Ronnie Winter (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) 

music-reviewer.com: So how long have you been on tour?

Ronnie Winter: [laughs] A long time.

m-r.c: Since last year?

RW: Well, I mean, we started touring in like, 2006, and probably like, right after we were done recording.  And we started recording –and we actually started recording in August til October, so we left home in October of 2005 and never really came back.

m-r.c: And you’re from Florida?

RW: Middleburg, yeah. So it’s been about three straight years.  But we did have a break, January, February March, and we just went back to Middleburg while we wrote the first record and built a studio and just jammed forever, had the band just jam every single day, and I basically just kind of walked around outside and sang to myself, whatever, you know?

m-r.c: That’s the best kind of inspiration.

RW: Yeah! You know? And then we would demo songs together, and collaborate, and we’ve been doing that for about three months and we just came back to do this acoustic tour.

m-r.c: Are you enjoying this tour so far?

RW: Oh man, it’s so awesome, on so many different levels.  I mean, it was my idea first of all, so it’s somebody in the band, like, I’m not even saying me specifically just the fact that a band member thought of the tour, which never happens, we were part of Warp Tour, __ tour, Take Action tour, Sub-Cities tour, other than that, we did headlining tours, which is just something that your manager and booking agents set up and hopefully bands wanna tour with you or whatever, you know? And that’s the way it works.

But this tour, I was actually sitting there and was like, “I wanna do an acoustic tour, I wanna call it unplugged and unaffected, I wanna redo these songs on the record, and I talked to the band, they were stoked on it, we went in our own studio in Middleburg, and tracked this stuff.  

m-r.c: That’s awesome because it’s a comfortable place to be.

RW: Oh yeah, you know what I mean? So we’re literally in my front yard recording this record, -well, technically my side yard cause the house is right here –we have a house together, and the external two-car garage is now our studio that we completely converted; so yeah, you just walk out of your door, and you’re at work. 

m-r.c: So long as the neighbours don’t complain, what’s the difference when you work too, you know?

RW: I got cool neighbours, yeah, they’re –well, you know, we’re from Middleburg and we stayed in Middleburg, and we’ve always done a lot of community stuff –we try to anyway.  We just did a show at the local charity, Toys for Tots, and all the money went to them for that year, cause they were like 20 grand in the hole, and we made like 12 in one night, so, they still needed more money, but we did what we could, you know? I mean, it’s cool, my neighbours, they both have young daughters -or the main one, the one that we see the most, has a young daughter who knows who we are and loves the band, so its great.

m-r.c: I love that, giving back to the community, I mean I watched Eli out here playing his guitar to all the people waiting in line, I thought it was very cool the interaction, you know? That’s what it’s all about.

RW: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know, we’re like basically like, honestly, there’s a lot of people who say whatever, you know? We’re a group of five guys who are friends from Middleburg who made it, I mean like, we weren’t put together by a label, we didn’t have overnight success, we didn’t have anybody helping us out, other than our own small team and we made it, somehow, someway, so honestly, like, we do things differently,  from aspect of our show, so.

m-r.c: That’s what’s going to get you there, you know? I mean, the Stones, the Beatles, all those bands, they did it themselves

RW: Exactly, and then you know, when you watch like –I mean, we got the Beatles DVD going on in the back lounge if you really walk back there you can see it. All we ever do is love musicians and love music and everyone in my crew –from Casey, my tour manager slash sound guy, to the newest member Matt Cater, who is our guitar tech and also a friend of ours from back home.  We all just talk about music all day long,  its like “oh, hey, have you heard this track from this band?” its [laughs] it is what it is, you’re either obsessed with music, or youre not, its not something you can shake, and fortunately, im lucky enough to do it and record it for a living, im eternally grateful for that, I could never say thank you to …whoever, obviously god, but everybody else that made that possible.

m-r.c: You must be –I mean, I’m so obsessed with music, and I was reading up on you guys, because I’m –I haven’t really heard much of you guys, so I was excited to do this because it’s not from a fan, ‘ive’-followed-you-guys-a-long-time’ perspective.

