The Used: Better than Sex

By Michael Caldwell

What do you get when you combine a history of homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, loss, excess, a Mormon influenced upbringing, chaos, video games, tattoos and emotionally charged, energetic rock? The answer is four guys from Utah who are poised to enjoy the biggest success of their career. The Used have overcome incredible difficulites to find themsleves enjoying headlining tours, platinum album sales and good friends. To top it off, bassist Jeph Howard feels their third studio album and latest release Lies for the Liars is the most important thing they’ve done as a band.

Perhaps the most important thing they’ve done is to have survived. And through it all, Howard, vocalist Bert McCracken, guitarist Quinn Allman and new drummer Dan Whitesides, have maintained a healthy sense of humor.

Jeph Howard discusses out of body album artwork, the most disgusting food in the world and an interesting “fact” about a fellow bandmate’s unusual nipple. Grab a grain of salt and read on.

Where are you located right now?
“I’m in the tattoo shop.”

What are you getting done?
“My friend Vick, he’s tattoing my left arm right now.”

Will you describe the image?
“It’s my whole left arm. Alex Pardee was drawing something. He’s the guy who did our album artwork for the last few records and [it’s] kind of a mix between him and what Vick [is doing]. Its’ kind of [an]American gothic thing. At the top it’s kind of more monstery like a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It’s really, um…artistic.” [Laughs]

In that situation, do you just say, hey…
“Obviously.”

…Vick go for it?
“I pretty much do.”

That’s a big committement there.
“I trust him. But it’s weird ‘cause my whole forearm is a penis. It looks like it. I can’t really tell. It looks like there are two of them, actually.”

Alright, well uh…
“That’s a little awkward.”

I don’t want to dwell too much on that area, so…
[Howard laughs]

Let’s talk about the album artwork. Alex Pardee has a style reminisencent of Gerald Scarfe who did some of the cool Pink Floyd stuff from The Wall—that sort of ink, line drawing.
“Oh cool! Wait ‘til you see [our new album artwork]. The new stuff will blow your mind. Alex Pardee jumped out of his body and actually possessed something else for this. It’s the most genuis artwork I’ve ever seen. I’m not saying that to be cocky, at all. I just have so much respect for him.”

You’ve recently completed your headlining stint on the Taste of Chaos Tour?
“Yeah, which actually was one of the funniest tours we’ve been on in a long time. Of course, we’d been off for a year, so maybe it was us just wanting to be on tour so bad—that’s why it was so fun. But, it was great times. Great vibes the whole time. Everyone was in such a good mood.”

Can you describe what chaos tastes like?
“Um, it’s pretty gross, actually. Kind of like dirt, salt, sweat. Fish balls. Sweaty fish balls. You know when you bite into salmon eggs and it tastes like warm salmon juice? I think that, mixed with not showering, might be what it tastes like. It’s really hard to explain. It’s one of those things you’ve got to taste for yourself.”

I had read that you guys have been describing Lies for the Liars as tangy barbecue sauce?
“Who said that? I bet Bert said that.”

Would you agree with that? What’s another food or condiment that you could use as a metaphor to give us the experience…
“I wouldn’t say tangy barbeue sauce. I would keep going with the sushi reference. Have you ever had nato? It’s fermented bean. It’s a light brown color and it’s really sticky and smells and tastes like human shit. I think the record is an extreme version of that. Where you’re so intrigued by it and you don’t know how awesome it is until you get into it. And then it blows you away on how much of an experience it is to try it.”

So typically an artist is going to say all the songs on their album are aweseome—otherwise they wouldn’t release them. But if you had to pick your favorite and least favorite tracks which ones would they be and why?
“OK. This is awesome. We wrote 50 songs and completely recorded 20 and only 11 made it on the record and the other nine…we’re going to do two EPs, I think, later on this year. And I have to say that…if I made my perfect record, it would be a mix of both. But since it’s better to have things flow together than it is to have the better songs sometimes, you know what I mean—like things fit better…and I’m not saying some songs aren’t as good… that sounds kind of weird. But, I just think….I don’t know where I’m going with this.” [Laughs]

That makes some sense. Do you have to compromise?
“Everybody has their favorite song and you want to get your favorite song on the record…so it’s a compromise of that.”

What’s your favorite song?
“Let me give you my top three. The first one, I’d have to say, is “Hospital” and that’s on the record for sure. It’s my favorite by far. It’s different from anything that we’ve ever done and it has a huge chorus and it flows really well and has these really cool techno breakbeats. “Handsome Awkward,” I think, is awesome. It’s just a giant riff the whole song. That song is actually awesome live too. Kids love it so far. That might even be a second single. Dude, it’s hard to say because there are so many songs I love right now. Another song called “Paralyzed”—that’s on the record too. It’s sort of a dancier one, but a classy dancey maybe would be the best way to say [it].” [He goes on to list way more than three]

“There is not a song on this record that I don’t like. On the other records, maybe like the second one, there’s a couple of songs I thought we had better songs. This [new] one I love all of these songs. But you can’t put a certain song on the record that doesn’t fit the vibe of the rest of the songs, you know?” [Sighs]

How is your tattoo coming?
“It’s good.” [The needle’s buzz can be heard in the background]

No one likes to be piegon holed, but The Used are usually
lumped into the emo, screamo, punk revival genres…
“That sucks.”

