Jumpsuit spotlighting album

Music lessons seem to have paid off for singer Donnie Winter.

With his band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Winter has just released a debut album on Virgin Records, and the group is currently on tour in support of the album.

Winter said he gives credit to his junior high school band director. "Mr. Coleman encouraged me to play the tuba," Winter said by phone from Manhattan. "He got me started in the music world when I was in seventh grade."

Later, Winter took up the drums and with his older brother formed a band, playing anywhere they could. "It was then that I decided that music was my only choice in life. When kids get that wrapped up in music, there is only one thing to do. Play music."

In high school, Winter hooked up with guitarist Duke Kitchens. "We played together and got some friends together for the first version of the band. We played around for a couple of years before solidifying our lineup."

Today, the band consists of Winter, Kitchens, guitarist Elias Reidy, bassist Joey Westwood and drummer Jon Wilkes. "Once we understood where we wanted to be, our niche, we began writing songs. And things came together pretty quickly."

By the time Red Jumpsuit Apparatus decided to hit the studio to make a full-length album, it had already gained a loyal local following around its home base in Jacksonville, Fla. "We had recorded a five-song extended-play CD awhile before and sat down to discuss which songs of that CD we wanted to re-record. Then we went and wrote the rest of the songs."

The new album, "Don't You Fake It," features 11 songs whose topics range from child abuse to a band wondering about its success. "All the songs we recorded are based upon our own experiences," said Winter.

One song in particular, "Face Down," deals with abuse. Winter said the song is based on personal experience. "When I first started writing songs like that, I was a little apprehensive about revealing too much of my own personal life. But I do have the guys in the band read every lyric and have friends give me feedback. And the feedback was positive. So I and the rest of the band have kept on writing songs that come from our lives."

Winter said that David Bendeth, who has worked with Hawthorn Heights, produced "Don't You Fake It." "David is a smart man on many levels, and he helped us in the way that the album sounds as young as we really are. We didn't want to make an album that was too polished or overproduced.

"And Virgin was cool with that. David told them he was going to make an album that we wanted to make. And we did."

If you go

What: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Where: Avalon, 3605 S. State

When: Monday, 7:30 p.m.

How much: $8

Phone: 467-8499 or 800-888-8499

Web: www.smithstix.com

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com