The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is an American rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2003.

History

2003–2004: Early years

Originating in Florida, childhood friends Ronnie Winter and Duke Kitchens started the band while attending an AP music theory class, in 2001. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was officially formed in 2003 after the addition of other members that were currently in other bands. The band name, 'Red Jumpsuit Apparatus', was chosen by the band voting for random words they threw on a wall.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus worked with Vision Sound studios in Orange Park, Florida, which released a "6 song EP CD that was spread throughout different countries to promote the band in 2005". The band also began to become more popular as they used certain social media (Myspace) to advertise their music. While popular in their local scene, the band found it difficult to secure label support. This is why the band had taken time to write songs for a "period of 18 months before they went into the live scene." As they continued to increase live shows and performances, Red Jumpsuits' fan base continued to build to an almost unheard-of level for a local band. This escalating fan base attracted Jason Flom of Virgin Records in 2005 where they then started to work on their first album.

2005-2007: Don't You Fake It

In 2006, they released their first LP, Don't You Fake It, with the singles "Face Down", "False Pretense", "Your Guardian Angel", and "Damn Regret".

The album was certified gold on November 27, 2006 by the RIAA for sales shipments exceeding 500,000 copies. In February 2007, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus headlined the US Take Action Tour organized for the prevention of youth suicide, along with bands such as My Chemical Romance and Rise Against. Their song "In Fate's Hands" is featured in the video game Madden NFL 07, their song "Face Down" is featured in the video games Saints Row 2 and MX vs. ATV: Untamed, and their song "False Pretense" is featured in the movie Never Back Down.

From 2006-2008 the band did several headliner and supporting shows with bands like Thirty Seconds to Mars, Madina Lake, The Audition, Saosin, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Taking Back Sunday, Lorene Drive, The Used, Monty Are I, Amber Pacific, Boys Like Girls, Halifax, Emery, A Static Lullaby, and So They Say.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Don't You Fake It Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD) was released on February 23, 2007. The CD features the album and two exclusive songs, an acoustic version of "Face Down" and a never released out of Australia bonus track "Disconnected".

On May 3, 2007, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus performed on Fort Rucker, Alabama to help benefit the rebuilding of Enterprise High School after it was destroyed by a tornado on March 1, 2007.

2008-2009: Lonely Road

In June 2007, according to Billboard.com, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus began to work on their second album, Lonely Road, that had "a tentative release date being summer 2008." The band was then pulled out of their confirmed appearances at the Australian Soundwave festival tour 2008, after their label president promised to pay money that was owed and have the band in the studio, but instead didn't pull through.

In April 2008, the band began an acoustic tour on the east coast in various locations with the group Amaru, who is from the same home town. Ronnie said that the tour felt like they were "Getting back where we all started."

On September 30, 2008, the band announced in a Myspace blog that on October 3, they would be premiering a demo version of a song from the upcoming album. The song was to be available a day earlier for members of the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus "Alliance" fan group. However, the studio of the song "Pen and Paper" was released to members of the "Alliance" fan group on October 9, and was released on the band's Myspace the following day. Another song, "You Better Pray", the first single from "Lonely Road", was premiered worldwide on PlanetRadio1073.com for free listening beginning on October 21 and began streaming the next day on the band's Myspace page.

Their second studio album, titled Lonely Road, was released on February 3, debuting in the fourteenth spot in The Billboard 200, and was produced by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Daughtry, Less Than Jake, Hoobastank, P.O.D., The All-American Rejects, Seether, Cold).

Beginning in October 2008, Matt Carter had replaced former guitar player Elias Reidy. Carter was seen working as a tech for the band in the winter and spring of 2008. He had previously jammed with the band before, but decided to pursue something else. Matt was asked to take his spot and has agreed to play with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. In an interview with a Jacksonville newspaper, Ronnie was asked whether or not Matt was officially in the band, to which he responded, "I don't know. I guess he's in the band. We're taking it slow." Matt has been playing with red jumpsuit ever since.

At the end of May 2009, they announced along with Hollywood Undead, Mest, and The Sleeping that they would be doing a summer tour for the months of June and July, playing mostly club and small venue shows. They will be rejoining Monty Are I for an August 2009 tour throughout Canada and California.

In February 2010, the band parted ways with their label Virgin Records, citing the poor promotion of Lonely Road. They decided to release music independently. According to lead singer Ronnie Winter, "At this point we want to stay completely 100% independent for as long as possible." The first such song was "Valentine," which was released for free on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010.

On June 22, 2010, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus announced via Myspace blog that their upcoming EP release would be titled The Hell or High Water EP, and that the first song from it, "Choke", would be released on June 28, 2010 as a free download. The EP was recorded in the band's studio in Middleburg, Florida, and was mixed and mastered by Paul Lapinski. This was their first release following their departure from Virgin Records and it was released on August 24, 2010. The full-length album following the EP will be out in early 2011.

                                     

The music video for the first single from the EP, "Choke", premiered at purevolume.com on August 25, 2010 in support of the EP's release. It was part one of a three-part series, followed by "Don't Hate" and "Hell or High Water". It shows characters killing record executive-type personnel, running from the police, and then dying in the final video. The moral was violence never solves anything.

In November 2010, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus entered the studio to record their third full-length album, Am I the Enemy, finishing in December 2010 with producer John Feldmann. The album's first single, "Reap", was released via YouTube on March 24, although the song itself was not released to iTunes until April 26. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus later released two other songs from their new album on their YouTube channel, "Salvation" and "Fall from Grace". A June 7 announcement on the band's Facebook page said the new album Am I the Enemy will be released on August 30, 2011. It will contain twelve songs.

On July 11, 2011, lead singer Ronnie Winter announced that guitarists Duke Kitchens and Matt Carter had left the band "to focus on their personal lives", with longtime Red Jumpsuit Apparatus fan Josh Burke joined as lead guitarist. This was followed by a YouTube video on July 17 welcoming Josh Burke as the official lead guitarist of the band replacing Matt Carter. Ronnie's brother, Randy Winter, was later added as the second guitarist filling-in for Duke Kitchens.

In mid-October, drummer Jon Wilkes decided to depart from the band in order to "...pursue new things and make a living" as a producer. According to Wilkes, he left the band on good terms and wished them the best in their future endeavors. He was temporarily replaced by Kristopher Comeaux while the band was touring, but Comeaux departed shortly after.

2013-present: Et Tu, Brute EP and 4

A 2013 blog posted on the band's purevolume page announced that 2013 marked the ten year anniversary of the band. On March 15, 2013, the band released a new EP entitled Et Tu, Brute?. The EP was produced by David Bendeth (producer of Don't You Fake It). Prior to its release, the band released two of the songs on their page.

On October 11, 2013, the band revealed their fourth studio album, titled 4, was 'coming soon' via their Facebook page. They also revealed that David Bendeth would be producing the lp.Three days later, again through Facebook, the band announced Matt Carter was returning to the band and would be playing lead guitar for 4. On January 1, 2014, the band announced that "4", as well as the rest of their discography, will be released July 4, 2014.

2014 copyright controversy

In April 2014, the band was embroiled in a copyright infringement situation with photographer Rohan Anderson, by posting one of Anderson's images to Facebook without permission or credit. When Anderson contacted the band about the violation and requested that the image be taken down, the band responded by giving him photo credit. The band found the photo cropped on instagram then reposted but did not edit it themselves. When Anderson published a blog post about the matter on his personal website, the band invited their Twitter followers to attack the photographer using the hashtag "#rohanisatool". The tweet was later deleted. Eventually, the band apologized for the infringement, made payment for the photograph and claimed it was all a misunderstanding.