What do you usually call your music?
“We’ve never been an emo/screamo band, ever. We’ve been a rock band and that’s all we’ve ever really claimed. It’s weird when you get piegonholed and put in certain classifications. And it’s weird for using that term, too. That term has been one of the worst to call music, ever. The word ‘emotional’ and ‘emo,’ like what? Are you serious? That’s like saying…’Nirvana’ like, what was that? You know what I mean? That was grunge, but it’s kind of the same thing. Then there [are] harder bands like Ink & Dagger what do you call that then? Like Wrathchild, what are they considered? That’s just a rock band, too.”

Classifications are a weird beast of their own. But I think people want to differentiate between generations and styles.
“That’s a good point. I think you’re right.”

Would you consider you guys punk rock or just rock?
“Just rock. I mean I would never really consider us punk rock. Well…in a way, punk rock is going against the grain and doing what you want to do, right? We really do what we want to do and kind of do it our way. I guess you could consider it that way, but I’d never really consider us punk. I would just say straight rock…maybe hip hop/jazz rock.” [Jokes]

Founding member and original drummer Branden Steineckert and The Used parted ways prior to the recording of the latest album. He is now playing with Rancid. Have you seen him perform with them?
“No. I haven’t yet.”

Is that something you plan to do?
“Um, yeah! If I ever get the chance.”

People are always curious to know what happens in those situations where members change. I know I’ve read it’s the standard “musical differences” but is it personalities or is it really directions of where you want to take the music?
“Directions, I think. Things happen for a reason. And right now that is what it is. He had his own thing going on and now he is in his favorite band in the entire world. So he kind of moved up in a way, you know what I mean? And we have one of our favorite drummers and really close friends drumming for us now. We broke off and made ourselves better, if that makes sense, both of us, individually.”

Speaking of rough patches in relationships, did the much touted fall out between My Chemical Romance and The Used have anything to do with the video game Guitar Hero?
“Not that I know of. I didn’t know that My Chemical Romance played Guitar Hero. I haven’t really talked to those guys in a while.”

So it has nothing to do with video games?
“No, no. Well…actually I take that back. [Joking] I know they’re a little bit jealous because I beat the new Zelda on the Wi in like two days. And I hear that bummed them out pretty bad. Jealously about video games is a strong thing. I’m pretty good at Nintendo and maybe that’s why they’re so mad.”

Has there been a street or library named after The Used in Orem, Utah where you guys are from?
“No not yet, which bums me out. But I think there should a video game store. ‘Used Video Games’ is what it should be called. At least ‘Used Books’. I did see a car place that said ‘Used Cars.’ I think they named that after us.” [Laughs]

I don’t want to be presumptuous, but assuming you’re not a virgin, if you had to give up one or the other, would it be sex, or playing music?
“Oh, sex in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t even think about it.”

You didn’t.
“See, there you go. My bass means more to me than anything else. My dog comes a close second to the bass.” [Laughs]

Have you done anything in Vegas that needs to stay in Vegas? [Howard energetically relates a long, fanciful and fictional tale involving prostitutes, hotel security and guilty collaborators, all of which would make a great screenplay for a horror film]

What is it like being in The Used at this date in your career?
“It’s awesome. We’re doing what we love. We’re playing music. Dan and Quinn are in here [at the tattoo parlour] now hanging out. [“Hi!” Dan says in the background] We’re really good friends. We love each other. We hang out all the time. We’re doing a bunch of videos right now for YouTube. Just some stuff on our own, just because we love [it]. We’re just happy doing what we do. There’s nothing we’d rather be doing expect for, you know, playing Nintendo.”

Give me some information about you guys that people still don’t know. What would still surprise us?
“I don’t know. A lot of stuff’s on the internet. You know what a funny thing about the interenet is—that it’s not true— most of the stuff. Like if you go to Wikipedia, it says I’m married. I’ve never been married. It says [I’m with] some girl named Mallory. I don’t think I’ve ever known or met a girl named Mallory.”

Not even while in Vegas on a drunken stupor?
“No, no. Her name was like Tiki I think or Candi. I can’t really remember.”

[Howard returns the conversation to the original question. What would still surprise us?] “Quinn has two nipples on one side. He left…that’s the only reason I’m telling you about it. It’s on his right side—if you look really close.”

Is it pierced?
“No. Mine were, since I was seventeen, and I took ‘em out like two weeks ago.”

Do you have holes in your nipples now?
“Yeah, their weird looking, awkward little holes. I’ve taken a lot of piercings out over the years. They get old.”

What do you do with the hole? Do you just let it be?
“Yeah, like that Beatles song, let it be.”

 

Thanks to Todd Flynn Productions for the help.