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The Used

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The Used

The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. Their sound has been classified under many sub-genres of rock. They signed with Reprise Records in late 2001 and rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their debut self-titled album, The Used. 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. An EP, Shallow Believer, was released in February 2008 that featured most of the band's B-sides to date. They spent the entire year of 2008 working on their fourth studio album, which is to be released in July 2009 [4]. The band has achieved both Gold and Platinum statuses in more than 6 countries worldwide.[5]

History

Formation and Demos from the Basement (2001)

File:Used demo.jpg
Cover of Demos from the Basement. Many of the songs were re-recorded for their self-titled debut album.

The Used officially formed in January 2001[6], but members had played in many previous bands since the early 1990s, which helped lead to the formation of The Used. Founding member Branden Steineckert along with Quinn Allman and Jeph Howard were trying to start a new band and needed a singer. They had music for songs but no lyrics or vocals to go along with it. Tryouts for singers were held in Branden's bedroom[7], but they weren't satisfied with anyone they heard, and described the auditions as being terrible. Quinn asked Bert McCracken if he was interested in joining the band. Bert met up with the other members and liked the music they wrote. After being given music that the band had written, Bert wrote the lyrics to what would become "Maybe Memories" and returned the next day to record a demo version of the song. The band welcomed him immediately and from there on out, Bert took over the vocals. Throughout all of this, the band members suffered from poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse. They panhandled for change in order to buy food to stay alive while at the same time hating the Mormon town that they lived in and the people that lived there.[8] The band's name was born when their friends claimed they felt "used" when contact was lost between them and band members due to them becoming more involved in the band.[6][9]

Used continued to write songs together and recorded a demo album in Branden's bedroom that fans titled Demos from the Basement. Drummer Branden Steineckert sent their songs to producer John Feldmann from the Ska group Goldfinger. After he heard "A Box Full of Sharp Objects", he wanted to get them signed. John flew the band to LA taking them out of their home state for the first time in their lives and played the songs for various record executives to try to get them signed, however, the first few weren't interested and it left John discouraged. Eventually, more people got hold of the demo and a few record companies were eager to sign them. They decided to sign with Reprise Records in late 2001.

The Used and Maybe Memories (2002-2003)

In 2002, it was discovered that a Boston band had already trademarked the name "Used," so they decided to add "The" to their name, thus becoming The Used. Their self-titled debut album was released on June 25, 2002, and was produced by John Feldmann. The album received mixed reviews and featured four singles: "A Box Full of Sharp Objects", "The Taste of Ink", "Buried Myself Alive", and "Blue and Yellow", with the latter three entering the charts. The album has been certified gold.[10] The Used would go on to play Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and Projekt Revolution, as well as Box Car Racer's first and only tour. During these tours, they had a 5th member, a touring guitarist by the name of Greg Bester. He was 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.[11] These events brought the band much fanfare and popularity. In July 2003, The Used released a compilation CD/DVD combo package titled Maybe Memories. The CD featured live, rare, previously unreleased tracks, and demo material. The DVD featured the history of the band, member bios, and part of a live concert. This release has been certified platinum.[10]

In Love and Death and a new drummer (2004-2006)

In 2004 lead singer Bert McCracken's ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child, died of a drug overdose.[12] Their second studio album was thus named In Love and Death, released as a reference to the tragedy Bert dealt with during the recording. The song "Hard to Say" was a reference to Bert's ex-girlfriend; although he wrote the song years earlier, it fit the moment and Bert felt that it was the right time to release it. The album received generally favorable reviews[13] and spawned three singles: "Take It Away", "All That I've Got" (which earned them their first MuchMusic Video Award nomination), and "I Caught Fire", before being re-released in 2005. "Under Pressure" (a David Bowie and Queen cover song performed with My Chemical Romance) was featured as a bonus track on the re-release. The album has been certified gold.[10] After finishing up an international tour for the album, The Used took about 7 months off before starting to work on their next album. On September 12, 2006, The Used announced and confirmed that Branden was no longer a member of the band.[14] They said they felt they needed to move forward without him, and that there was a personality conflict between Branden and another band member; however, they did say that they love Branden and wish him the best in whatever he does in the future.[14] In late 2006, it was announced drummer Dan Whitesides of New Transit Direction would replace Steineckert. Branden has since joined Rancid to replace former drummer Brett Reed.

