The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Artistfacts

  • 2003-
    Ronnie WinterLead vocals, keyboards
    Duke KitchensGuitar2003-2011
    Joey WestwoodBass2005-
    Elias ReidyGuitar2005-2008
    Jon WilkesDrums2005-2011
    Josh BurkeGuitar2011-
    Randy WinterGuitar2011-
  • The band's credo is "doing good for no good reason." Lead singer Ronnie Winter told The Rock Pit: "We've always done that personally and through our music... we've found that when we do, we feel better later."
  • Ronnie Winter is the undisputed leader of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. He's their lead singer, main songwriter and manager.
  • In 2011 they did a military tour where they performed for American troops stationed in Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Kuwait and Iraq.
  • The band is from the rural town of Middleburg, Florida, south of Jacksonville. Ronnie Winter says the best way to get a sense of it is to watch an episode of Duck Dynasty.
  • They have a big following in the Christian music community and landed seven #1 hits on the Christian Rock chart, starting with "Face Down." Ronnie Winter, who often speaks about his faith, says they aren't a Christian band but "like a mainstream rock band that's not afraid to be spiritual."
  • They chose the band name by putting together random words until they came up with something they liked. The "apparatus" part came from their original bass player, who was the "smart one" in the group and knew what the word meant - it's a fancy name for any piece of equipment. So instead of being just "The Red Jumpsuit," they became "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus," which they liked better.
  • Ronnie Winter's brother Randy (older by a year) didn't become an official member until 2011, when he took over on guitar, but he's always had a role in the group. He was their webmaster, worked on promotions, and worked on string arrangements and drum programming.
  • The band members all had full-time jobs when they started out; they worked on music nights and weekends. They made a demo record in 2004 and built enough of a fanbase to get the attention of Virgin Records, which signed them in 2005 and released their debut album, Don't You Fake It, in 2006. Their debut single was "Face Down," which exploded in early 2007, eventually selling over 5 million digital downloads. It remains their most popular song.
  • They've gone through lots of lineup changes, all orchestrated by Ronnie Winter. "Since the first time I ever made a recording, I've just been hiring and firing friends of mine," he told Metal Roos.
  • Some of their songs deal with authoritarianism and censorship, but they stayed out of politics until 2025, when Ronnie Winter let loose in an Instagram video that has since been deleted. "If you're a Christian and you're watching this and you voted for Donald Trump, shame on you," he wrote. "You are not allowed to come to my shows. I don't want you there."
  • Ronnie Winter likes to go undercover for karaoke, pretending to be a regular punter and then belting out a really hard song to sing, like "Gimme Some Lovin'" or anything by Alice In Chains.

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