RW: Objective journalistic perspective.

m-r.c: Exactly –And I read that you guys are going to Europe, have you been over there yet?

RW: Yes, we’re really excited about that, right after this tour, I’m actually going over there and the bands going over there, which is kind of a big deal for us, cause like, I’m not really a huge fan of, international touring.  I have a weird deal on it, and maybe it’s because I am who I am, but the way I see it is: I’m an American, and I understand that, and I embrace that and a lot of other countries don’t like Americans and a lot of people don’t realize the extent of hatred and malcontent the rest of this world has with Americans and I’m proud to be an American, so, when you say certain things, like I’m known for saying, like “God Bless the Troops Overseas” stuff like that –my little brother’s in Iraq right now, so I mean, that’s constantly on my mind, I’ve never said that I support the war, because I don’t support human beings killing each other, ever, but like I said, my own flesh and blood is over there right now, so, I have a completely different perspective.  It’s not necessarily –it’s hard to pigeon-hole it, you couldn’t even really pigeon-hole it.  Like our band’s feelings –we’re pretty unison, you know? So a lot of the time when I say “I” a lot of the time I mean “we”, so, either way.  But basically, we’re not afraid to say that we love our family and friends overseas, and a lot of bands think that’s uncool, and I think they’re uncool.

m-r.c: Exactly.  And you know, I was in London for four months, and it was strange at first, to sort of ..be the foreigner, and be away, but it was a good experience.

RW: Yeah, you stick out.  And especially being in a band you see it, because you are forced to travel in public, which is normally not a big deal, because like you said, as Americans, we blend in, we have an American rock band style, which is lucky for me cause that’s cool.  But a lot of kids our age, or younger than us or older than us or whatever, no matter what particular style they’re wearing, blend right in with us.  If we go to a mall, we look like everybody else, that’s how we look when we walk on stage, that’s how we walk around.  We don’t have stage names or stage outfits, you know what I mean? So –you have to understand the psychology and the vibe of that, so when you go to another place, and you’re not completely used to being pegged out, and you’re not used to looking like you are dressed up, cause you’re not, you know what I’m saying?  Certain people will react to you in a different way than you’d expect, so you get a different feeling in your heart and in your brain; and you react differently, so maybe you look back later and you regret or maybe, feeling like “man, I wish I’d said something different to that kid”, but he also came at me with something crazy, you know, that I’ve never heard before.  So you never know with international touring, most of the time though, by the way, it’s ridiculously positive, but you never know, some guys are just out to get a raise out of other guys, and that’s called life, and when that happens in a place that’s not in America, you immediately feel threatened, and you feel like you don’t know what’s going on, and you just don’t wanna be there, you wanna be back where everything makes sense and where cops don’t have assault rifles, whatever.  Particularly –especially in London, where cops don’t have guns, but the point being, that you are an American and you do have the American image, we do –we’ve never denied our nationality or our heritage, so when you do do European touring or international touring, you are risking your life, I’m sorry but it’s a fact, especially in this modern age.  Because of that, I know it’s a really long-winded answer, but I wanted to tell you the truth, because of that we haven’t done a lot, because everybody’s always wants you to do this international touring, but the way I see it, we sold -you know, we’ve sold more records in this country than anywhere else in the world, so where we’re going to spend most of our time is where most of our fans are, and it’s no offense to anybody else, it’s that simple.  If we had only sold records in Germany, and never sold a record here…

m-r.c: You’d be in Germany.

RW: [laughs] Right. Bet your bottom dollar, I’d be living there, because of the support of my fans, and we’d be there because everyone wants us there, everyone wants us to play, and everyone wants to play to who wants to hear them play.  I don’t wanna play in front of a room that doesn’t want to hear me.  Please, please just tell me “Ronnie, maybe you just shouldn’t play tonight, dude”, and I’d be like “thanks man”

m-r.c: Just go home.

RW: [laughs] You know? And I might be like “Whatever”; but if you said “No, I’m telling you, they’re going to hang a little Ronnie doll” I’ll believe you, and leave the building.

m-r.c: They’ve got little voodoo dolls out there, don’t do it!

