The Used
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, formed in 2000. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jepha, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Steineckert, and Justin Shekoski.
The band rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third album, Lies for the Liars, in May 2007. Shallow Believer, an EP that featured most of the band's B-sides, was released in February 2008. Their fourth studio album, Artwork, was released in August 2009. A fifth album, Vulnerable, was released in March 2012. In July 2013 they released another EP, titled The Ocean of the Sky. Their sixth album, Imaginary Enemy, released in April 2014. Their seventh studio album, The Canyon, was released in October 2017. Their eighth studio album, Heartwork, was released in April 2020 and a deluxe version with the B-sides from the recording sessions was released in September 2021. Their ninth studio album, Toxic Positivity was released in May 2023 and the B-sides from it were released on the album Medz in June 2024.
The Used have enjoyed commercial success with their albums achieving gold and platinum statuses in many countries worldwide. Alternative Press Magazine conferred the title of "kings of the 2000s emo scene" on the band.
History
The formation, ''The Used'', and ''In Love & Death'' (2000–2005)
The Used formed in the summer of 2000 with Branden Steineckert, Quinn Allman, Jeph Howard, and Bert McCracken. The band began composing songs without lyrics prior to McCracken joining. They held auditions for vocalists at Howard's residence, but were not satisfied with any of the auditions, describing them as terrible. Allman then asked McCracken if he was interested in joining the band. McCracken was impressed with their material, and after being given some music, he wrote the lyrics to what would become "Maybe Memories". He returned the next day to record a demo version of the song and was then officially confirmed as the band's vocalist. During the early days of the band, members suffered from poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, panhandling for change in order to buy food. They decided upon the name "Used" after friends claimed they felt "used" when contact with the band members waned as they became more engrossed in the project.They continued to write songs together and recorded a demo album in drummer Steineckert's bedroom titled Demos from the Basement. According to band interviews, the closet of Steineckert's bedroom had been repurposed as a recording booth. Steineckert sent their songs to producer John Feldmann from the ska group Goldfinger. On hearing the song "A Box Full of Sharp Objects", Feldman flew the band to Los Angeles on his own expense and helped them find a record label. They played for various record executives, but received little interest. Eventually, after sending copies of their demo to many record companies, they began to receive offers. They decided to sign to Reprise Records the first week of January 2002 which was only 1 year after the band had formed.
Image:Bert McCracken - Street Scene.jpg|thumb|upright|Bert McCracken performing at the Street Scene with the Used in 2005
In 2002, it was discovered that a Boston band had already trademarked the name "Used". The band decided to add "the" to their name, thus becoming "the Used". Their self-titled debut album, produced by John Feldmann, was released on June 25, 2002, to critical acclaim. The album featured the singles: "The Taste of Ink", "Buried Myself Alive", and "Blue and Yellow", with all three entering the charts and the album being certified platinum. They went on to play Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and Projekt Revolution, as well as Box Car Racer's first and only tour. During these tours, they employed a touring guitarist named Greg Bester. He was later forced to return to his home country when he couldn't get a working visa. The band received much recognition when Bert McCracken dated Kelly Osbourne and appeared on an episode of the TV show The Osbournes titled "Beauty and the Bert". In July 2003, they released a compilation CD/DVD combo package titled Maybe Memories. The CD features live, rare, previously unreleased tracks, and demo material, while the DVD features the history of the band, member bios, and part of a live concert. Maybe Memories has been certified platinum.
In 2004, lead vocalist McCracken's ex-girlfriend died of a drug overdose while pregnant with his child. Their second studio album was thus named In Love and Death, released as a reference to the tragedy McCracken dealt with during the recording. The song "Hard to Say" was a reference to McCracken's girlfriend; although the song was written years earlier, its dedication was only then declared. In Love and Death received very positive reviews and spawned three singles: "Take It Away", "All That I've Got", and "I Caught Fire", before being re-released in 2005. "Under Pressure" was featured as a bonus track on later pressings. The album has been certified platinum. After finishing up an international tour for the album, they took about eight months off before starting to work on their next album.
