Jimmy Eat World was headlining. I had never seen them before and he started singing a song and the whole crowd came in of the next part of the song it was unreal I've never seen anything like that I was completely blown away.
TM - If you could choose any of your song titles as a biography title for your band what would it be and why?
RW - I don't know, I'm not really the best song title writer and that's the last thing I do probably Disconnected
TM - Do you have any rules on the tour bus?
RW - You know at the beginning when we were like 22, we drank a lot and partied hard but now we have a rule. No booze on the bus because drunk musician suck live. I don't care who you are so we got through that phase after 2 a.m. be quiet and respectful because other people are trying to sleep, pick up after your self and no random people.
TM - What's your view on platforms like Spotify and YouTube?
RW - I am All About Spotify, I never understood a connection between YouTube and video because when I was a kid and YouTube first came out it was all about the video. You have got a certain YouTuber that you are following because you like the way he makes videos. It is video and then you got a certain record that comes out and a lot of people stream it on YouTube and that's a crap version, that somebody stole from somebody that someone stole from somebody that someone stole somebody else and that quality has been downgraded by 5 times, if you buy the album you can hear it right away and that's the subdivision. If they listen to it the other way that song would sound 10 times better for that reason, I have always stood behind Spotify I think they're great and I love that they're out there.
TM - If you could collaborate with any artist which artist would it be and why?
RW - I would like to collaborate with Chester Bennington from Linkin Park unfortunately that would never happen. You know what aside from that I'm a massive Green Day fan I would love to collaborate with them.
TM - that would be cool, maybe you should talk to them.
TM - If you could give any upcoming bands some advice what would you give them?
RW - I always give everyone the same opinion, not a lot of bands that start the way we did with me just with an acoustic guitar on the couch. Take everything a time, it is a very slow process never giving up be patient and every band that you start isn't going to be the one that makes it.
TM- Since it being independent how was that change her writing style?
RW - We have just gone through a lot of phases, you are not the same person you are at 35 as you are at 22. I have a 2 year old son named Wolfgang he's an absolute Tasmanian devil. When you go through something like that it's changed since you started being really appreciative of what your parents did for you and you start having these memories small and going through the same thing. It just really opens you up as person I used to party all the time and everyone knew that, now I'm a stay at home Dad and a part-time Rocker I have changed but in a better way.
TM - Is there Anything else you want to announce to your fans?
RW - On this tour we are going to play a couple of the old songs and a couple of the new songs and for this run only we are bringing back to some Disconnected.
TM - Thank you so much for this chat today, we really appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you in Sydney.
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