RW: Yeah.  You know, it’s funny.  They say success changes people, and I think that it depends on the person you were before you had success.  That’s the way I feel about it.  I would like to say that I’ve had some success.  I’m happy and proud of that, but at the same point in time, ive seen other people change because of my success.  I’ve seen other people change the way they treat me now, you know, when I walk into a room, and all of a sudden somebody who I’ve never met before in my entire life comes up to me and says, you know, some crazy rumour or whatever from around my hometown; disrespecting me and disrespecting my family,  and I don’t even know this guy, I’ve never met him, he doesn’t know anything about me, he doesn’t care whether it’s true or not, and everybody else in the room hears that, and my grandma’s in the room, and we’re trying to have dinner, you know, it’s like …it changes other people.  That’s all I gotta say about that. 

m-r.c: I was reading over your lyrics, and listening to your album, and I just …I got that sense.  You guys have covered a lot of topics in a very mature way; like “Face Down” and “Home Improvement”, I was so impressed with the way that you handled huge topics, like accepting the fact that there are things you can’t change, but also accepting the fact that you’re not okay with that, youre always going to be struggling with the fact that you cant change whatever it is, and just the whole ..relationship abuse sort of things.  They’re very difficult topics.  You’re, I mean…twenty…?

RW: Twenty-five.  Married.  [laughs] I’m a little older than some people think.  We do have a younger image, and I am thankful for that, and mainly it’s because of Elias, our rockstar, youngest guy in the band, we let him do a lot of interviews and stuff because he’s that guy, hes the face of the band, hes really the face of the band.  He’s twenty one, so I mean, a lot of people think we’re all around his age, but the fact is, I’m old, I’m twenty five [laughs].  I’m older –I’m older –I’m old compared to the rest of the guys, so I definitely feel like, I don’t know, you know? It’s weird talking about your own age, because like I definitely have to say, man, I’m young at heart, I mean, I love animals and video games and riding my motorcycle and I mean, I definitely don’t feel any older, I feel like I’m seventeen, but I am twenty-five, so.

m-r.c: It’s good to feel like you’re seventeen, though, because then when you’re forty-five you can think ‘oh, well, that’s ok, because now I feel like I’m twenty’

RW: [laughs] yeah, exactly.  Oh, I’m in my twenties.  I can handle it. It’s alright.

m-r.c: Exactly -but I just love the way that you guys handle those topics.

RW: Well for not being a fan, it sounds like you’ve paid a lot of attention, so thank you.

m-r.c: I –you know, I am writer, so I had to get into the lyrics and read and I just loved the little bits of advice you could tell you’d gotten from people or that you’d learned and things like that, the little life lessons.

RW: Exactly, you know?   That’s the name of the game.  It’s like –its so hard to explain, I don’t know, but we like –we just knew that if this worked out for us, and it started to, in our hometown at a rapid pace, I mean, it was so unbelievable to be a part of something that was real and to know that nobody was doing anything but kids telling other kids about us, showing up to our shows, buying our demo CDs, it was amazing, man, it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life, to be a part of it and be in the band the entire time and really just see it shape from beginning to end.

m-r.c: Catch fire like that, yeah.

