the red jumpsuit

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Is:

Ronnie Winter: Lead Vocals
Elias Reidy: Guitar, Backing Vocals
Duke Kitchens: Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Joey Westwood: Bass, Vocals
Jon Wilkes: Drums, Vocals

What's in a name? Well, it depends who came up with it. In the case of Middleburg, Florida quintet The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, it might mean anything. Jumpsuits can be sleek and fashionable, tight and revealing. Or they can be loose and homogeneous, suggesting redundancy and confinement befitting a jailbird. Red is often flashy and easily noticeable, but it's also the color of blood. And an apparatus allows a jumpsuit to be used for a specific purpose, such as leaping from an airplane - or it could be something sexual. After all, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are ballsy and emotional, pulsing with vibrancy and tenacity. They're strong, yet vulnerable, and they shift between musical styles with the confidence of superstars.

Strange then that The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus means...absolutely nothing. "It's 100 percent completely arbitrary," laughs singer Ronnie Winter. "When we started the band, we only cared about having a good time and writing good songs far more than coming up with some symbolic, incredibly intelligent name."

"I think it's funny when bands scramble their brains to try and come up with some unique, untouchable band name," adds guitarist Elias Reidy. "Why waste time thinking of something when we could be concentrating on music instead? The locals loved it, so we went with it."

A brief listen to The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' debut and it's obvious that these boys have spent a lot of time concentrating on their music. Their songs are flush with the determination, hunger and energy of youth (the average age in the band is 21). And while they tap into elements of pop-punk, pop, screamo, and metal, they combine them in a way that's both surprising and invigorating. "In a time when everything's labeled and categorized, you kind of have to try your best to step outside the box and be as unpredictable as possible to separate yourself," explains Reidy.

"Yeah, but we like to mix unpredictability with the comfort and melody people want to feel when they hear a song," clarifies Winter. "You can't just be crazy, ridiculous. You have to stick to the point musically and make the song catchy to the listener."

No worries there. On just their first record, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus already have mastered the difficult art of ensnaring the listener, whatever particular style they're delving into. "Face Down" blends propulsive, chugging guitars, a steady beat and yearning pop vocals and climaxes in a detonation of dissonance and a volley of screams. "In Fate's Hands" (the name of Reidy and bassist Joey Westwood's former metal band) starts with plangent acoustic strumming then abruptly shifts into overdrive with start-stop guitars, tumbling drums and a chorus as angry as it is infectious. And "Cat and Mouse" is a melancholy ballad anchored by a repeating delicate piano line that surfaced as if by magic.

"We were at a showcase for a record label, and we were pretty sure we weren't ready, so everyone was on edge," recalls Winter. "So, to calm his nerves, [guitarist] Duke [Kitchens] sat down with his guitar and just started playing. I walked up to him and said, "'Dude what is that?' And he said, 'I just came up with it.' So I said, 'Keep playing it. Don't stop.' And I made him play for two hours straight while we wrote the entire song all the way through.'"

In addition to being musically adventurous, Winter doesn't shy away from confessional, confrontational lyrics. The cantankerous "Seventeen Ain't So Sweet" addresses a female friend who has an amazing voice but has been unable to make a dent in the music industry because she doesn't look like a plastic pop idol, and the reflective, flowing "Your Guardian Angel" shows Winters letting down his guard and trying to express what it really feels like to be in love. But it's "Face Down," a scathing indictment of domestic abuse, which hits hardest.

"Where I come from, you see it when you go to the store, you see it when you stop for a smoke, you see it all the time," Winter says. "It's something everybody sees and doesn't do anything about because they're just so accustomed to it. I was the same way and I was a victim of it. So the best way I could think of to get people to not make the same mistake I did was to write about it."

Winter and Kitchens, the only original members left in the band, formed The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus in 2003 just for kicks. For 18 months they wrote and rehearsed with no real intention of playing shows or recording an album. When some friends who heard them jam suggested they play out, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus started booking gigs and were immediately embraced by the local scene. "We played this place called The Art Bar twice, and the second time we played it, we sold it out," Winter says.

Encouraged by the response, The Red Jumpsui