''Lies for the Liars'', ''Shallow Believer'', ''Artwork'', and ''Vulnerable'' (2006–2012)
On September 12, 2006, the Used announced that Steineckert was no longer a member of the band. They said they felt they needed to move forward without him, and that there was a personality conflict between Steineckert and another band member. In late 2006, it was announced drummer Dan Whitesides of The New Transit Direction would replace Steineckert. Steineckert has since joined Rancid.On February 6, 2007, they released a live album, Berth, which includes a DVD that features video of their performance at the Taste of Chaos 2005 tour in Vancouver and a CD that features it on audio. The DVD also includes a biography of the band and four music videos. The biography depicts the band after the release of Maybe Memories, leading into the creation of In Love and Death. The sale of Berth lead it to be certified as gold. They spent most of the early part of 2007 on the Taste of Chaos tour before their third album, Lies for the Liars, was released May 22, 2007. They headlined the Give It a Name festival. In June, they played the MuchMusic Video Awards for the first time ever, and received their second nomination for Best International Group Video, for "The Bird and the Worm". They were scheduled to play Warped Tour in June and July, in support of their album, but were forced to cancel due to McCracken's vocal cord surgery. After McCracken recovered, the band played the Reading and Leeds festivals in August, and went on to tour the United States in September. Lies for the Liars charted in the top five in more than seven countries, and featured the singles: "The Bird and the Worm" and "Pretty Handsome Awkward". Although Whitesides had been chosen as the new drummer, Dean Butterworth of Good Charlotte recorded drums for the album. The six-month recording process was the longest the band had ever undertaken. Lies for the Liars generally received mixed to positive reviews. Originally, Lies for the Liars was expected to be a double-album. Nineteen songs were recorded, but they instead decided to save the songs for a future release. The album has been certified gold.
On May 19, 2008, they released Shallow Believer, an EP containing the band's B-sides. It was only released on digital music stores and it has charted No. 14 on iTunes' Top 100 albums. They worked on Artwork, their fourth studio album, throughout 2008. They took several breaks while working on the album to headline the inaugural Get a Life Tour and the Spare the Air Festival in California. The album was produced by Panic! at the Disco's producer Matt Squire, making this their first studio album not produced by John Feldmann. It was also their first studio album to feature Whitesides as the drummer. In Alternative Press, McCracken stated "In the past, we've always kind of brought pop sensibility into heavy rock, but this is going to be all that much more tantalizing and brutal. Our songs are ten times messier and noisier than they've ever been." McCracken explained the meaning of the album, saying, "This record is about coming to grips with how much you really hate yourself and knowing you can never hate yourself to the full extent, so you're free to hate yourself as much as you want to". McCracken went on to say "we been this excited about an album since our self titled back in 2002." The album released along with a DVD for the pre-order and first run of the album in stores. A cover version of "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads was released on the cover compilation album Covered, A Revolution in Sound, and was also featured in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – The Album. They played at The Bamboozle in May 2009. The single "Blood on My Hands" was released on iTunes in June, and was streamable for one day on the band's website. On July 21, the pre-order was available. Artwork became available worldwide on August 31, 2009. The band played a major U.S. tour in October and November 2009 with supporting bands The Almost and Drive A, and another in early 2010 with Atreyu and Drive A. They later joined an arena tour supporting Three Days Grace in Canada. The band premiered the music video for the song "Empty with You" on December 9, 2009, via Twitter. In April 2010, they began another US tour along with Chiodos and New Medicine.
In April 2010, they cancelled their upcoming international tour dates and also began writing material for a follow-up to Artwork. Recording and officially releasing the new album was significantly delayed after leaving Reprise Records—their record label group of ten years. According to Howard, "We were kind of waiting to see if we were going to do this record on Warner or not. We kind of had to wait and see what happened about that before we started recording." They founded their own record label in 2011 after parting ways with Reprise Records, a division of Warner. The label was dubbed "Dental Records", and they planned to release their fifth studio album Vulnerable in February 2012 on it.
By December 2011 the release plans for Vulnerable had changed. Their first choice, "Dental Records", was already taken, so the group quickly came up with a different name instead, Anger Music Group. Vulnerable was released March 26, 2012. The album's spawned three singles; "I Come Alive", "Put Me Out", and "Hands and Faces".
In support of Vulnerable, they embarked on a North American headlining tour in May and June 2012, and also performed on the main stage of Warped Tour 2012 in June and July 2012. In June 2012, they were forced to cancel all scheduled Canadian tour dates due to McCracken's criminal record. McCracken said he would not be allowed entry into the country for ten years because of some "teensy, eensy misdemeanors", including trespassing, from many years earlier.