RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS LOOKS TO U2, RAGE, SHINEDOW

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus looks to Shinedown, U2, and Rage Against The Machine to know socio-political causes are part of rock.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is set to headline the Take Action tour along with A Static Lullaby, Emery, Scary Kids Scaring Kids and others. The tour is as political as it sounds, and the band stands by their domestic violence cause with “Face Down.” While they prefer to take a stand on socio-political issues rather than purely political issues, they have no problem mixing causes into their music.

Vocalist Ronnie Winter talks about some bands he respects that took a risk by getting involved in issues with either their music or their actions.

“There’s been a lot of bands that have stood up for what they believed in. Obviously the first one that comes to mind to me would be U2, specifically Bono, but U2 as a whole. You can’t really compare with that guy, which is great. He took his opportunity to speak to many people and turn something good out of it which, that’s awesome. Rage Against The Machine was very outspoken about their political beliefs, which may be viewed by some people as negative, but really all they did was excercise their first amendment right, which is freedom of speech. That’s another band that should be a credit to making things happen on a broad scale as far as whatever their message is. That’s two right off the top of my head.”

Winter also said that he has no problems playing for causes like the one they performed at with Shinedown in Jacksonville to help aid victims of hurricane Katrina.

“Actually the first benefit thing we’ve ever done was with a band called Shinedown. Some of the members are from Jacksonville, Florida, which is where we’re from. It was a hurricane Katrina benefit show, and we were conacted by the promoter and they were like, ‘Shinedown is coming in.’ This was at the time when they had a Number One hit single on the radio, their video was blowing up, and they were taking over the world, and they took the time to play a total benefit show in Jacksonville for hurricane Katrina victims. We were fortunate enough to be added to the bill, and we were the only two bands that played. We were kind of the hometown heroes and they were like the huge band blowing up with hometown members. So it was cool. It was like two bands got together, both were doing well, and we were helping somebody out. I think that was the first taste of seeing that we could make a little bit of a difference in another way, in another she

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has reached gold with their album Don’t You Fake It for sales of 500,000 copies. The Take Action tour kicks off February 1 in Washington DC.