Interview: Joey Westwood of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

by Rachel Orr

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus released their second album, Lonely Road, this Tuesday, February 3. If you haven’t heard it yet, lets just say they proved Don McLean wrong when he sang the music died that day 50 years ago. In advance of the band's Saturday show in the House of Blues Pontiac Garage, Pegasus News talked with bassist Joey Westwood about Lonely Road and the current tour.

Bringing awareness to and helping raise money for various social causes has always been a passion of RJA’s; this album and tour prove no different. This time around, the band is bringing awareness to and raising money for under funded music programs in high schools.

“Right now the high school that Ronnie [Winter] and Duke [Kitchens] are from is somewhat under funded,” Westwood said. “[Raising money for music programs] is just a small thing we can do.”

While Westwood said they do not go out of their way to write music about a specific cause or issue, the band tries to do what they can to make the world a better place than it was yesterday.

“The big picture is, we’re a rock band from a small town and became successful,” Westwood said. “There is no reason not to give back.” Stealing a line from Spiderman’s uncle Ben, Westwood continued to say, “With power comes responsibility.”

Writing Lonely Road came naturally for RJA.

“We tried our best to not think about it…we just explored.” Westwood said. “A lot of bands try to think too hard and end up going in the wrong direction.”

The current tour, while different from their acoustic tour up and down the east coast in summer 2008, has proven to be a success.

“The acoustic tour was a lot more laid back,” Westwood said. “Everybody had their inside voices.”

While the band might be a bit louder this time around, Westwood says they still plan and hope to strike the same chord and connection with the audience they did last summer.

“We don’t play in places where we are put up on a pedestal,” Westwood said.

Westwood said the band is playing in smaller venues making each performance very “intimate…it’s cool to have that hang out.”

As for the future of the band, Westwood assured “another album will definitely come.”