RW: Yeah! it was unbelievable.  I’m still riding the wave from it.  I mean, more than being on TV or being on the radio, which was like, almost embarrassing, to, you know, see yourself like [laughs] oh, god, is that what I really look like? You know what I mean?  you always feel like you could’ve done something better or maybe I could’ve looked a little less…I don’t know, I always feel like being in the front and being by the mic I look cocky, you can’t help it cause ..everyone wants you to do that, you know? I have all these people, directors and producers trying to get you to like, you know, do what they think is you, and a lot of the time, it’s not you, you know what I mean? so you have to wear the hat of the performer at that point and do your job, so it’s not necessarily –I’m not complaining, cause like I like to be a performer, and I like to be a good performer, I don’t wanna suck at it, I don’t want people to think I suck, but at the same time, the lyrics are my main concern, that is my thing, my like –the one thing in the band that is completely mine. Elias and Duke do a lot of the guitar, we structure the songs together, we do a lot of the structure together, but they do a lot of the music writing themselves, and I write the lyrics, that’s my deal, you know what I mean? so I’m glad that you listened to that, because I do think that one of the only ways you can really actually communicate with anybody in the world is to tell them what you’re thinking, and not hide it or lie about it and not try to be facetious about it or even confusing about it, just spit it out, spit out what you have to say and if people care enough to look into the lyrics –and you know, I mean, you saw that, you cared enough to look into the lyrics, a lot of people think that we’re a pop-rock band who are just like everybody else and ..wrote a catchy song.  Believe it or not, people think that about my band.  So to them: congratulations.  The only thing that they proved to me was that they didn’t even read one line, probably not even one line, out of any of our songs, so at that point, youre almost glad that person isn’t a fan, cause that’s not our target audience.  I want people who are gonna listen and be open, and then maybe it will affect our lives and in the grand scheme of things laying on your deathbed, and your grandson asks you know, you know, with wanting eyes, “did you help anyone” and you know, youre telling him to be a good kid, and youre telling him to do good things and all this other stuff and youre looking back at life in that last flash and think, you know, did you or did you not help someone, were you a part of something greater or were you not? You know? I mean, we’re all gonna have to answer that question one day, that’s the truth. So, regardless of whether who it’s to, whether it’s to a family member or a friend or to yourself, or to nobody, in the darkness alone, it’s inevitable, so.

m-r.c: Exactly, I mean I think my favorite song of yours that I first read –I first read the lyrics, because I had to know what it was all about, what you guys sort of ..were thinking of –or rather, what you were thinking of when you wrote the lyrics and what you sort of wanted it to say, I think my favorite song was “Love Seat”, with comparing this idea of love with this comfy armchair that you love but it’s so old and you wanna trade up, and I just thought that it was a brilliant image.

RW: That’s how I felt at that time, in the relationship that I was in.  you know? It’s a relationship song, and the best way I could think about it was like I was in a scenario where I was in a relationship with somebody way longer than I shouldve been, and thankfully for me, I left that person and am now married to my wife, who I left this other person for, so all of our songs are based on real experiences.  On that one, it was like trying to describe to somebody who doesn’t know what its like, and that’s what I always try to do, when I talk to somebody, I talk to them not necessarily like they’re a kid, but I try to make sure that if they’ve never felt it before, then they can understand why I feel this way right now, instead of being like, ok, that’s just stupid, and you’re lame, which is the way some people think. So, you know, basically, that song was a metaphor –or the imagery was a metaphor or simile–or something –whatever it was [laughs] you could probably tell me, for how it feels to be in a relationship that’s cool, but it’s not love, it’s not that firey, its not that un—I don’t know, it’s not what you’re searching for --I can barely even describe it, like the way I feel about my significant other, you know? If I had to use the word love, I guess I would, because that’s what we use, but it’s more than that, I mean it’s knowing you could never exist the same way without that one person.  And really knowing it, not being afraid to tell anybody, or fear any kind repercussion from that, you know? Like because that’s part of the deal, you know?  It is what it is, so I’m saying in that relationship, it wasn’t that, but it wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t any kind of situation where there were any major problems, it was just ..it wasn’t it, so in that song, the chorus is “her eyes are watering/I said it’s better off this way” , I think it’s pretty obvious what happened, and I just thought “you know what? Everybody always talks about the guy being a jerk for breaking up with a girl, but I was heartbroken when I left this girl, because she was a nice person, she didn’t deserve to feel bad for somebody like me, who wanted to be with somebody else, but I really wanted to be with somebody else, and I’m glad I am. I know I made the right decision for me and her, so there’s that story, you know? And I know I’m not the only one who’s lived it, so it’s like, for once, the guy saying ‘hey, I am the bad guy but look, I just want you to know, its for the better, and if you really thought about it the way I thought about it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, maybe we’d be laughing about it later’ which is why I say “we’ll sit and sing about what we did wrong”. Sing, as in, joyous occasion, ha-ha, I can’t believe we almost did that, wow, we would’ve never worked out.  Of course, whatever, that was it. That’s the song.  I’m glad you liked it. 

m-r.c: Oh yeah. I liked the angle, and also the angle on “In Fate’s Hands” the idea that at first ‘hey, I was in the audience, but now, I’m on the other side of it’ and that must’ve been so nerve-wracking the first couple times you were up there being like ‘oh god, now it’s my turn, are they all gonna run away?’

