In 2003 the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus came together in Middleburg, Florida, one of the rare screamo outfits to reach the Top 40 on the pop charts. After devoting 18 months to composing and rehearsing material, the musicians received encouragement from associates to treat the project as a serious endeavor. That support prompted them to schedule a series of hometown performances, where they were quickly embraced by the regional audience. Rising local interest led the group to cut its first EP and promote it tirelessly throughout Florida. Despite the swelling fan base, repeated label showcases produced no offers, and several members left or were removed from the lineup.
Vocalist Ronnie Winter and guitarist Duke Kitchens remained as the nucleus and set about reassembling the band, deliberately merging emo-pop, screamo, and alternative rock. Guitarist/vocalist Elias Reidy and bassist Joey Westwood, both formerly of the metal group In Fate's Hands, joined forces with drummer Jon Wilkes to round out the quintet. Only months after the roster stabilized, the band signed with Virgin. In 2005 the musicians entered the studio with producer David Bendeth (Hawthorne Heights, Breaking Benjamin) to record their debut album. Don't You Fake It appeared in July 2006 and earned gold certification before year's end, lifted by the Top 40 single "Face Down" and a full summer run on the Warped Tour. The group also placed a track on the Madden NFL 2007 video-game soundtrack.
Work on a second album began in 2007, though the members paused briefly in early 2008 for an acoustic tour of the Eastern Seaboard. Lonely Road reached stores in February 2009, three months after the announcement that guitarist Reidy had departed. Although the album closed the band's association with Virgin Records, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus kept issuing new material, first with the 2010 EP Hell or High Water and then with the third LP, Am I the Enemy?, in 2011.
