5X Platinum-certified alternative rock mainstays THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS have released “X’s For Eyes” the second single from their forthcoming album “X’s For Eyes” out October 3 via Better Noise Music. The guitars hit hard, the melody soars, and the rhythm jumps fast in this riveting song that extends a helping hand to someone who’s living close to the edge. With his signature wide-ranging voice, lead vocalist, guitarist, and founding member Ronnie Winter digs in deep with lyrics like: “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?/Cause I'm scared you’re gonna die/Take control of your life/Wake up from this bad dream/You could end it all tonight”.
“X’s For Eyes” is the first full-length album from THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS - vocalist Ronnie Winter, his multi-instrumentalist brother Randy Winter, guitarist Josh Burke, bassist Joey Westwood, drummer John Espy, keyboardist Nadeem Salam and newest member K Enagonio on vocals - as part of a new partnership with Better Noise Music.
To write the title track, Winter reteamed with producer and songwriter Matt Squire (Panic! at the Disco, Metallica, Good Charlotte), who first worked with the band on “Slipping Through (No Kings)” that came out June 27. The urgent and impassioned rallying cry - written by Winter and Squire - compellingly looks at the societal chaos gripping America right now.
"What’s really exciting is that we basically rebuilt the same team for X's for Eyes that we had when we made DON'T YOU FAKE IT” says Winter “A lot of the people who were behind the scenes back then - working on things like mixing, track sequencing, and artwork - have come back together, nearly 20 years later, to be part of this new album. It feels like a reunion in the best possible way, and if you were a fan of DON'T YOU FAKE IT we think you're going to really love this album".
" X's for Eyes truly has something for everyone” he adds “including what came to be known as ‘The Lost Songs,’ songs from our original 2004 pre-signing demo that didn't make it onto DON'T YOU FAKE IT. Fans have been asking for these for over 20 years and with the new album, they’re being commercially released for the first time ever. It felt like we were digging up something long buried, like raising a zombie from the dead".
BIO
Anyone who grew up watching cartoons for the last 50 years knows the intent. When you see an animated character rendered with the letter X in their eye sockets, it means one of two things: They have probably passed out or they are straight-up dead. When Ronnie Winter, frontman for modern-rock perennials THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS, decided to title his band’s sixth album X’s For Eyes (Out October 3 on Better Noise Music), he knew exactly what he was doing.
“The album is ripe with questioning of faith, which started in 2020” Winter reveals. “This is an ongoing thing that I want my fans to know. I'm struggling with my identification as a Christian. For the first time in my life at 42 years old, I no longer identify as a Christian. Do I still believe in what I'm gonna call my higher power? Absolutely.”
The 11 songs on X’s For Eyes find the band revving up their caffeinated pop sensibilities, throwing down the punishing riffola, delivering more electronic and ambient flourishes, and topping it off with Winter’s high-pitched emoting. Cameos include Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn (“Always The King”) and Escape The Fate frontman Craig Mabbitt (“Worth It”).
Formed in 2004 in Jacksonville, FL, THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS has accrued multiple Platinum certifications and over 1.5 billion career streams. “The core fanbase has always been there,” Winter says. “It’s a family band. Why? Because we stick up for people.”