RW: [laughs] Right.  And you gotta remember, I mean, other than local shows where we were the hometown hero, I mean, dude, I love my hometown, they love us, and we have a reciprocating relationship, we love each other equally, and I’m not afraid to say we blow anybody away there, we can do no wrong where we’re from.  But, that being said, we went from that and being big in the Northeast to all of a sudden signing a major record deal, we had our homemade demos out for about a year by then, but that’s it.  Nothing else.  No national exposure, no anything, our record wasn’t coming out for like, six more months, and bang! We’re on tour, opening for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one of my favorite bands in the world.  I know every single one of their tracks, I can play them all on drums, and guitar, and sing them.  Ok, so like, I’m a fan of the band.  Never denied it, love the band, and here we are, on tour with them.  I’m freaking out.  It’s like “oh my god, this is real, we’re in a van” –we didn’t even own a van yet, it was a rental van, it didn’t even have a trailer, so we had all our gear in the back, with the back two seats.  So there’s like, seven dudes crammed in the van. It’s all documented man!  And we came out here and we opened for them, and Jared is such a good singer, and I got blown out of the water the first couple of shows, cause I was nervous like you said, and it’s a bunch of people who are there to see another band, you know? Not Red Jumpsuit, which is so crazy to us, but not, because we’re also fans of the band, so it was the craziest thing ever, but I will say, they were super helpful, and by the last show, it was probably one of the best nights of the whole tour, and I actually sang really well.  And the guitar player, Tomo, he came over to me and said “you sang really well tonight, dude, you sounded really good”

m-r.c: That must have been the best feeling

RW: Oh, man, oh my god, it was just like –dude, I mean, yes it was cool to have our fans in the crowd tell me that after, but to have him, the guitar player in the band that I still currently like, you know, come up to me and compliment me on my singing was something so completely different than I’d ever had happen before.  It was so awesome.  That was the beginning, like, two years ago, in May or something.  So, it was a long time ago when we’d just started off, you know?  Just little things like that, people don’t ever hear about, are the little valued treasures in this industry, in this business.  You know, I could never have gotten that at college.  I’m sorry, but I couldn’t have, and I’ll always have that, I’ll always have that moment.  It was rad. 

m-r.c: It was one of those little things that pushes you to be like ‘this is what I have to do’, this is what I’m supposed to do’

RW: Exactly.  This is why I do this.

m-r.c: Have you toured with other bands you’ve always sort of looked up to? You covered Staind’s “Outside”, and I love that you did that, because first off, I like the band and the song, but I thought it fit so well with what the rest of the album was saying, you know? I didn’t know if you were planning on touring with them or doing other covers of other bands.

RW: Oh, man, I wish, I would love to tour with Staind.  Unfortunately, they’re on such a level, they’ve sold so may records, I don’t know how possible that would be, we’re not really in the same league, but I definitely respect the crap out of them.  Me and my wife used to sing their first song –the acoustic song on their first record? –she used to play and sing it to me when we were kids, you know? When we were fifteen, sixteen years old, so like.

