Louder Now: Randy Winter

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Australia, Anniversaries and Pink Floyd

Hardcore legends, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, came to London’s Borderline at the start of the month and we were honoured to sit down with guitarist Randy Winter before their nostalgic and impressive set. Of course, Randy faced the Louder Now Grab Bag, but luckily for him he grabbed some of the more sensible questions.

What is your favourite memory of being in this band?

That’s sort of a tough question because there’s so many. I would say one of my top ten favourite memories, because I can’t really narrow it down to one, would be a collage of a few. My favourite memories of this band will always be travelling the world. It’s awesome to be blessed to even break even, or be able to make money for a living being able to travel the world doing something you love.

What country would you most like to visit?

I really enjoyed the Phillipines but as far as where I have enjoyed the most it would probably be Australia. It’s so similar to America and the UK. It’s like a hybrid of the two, if you took both and slammed them in to one and added awesome coast lines, with good waves all the time. I surf all the time so that’s a big thing for me.

We have never been to Alaska though, but that will probably change next year. We’re going to be doing an anniversary tour for our debut record Don’t You Fake It. Next year it will be exactly 10 years since it came out. So we’ll probably stretch out to some spots we haven’t been to, intentionally.

On a scale of 1 – 10, how weird are you?

Judging myself I would probably say a 7, being realistic. I’m really picky about stupid things. Be it, OCD, a ridiculous sleeping disorder that I’ve had ever since I can remember or food. I’m a low card guy, I’ve been doing that for almost 11 years. To an average person I guess those three things really add up because it’s something that reoccurs every day.

My sleeping schedule is literally non-existent. I can’t sleep longer than 2 hours sustained. I randomly get two hour sleep bursts whenever I get a chance. It’s actually optimal for this occupation but it was definitely a hard time whenever I was in school because my brain wasn’t getting REM sleep so whenever you’re not doing anything that requires a lot of attention and physical exertion my brain is like “alright, nap time!” I’m always a hands on person otherwise my brain is going to shut off.

Have you ever had an epic fail on stage?

Not really an epic fail but near epic fail, that’s for sure. Where monitors aren’t pinned down correctly and they’re hanging off the edge and you’re up there playing and, woosh, there it went! A couple of times I’ve almost flipped forward but I’ve caught myself with my left hand and caught the next note.

Sound tech issues with mic’s not even being on. I’ll just back hand it and then they figure out, oh there must be something wrong with that mic because he just threw it away. Sometimes they can’t hear what you’re hearing on stage or they’re working on a different part of the mix. Engineers get really into their job and I respect that a lot because I am also an engineer. They’re not just staring at one guy the entire time you’re listening to the mix as a whole.

This is really the fourth version of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. There were three different versions with different names and I think we got all of the epic fails out of the way then. The closest thing we’ve had to a disaster was recently when one of the strings broke on my guitar that’s tuned to C. I looked around and there was nobody there so I just threw it back into the boat and had to grab another guitar that was tuned to a completely different key and had to transpose, on the fly, and move everything up a full step. If someone would have told me that I was going to be thrown under the bus like that then I would have been freaking out and would have to think it through and maybe give it a test run but I just had to do it.

What’s your favourite album?

Again, this is one of those questions where I’m going to have to avoid answering with just one because that’s impossible. My absolute favourite would be, off hand, the one that I’ve probably listened to the most would be The Wall [Pink Floyd] and then probably from that point Final Cut, which was supposed to be part of The Wall. Anything Pink Floyd, I’m a stupid fan boy for Pink Floyd, David Gilmore and Roger Waters. It’s a shame that they couldn’t just make things work and continue on but I’m sure it was a pride thing. That happens when you have two amazing singer/songwriters in the same band, that’s rough I’m sure.

If the question was what album have I listened to the most than it would be The Wall. It’s definitely a favourite of mine but I can’t say it’s THE favourite because it’s very mute. If that was your favourite album, and that’s all you ever listen to, then you would be depressed and locked in an insane asylum. But it’s so perfect for when you feel that desperation when you feel that need for a light at the end. That’s the one.

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The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus tear up London's Borderline

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have had me hooked since the first time I saw them live in London, in 2008. Having had a rough relationship with their record label, who failed to produce on various promises, the band flew themselves to the UK and decided to remain independent “for as long as possible.”

I remember thinking, and still think to this day, that was the most impressive damn thing I had ever heard.

So when we heard that The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus were coming back to the UK it took us all of five seconds to decide we had to be there.

We were extremely lucky to catch them at London’s Borderline and from the minute that they launched into Damn Regret we knew that this was going to be a night to remember.

And that was just the first of many nostalgic gems from the 2006 album Don’t You Fake It.

Randy Winter - Guitar

What’s that? You didn’t realise that album was released nearly 10 years ago? Yeah me either. We sat down with guitarist Randy Winter before the set and he pointed it out to us.

“We’re going to be doing an anniversary tour for our debutrecord Don’t You Fake It. Next yearit will be exactly 10 years since it came out. So we’ll probably stretch out to some spots we haven’t been to, intentionally.”

And just three tracks into this set and we know why that anniversary tour will be a huge deal. In Fate’s Hand and Justify, both from Don’t You Fake It are, in a word, amazing. Those screeching guitars and aggressive drum tracks bring back the exact same attitude as when they were released.

It’s that attitude and forcefulness that made this band a driving force in the scene a decade ago and it’s what has made them legends now.

John Hartman - Drums

And with Choke from the 2011 album Am I The Enemy standing defiant in between those 2006 belters, it’s easy to see how this band managed to do so well even without a label. This track was the first of four singles to reach number 1 in the US after The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus left their record label, Virgin, in 2010.

That’s not surprising. There’s something ultimately satisfying about screaming along the words “I hope you choke!” If you don’t believe me, ask the crowd at the Borderline that night. They did it remarkably well.

As we reached the half way point of the set vocalist Ronnie Winter grabs an acoustic guitar and everything gets a bit serious and wonderful. Cat and Mouse and Your Guardian Angel were pillars of my adolescence and it was a pleasure to hear them both played live, as beautiful as ever. When the packed in crowd chimed in to the latter with “Please don’t walk away, please tell me you’ll stay” you couldn’t hide from the spine tingles.

But they didn’t miss a beat launching back into the hardcore swirl of it all with False Pretense and You Better Pray. The former was definitely a highlight of the night, with the crowd jumping up and down and completely losing the plot as they were launched into that banging and infectious chorus.

Ronnie Winter - Vocals

The latter was a spectacular surprise. Ronnie points out on stage that You Better Pray, from the 2009 album Lonely Road, didn’t do extremely well in the UK charts “because you don’t have red necks here. But unlucky for you we ARE red necks and we’re going to play it anyway. So if you like southern rock, sing along.” Turns out we really like Southern Rock and we screamed that opening scream like we were Kid Rock, in a vest, wielding a gun and wearing cowboy boots. None of which The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus did, in case you were wondering.

Matt Hunter - Guitar

The set closed up, of course, with Face Down. THE song to define this band for many people because it is the prime example of hardcore sentimentality that The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have had nailed for a decade.

This set was everything I wanted it to be and more. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus played tracks that are iconic in this scene and they did it with all of the boldness and tenacity that you would want them too.

So tenacious in fact that more than one member of the band wore sunglasses on stage. In a basement venue. At night. It was perfect.

Unfortunately, the rest of the UK tour was cut short due to 'a family crisis'. We wish all the best to the whole band and hope that the situation has improved. If you missed out then do make sure that you get yourself to see these guys as soon as possible. You will not regret it, I promise!