This year, platinum pop-rockers The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus [ tickets ] will roll out phase two of their Guardian Angel Foundation, an umbrella organization for the Florida-based band's charitable work.

"The first phase was mainly dealing with domestic violence on the last record," singer/guitarist Ronnie Winter, referring to the song "Face Down," said during an interview with LiveDaily.

"On this phase, phase two with the second record, we're focusing pretty much primarily on underfunded high school music programs. We're scouring the country and very selectively picking high schools by my choice only, and if they need money and I think there's a legitimate need there, we're gonna for no reason swoop in and help them out."

The cause is special to Winter and the rest of his bandmates--guitarist/pianist Duke Kitchens, bassist Joey Westwood and drummer Jon Wilkes.

"I actually was in high school band," Winter said. "Me and Duke met in high school music theory class. If it wasn't for them, this band wouldn't exist."

The aforementioned second record is "Lonely Road," due in stores Feb. 3. Winter explained The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus named the set after a particularly meaningful song from the forthcoming album.

"We were thinking, 'Hey, that actually just sums up the last couple years of our lives touring,'" Winter said. "I'm not complaining. I have the greatest job in the world. You do lose quite a bit of time of seeing your family and friends, [though]. You come back and everybody's married and moved away. Your whole town is different. There's Wal Marts everywhere. There's no more trees anywhere. It does get a little lonely after awhile. But at least you're with your friends. It just kind of sums up the last couple years of our life."

The band recorded the follow-up to "Don't You Fake It" at the Valley Village, CA, studio of super-producer Howard Benson (Daughtry, Seether). Winter said working with Benson was "a dream come true, man."

"He was incredible," Winter said. "I enjoyed every second of it. He's a genius, straight up. I definitely think he's the most professional producer we've ever worked with. We were honored to have the opportunity.

"With me, I feel the most important thing is the song, and he agreed 100 percent. For me, it was nice to find somebody like-minded. We put our heads together and put all the energy toward the actual song and didn't worry about anything else."

The 11 songs that made the album were written in a variety of places and times, Winter explained.

"Some of the songs are really old," Winter said. "For instance, [album closer] 'Godspeed' I wrote when I was 17. I'm 25, so that was a long time ago. But it's a really crazy song. We didn't have a spot for it on the previous records we had released because we really went out on a limb to cover a lot of different ground sonically on those records. You can compare that to 'You Better Pray,' which basically came together in the studio."

Even before the release of "Don't You Fake It," The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has been active in a wide array of charitable organizations and social causes, including teen-suicide prevention, mental-health parity and domestic violence. To become more effective, Winter founded the Guardian Angel Foundation.

"Even before we were signed, we were playing charity shows," Winter said. "Basically, I just didn't want to have to get things approved by other organizations whenever I wanted to help somebody out. So basically I started my own nonprofit organization so whenever we found a family, or a school, a lady who's basically needed help because of a domestic violence situation, this way we can actually help them, put the money in their hand without [dealing with] any kind of red tape. This way we know 100% for sure the money's going to the right place."

So far, the organization has raised more than $200,000 for various schools and families.

"It's pretty amazing. I never thought it would be this easy. It's just a matter of deciding to do it and not talking about it."