mr.c: Aww, that’s sweet

RW: Yeah, like I mean, there’s a long history with that band and me specifically, and that song ‘Outside’ just to be honest, I think it’s an amazing song, I’ve told people that before, and a lot of people are like ‘oh, Staind, I’m not really into that kind of music’ and I’m like you know what? Listen, all I gotta say, is with this band in particular, I didn’t say you have to listen to every band in this genre, I’m saying that band in particular, the lyrics are awesome, that guy can sing and his songs are incredible, so at that song in particular, it struck a chord with me and we had to pick a song on the fly in that AOL session, they basically sprung it on us, and the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has never officially performed a cover song together, as a band, in our career, so we made it a point not to.  A lot of bands where we’re from doing that for a living, and we were like ‘we’re staying away from that’ cause it was tempting, as a local musician, you can get a gig paying more than you did working your job, but you have no credibility.  If you get known for being a cover band, it somehow blossoms and no one ever takes you seriously, and no one wants to hear your music, they want to hear everyone else’s music.  And I’ve seen it happen, so because of that, it was kind of a big deal for me and it was literally a toss-up between that song and an Incubus song “I Miss You” I think it’s called.  It’s a softer song.  Again, amazing singer, good lyrics.  That’s all I ever try to do.  I try to sing my best, and I try to write the most meaningful lyrics I can, and that’s it.  And if people like it, dude, hell yeah, I’m glad that we made a connection, and if you don’t like it, ok dude, I understand listen to somebody else, it’s a free country.  You got iTunes bro, you know?

m-r.c: That’s how I feel about it.  I don’t listen to a ton of bands in one genre.  I’m not all country or all rock or all indie, but if a band has the lyrics I like and they have a great crowd feel, and theyre into their fans, I’m into them. 

RW: Exactly.  You can’t help it.  There’s something real there, it’s like an electricity.

m-r.c: That’s what I love about going to shows, even if I’m not into the music.  What sort of things –shows did you like going to. What sort of bands and shows got you going on all this?

RW: You know, probably my favorite band that I haven’t seen live yet, other than like –I barely got to check them out, was The Used.  I really like them a lot. I’m a big fan of them.

ELI (who was also in the room): we’re going to see them tomorrow night.

RW: I know! I’m so excited dude, I’m so excited. I hope I get to meet Bert.  Dude, you don’t even understand, I love bert. That would be so rad for me.  But anyway, we –most of the time, when we’re jamming for inspiration and stuff, we listen to old stuff: the Beatles, Led Zepplin, the Who, Elton John, stuff like that.  Peter Gabriel, whatever gets us in that mindset of, you know –whenever you listen to older music you’re just like ‘oh man, this was so cool for those people to go to go experience this’

m-r.c: I know! I wish I’d lived then.

RW: Pink Floyd –exactly.  We’ll just sit back and reminisce, put on a record and imagine what it was like to be there like ‘man, this was so cool’ so great for the time. It’s really awesome, but then we’ll also put in stuff like Coheed and Cambria, who we toured with on Warp Tour and became friends with, and watched them just ..destroy it on stage every night, you know? And a respect factor when you watch a band like that play, and they’re so good live, you know?  Probably those bands I mentioned and then also I really like My Chemical Romance.  I don’t think they get enough credit.  If you see them live or listen to their music, they have a very strong direction and belief that they back, and they’re a real band, and I like them, you know.  I was hanging out with Bayside, Jacksonville.  That’s pretty much what I’m jamming right now.  And Thrice, always.  I can never really get enough of that.  I was a late bloomer on Thrice.  I will say I’ve made up for lost time. 

ELI: They’ve changed a lot as a band though, so that;s like, something else.

RW: yeah, I didn’t even get into them until I heard Vheissu, and when I Vheissu it changed me a little inside, it was good man, it was good.

m-r.c: Those are the best albums, the ones that make you think differently about things.

RW: Oh, man, it’s so good. 

m-r.c: Does it change your music in some way then, when you get so into and influenced by a band?

