The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Interview

Written by Stacey McCarthy

Last year, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus seemed to appear out of thin air.  They were signed by Virgin Records, playing at Warped Tour, and the video of their first single, "Face Down" was getting lots of air time on MTV2.  This year, they are headlining the Take Action Tour and will be playing the main stage during  Warped Tour.  The drummer, Jon Wilkes, told me about the band and their album during a phone interview in February.

TMSZ: Tell me about your debut album “Don’t You Fake It”.  I heard it just hit #3 on the alternative charts.

Jon: It’s our debut album, of course.  We love it.  Everything on the album is a true story that’s either happened to my singer, to somebody in my band, or somebody we know and that’s why we named the album “Don’t You Fake It”.  Everything on the album is a collaboration.  Ronnie does vocals and lyrics, I do drums, Elias does guitar, Duke does guitar, and Joey does bass.  It’s a real band.  It’s not something that was put together.

TMSZ: Last May, I heard you play at Toad’s Place.  You were opening for From First to Last.  This year, you are headlining the Take Action Tour.  What does the Take Action Tour promote and why was The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus chosen to headline this tour?

Jon: The Take Action Tour promotes the Suicide Hotline and it also promotes PETA which is animal rights and when we joined the tour we brought in the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  We teamed up with them (NCADV) a little bit after “Face Down” was released.

TMSZ: Has anyone told you that “Face Down” helped them deal with domestic abuse?

Jon: Definitely, I know for a fact that Ronnie has said that he personally has gotten a lot of emails about that and I’ve gotten a few myself from kids saying, “Thank you for writing a song that I can relate to.  I have experienced this and it has helped me through the situation.”  Sometimes it even helps them leave the situation.  Which is good, ya know.

TMSZ: Tell me about “False Pretence” and the mystery surrounding the video?

Jon: The mystery surrounding the video…Ronnie dies.

TMSZ: But who killed him?

Jon: That is for you to decide as an individual.

TMSZ: That must have been a huge promotion.  Do people have a lot of different theories?

Jon: Some people think that I did it and some think that Joey had something to do with it.  Some think Elias did it and others think it was Duke.

TMSZ: I think Elias did it.

Jon: That’s the fun part about this video.  You are like hmmm… and then you think and come up with your own conclusion.

TMSZ: You are traveling in a tour bus now instead of a van.  How has that improved your quality of life?

Jon: It’s actually really cool and we get to catch up on sleep.  Rocking out all night and not being able to sleep in the van was tough.  You’d have to play until midnight or one o’clock and then drive for 2 or 3 hours just to get half way to where you are going.  It’s a big deal to be able to sleep.

TMSZ: What are some challenges that you face while touring?

Jon: The physical strain of it all is very draining and another thing is sickness.  Out here,  your immune system is so prone to sickness.  You could wake up and be deep in a cold or the flu and you never know when it is coming.  You’re always changing climates.  If one person gets sick on the bus, everyone gets sick on the bus.  If you want a personal side note, I was sick with a cold when we played in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and I found the secret to life and it’s called a sauna.  I would go in there and sweat out my cold.  After I play or jog and get really sweaty, I’ll go in a sauna and feel great the next day.

TMSZ: Who are your musical influences?

Jon: Myself or the band?

TMSZ: Start with yourself.

Jon: Funny story.  I listened to Michael Jackson.  I listened to Led Zeppelin, The Who; my dad was really into Lynyrd Skynyrd so I listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Bandwise, we were super influenced by Green Day, Blink 182, old bands like Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd was a really big influence to our band.  Vocally, Ronnie was really influenced by Pink Floyd.  It’s one of his favorite bands.  Me personally for drumming, I got into jazz really, really old jazz about four or five years ago. Elias and Joey and really all of us are into metal and hardcore.  That’s one of the reasons the guitars are so heavy on the record because we were into such heavy music all the time.

TMSZ: I noticed your album has a little bit of everything in it but it all blends together.  Was that intentional?

Jon: Umm, to be honest, it wasn’t really intentional because every song that we wrote was like one of our children. It just happened that when we finished making all of the children and having all of the children born, so to speak.  When we had them all done, we looked at all of them and we figured out the best way to line it up in sequence to make it run smoothly and I think that’s what is really cool.  We weren’t planning on putting this song here and this song here.  It was like we are in love with all of these songs.  All of these songs are going on the record.  I don’t care if it’s first, second, third, fourth, or fifth, it’s going to go on the record.

TMSZ: Who produced your album?

Jon: David Bendeth.   He also produced Breaking Benjamin and Hawthorne Heights and a band called Dropping Daylight.

TMSZ: What type of influence did the producer have over the album? 

Jon: We went in there and he told us to play our songs and he was so good at working with us and drawing out the best in us and he really, the main thing he did was help us get the best toned and the best quality sounding record we could ever have.  He was so good at getting the most amazing guitar tones, the best bass tones, killer drum tones, and making sure that we were precise in the way that we played our part so that he could make it sound amazing.

TMSZ: And it does.