Berth, Lies for the Liars and Shallow Believer (2007-2008)

On February 6, 2007, The Used released a live CD/DVD package, Berth, which included a full live concert shot on the 2005 Taste of Chaos tour in Vancouver. It continued where Maybe Memories left off and showed what the band had been up to since they released In Love and Death. It also gave a preview of Lies for the Liars. Berth has been certified gold[10]. The Used 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 also headlined the Give it a Name festival. In June, The Used played the MuchMusic Video Awards for the first time ever, and also received their second nomination for Best International Group Video, for "The Bird and the Worm". The Used were scheduled to play Warped Tour in June and July, in support of their album, but had to cancel because Bert required surgery to remove a node from his vocal cords.[15] After Bert recovered, they 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 5 in more than seven countries,[5] and there were 4 singles released: "The Bird and the Worm", "Liar Liar (Burn in Hell)", "Pretty Handsome Awkward", and "Paralyzed". Although Dan Whitesides was chosen as the new drummer, Dean Butterworth of Good Charlotte recorded drums for the album. The recording session for this album was the longest of any The Used album, as it took them over six months to record. Lies for the Liars received mixed reviews[16] and has 8 B-sides. The Used had considered making a double album since 19 songs were recorded, but this idea was dropped after they decided to save the songs for a future release. Before Lies for the Liars was even released, The Used had planned on releasing an EP of the album's B-sides. On February 19, 2008 the EP was released, titled Shallow Believer, which featured B-sides from all their studio albums. It was only released on digital music stores and it has charted #13 on iTunes' top 100 albums.[5]

Artwork and new DVD (2009-present)

Howard at The Used's show in Lancaster PA, May 4, 2009

The Used worked on their fourth studio album throughout all of 2008. They took several breaks while working on the album to be the headlining band on the inaugural "Get a Life Tour" and to play shows Jakarta, Indonesia; Seoul, South Korea; 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. They decided to go with a different producer because they want the album to be different from everything else that they've done in the past.[17] It is also the first studio album by The Used to feature Dan Whitesides as the drummer since he joined the band in 2006. In AP magazine, Bert 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 10 times messier and noisier than they've ever been.",[18] it also revealed information about the concept of the album: "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".[18] Bert goes on to say, "we haven't been this excited about an album since our self titled back in 2002." The album is due to be released in June of 2009[18] and is going to be called Artwork[19] along with a DVD release not long after.[20] The cover of "Burning down the House" by the Talking Heads was released on the Warner Bros. cover compilation album Covered, A Revolution in Sound.[21] They have also been scheduled to headline one of the shows at this year's SXSW festival[22] and this year's Rock on the Range. At new shows, they are performing a new track entitled "Blood on My Hands" which is the first single from the album.

Band members

The Used performing at Reading Festival, 2007. From left: Quinn Allman, Bert McCracken and Dan Whitesides

Current members

Former members

Temporary members

Discography

Main article: The Used discography

Studio albums

Other releases

References

  1. ^ BMXUltra (2006-11-12). "Review: The Used Self-titled Album". bmxultra.com. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  2. ^ Andy Greenwald (2003-11-21). "Screamo 101". EW.com. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  3. ^ Jonathan Dee (2003-06-29). "The Summer of Screamo". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  4. ^ http://media.www.kentnewsnet.com/media/storage/paper867/news/2009/04/30/Entertainment/were-Gonna.Rock-3732143.shtml
  5. ^ a b c "The First Annual ROCKSTAR Energy Drink GET A LIFE TOUR Presented by Samsung Mobile Announces Artist Lineup and Tour". Reuters. 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2008-06-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "Now That The Used Are No Longer Using, Life Is 'Unreal'" MTV. July 18, 2002. Retrieved February 7, 2009. Cite error: The named reference "mtv" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ "The Used Offer Old 'Memories' In New CD/DVD Package" MTV. June 13, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  8. ^ "((( The Used > Biography )))" allmusic. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  9. ^ "I’m Out of My Head!" Blender. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  10. ^ a b c d RIAA - Gold & Platinum - May 30, 2008
  11. ^ "The Used" Blender. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
  12. ^ "Scream it out loud" The Age. June 3, 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
  13. ^ The Used: In Love and Death (2004): Reviews
  14. ^ a b c Branden Leaves the Used
  15. ^ ultimate-guitar.com
  16. ^ The Used: Lies For The Liars (2007): Reviews Metacritic.
  17. ^ You Sing, I Write: Q&A with Jeph Howard of The Used
  18. ^ a b c "In the Studio" Alternative Press (October 2008) issue 243, p. 38
  19. ^ [http://www.blender.com/The-Used-Get-Bloggy-About-SXSW/Blender-Blog/blogs/1168/63489.aspx
  20. ^ The Used Interview
  21. ^ Punknews.org | Warner acts cover other Warner acts with Against Me!, Black Keys, Flaming Lips, Taking Back Sunday
  22. ^ Tour Dates - The Used
  23. ^ "Drummer Kicked Out of The Used". StarPulse.com. 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
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