RW: It doesn’t –I wouldn’t say it changes, because we have something called the Red Jumpsuit brand of music. You know? We get together, we’re like this is us being --Classic Jumpsuit, that’s what we call it.  And we know when we play it, we know how it sounds, and we just know what it is and I’m sure every band has their ‘boom! This is us’ but, so that being said, as far as influencing me musically? Oh definitely, I just –they’ve did things I haven’t heard done like that before and I always have that in my memory bank and if I ever want to write a song, I might be like, ‘oh man’ and go back to that record and be like ‘whats the combination with these instruments –oh, ok, that’s how I can learn from that’ you know? Listen to ..whoever, learn from your mentors, and I would probably do that you know what I mean, but I don’t think it would change anything, like –if I had a song I wouldn’t go back and be like ‘well, now that I’ve heard Vheissu, I’m gonna go back and make this song more like that’.  I wouldn’t do that, cause that changes you, know what I mean?  but I would say if you hear that you’re starting to write something like that, to see how they did it, to be like ‘oh, well, that worked for them, so maybe I should think about using the sitar for once, even though I never did before’ you know what I mean? So for instrumentation, it definitely –I mean, like with the Beatles, when people listened to “Sergeant Pepper” by Beatles, everyone wanted to play all those other instruments.  Same scenario, just ..nowadays.

m-r.c: I like that –and I like the idea of the Red Jumpsuit brand.  It should be an XM station or something

RW: [laughs] you know what?  I would love to have our own station.  Hook that up, XM, hook that up.  Red jumpsuit station.  Our stuff only!  –Believe it or not, I think we’d get a lot of tune ins.

m-r.c: I think you would.

RW: It’d be cool, man.  Our fans are always amped man, and the reason they are is theyre cool people.  We’re very fortunate like that, cause I’ve been to some shows and the fans are just like wanna beat you up all the time.  Fortunately enough, I’m sorry if it damages anybody’s libido, We’re more of a friendly type of band.  So, you know, it is what it is.

m-r.c: I read that to you, picked your name to pick the name.  It wasn’t as important as the music, and I love that, and I felt like listening to the album, that your song ‘Justify’ was sort of …for me, what the album was all about in terms of personal relations and what’s going on now in the times, and dealing with such strong subject matter in such a graceful, mature way, and it made me wonder what the word or phrase for you sort of sums up what you guys are as friends, as a band?

RW: That’s difficult [laughs]. I’ll tell you what, there’s something we used to say all the time, and it’s –I believe it was “It’s all about us”, right?

ELI: It’s about us.

RW: It’s about us. And what we meant by that is basically, as long as we have each other, we don’t give a crap.  You know what I mean? As long as we’re still chilling as friends and making music together, the five of us specifically, these five people, what can really be wrong?  What can really be so bad? Probably that, that would be it. 

m-r.c: I love it.

RW: And by that I don’t mean we’re all about ourselves.  I mean, literally, we care most about each other. 

m-r.c: Love it.  It’s so relatable, and that’s how I feel about a lot of my friends, that I grew up –you probably grew up with these guys

RW: Well, we’ve been living together for about three and a half years now, every single day, so.  [laughs]

m-r.c: Eli snores, doesn’t he?

RW: [laughs] there’s some snores.  Duke snores a lot.  He’s the master.  Goodtimes. 

m-r.c: Thank you so much –is there anything I didn’t ask that you wanted me to ask, that you wanted me to add?  I don’t wanna keep you.

RW: I would like to say one thing.

m-r.c: Shoot.

RW: Just to let people know, if they do like who we are, what we’re doing, just to check out our non-profit organization called The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Guardian Angel Foundation.  And just look it up online, it don’t wanna tell them everything about it.  I don’t like to push it on anybody, but definitely the more people that help us with that, the more people in this world we can help, you know? So we definitely, we need people’s help.

m-r.c: And are you working on any new stuff for an album?

RW: We wrote the entire new record, pretty much – I mean, there’s still some finalization, changes, and lyrics and melodies and this and that that need to be finished up.  He [Eli] is still doing a lot of guitar stuff in his head, writing, but for me for the most part, it’s done.  The bulk of the work’s out of the way, and we are –which, honestly, that’s a breeze, pretty much.  You just get in there and you record it.  Some people fall apart in the studio, but we have a good time, just get in there, play your instrument, and do the recording.  That’ll be coming out, hopefully—

ELI: Christmas ‘08

RW: Our label have been telling us we’d be in the studio since January, and they haven’t seemed to be able to figure that out yet [laughs], so hopefully whenever they get that together, we’ll be in the studio.  As far as we’re concerned, ASAP.