Interviews: The Used

I recently spoke with Jeph Howard of The Used about their new album, Lies for the Liars. We actually talked in May, but due to a variety of problems that would probably make for a wacky British sitcom, the interview has been delayed until today.

Jeph and I talked about the recent defection of drummer Brandon Steineckert, who joined Rancid, their successes and the record itself.

You can click Read More for the interview.

What have you been up to
in the past few weeks?

We went on a little press
tour around the U.S., actually before that we went to Taste of Chaos, which was
incredible. Did that all over the whole U.S. It’s kind of our first time back since we’ve stopped touring.
And actually when we ended our last tour, it was Taste of Chaos too, which was
kind of cool, ending on the same kind of tour.

After that we went to Europe
for "Give It a Name" which was pretty fun, it was us and HIM, it was really
really cool actually. Did about 5 shows on that , came back home for a little
bit and did this little signing
thing where we flew around and did some in store signings for a bunch of
different places meeting some kids and now were home for a couple more days.

This is your first record
without drummer Branden Steineckert
right? How’s the dynamic been?

Yes, and it’s awesome I
can’t even tell you the chemistry we got going on right now, more explosive
then we’ve ever had it. I definitely think were stronger then we’ve ever been
as a band. We actually feel really really good about it now.

Is there any ill will
between you guys and Branden?

Not that I really know of.
Things are as they are, and that’s all it really what it is. Rancid has been
his favorite band of all time and were happiest the way we are too.

The last record seemed to
have a lot of themes, it was obviously about a lot of tragedies in Bert’s life.
Is there anything in particular in this one?

Well we went through loosing
a drummer and it was different and it was a pretty harsh thing. We’ve had a lot
of time to just reflect and to realize where he was at in life and realize who
his real friends were and who his real friends weren’t and sort of gazing on
everything. And then he had a bunch of personal things that I think that he
went through that were more
detailed that is more of his personal stuff that I don’t want to get into.

We just don’t consider ourselves ‘emo’ or ‘screamo’ and we never have. We’re a rock band that’s all we’ve ever been.

I think he just realized life and about life a little bit
more. And you can definitely tell
on this record, it’s definitely just, I want to say the most rock record
that we’ve ever done. Most in your face rock. We actually wrote 40 songs and
recorded 20 and we only put 11 on this record, so we’ve got nine more. songs that are kind of just
floating around and we’re going to later put it on an E.P.

Your last record sold
like 3 million copies so obviously there’s going to be a huge amount of
anticipation for this one?
I didn’t even know it sold 3
million, haha. Wow that’s pretty good. You’re talking worldwide though, but
that’s still pretty cool.

Do you think about that
stuff when you’re in the studio?

No, not at all, I mean like
I just said, I don’t really have a clue how many we’ve sold. But we don’t
really look at that. For us, it doesn’t really matter in the end.

Only thing that matters is
that we’re happy with what we’re doing, and we love our songs and that’s how we
feel. This record we feel more strongly about it musically and lyrically and
vocally then we’ve ever felt about anything. In the end, it’s good for us.

Who are the "liars" you
are talking about here?

You know what? That’s a
pretty open vague statement. I think it’s more about pointing fingers at Bert
in a way. He says it’s about LA and about different people, and about the
world, but at the same time I think he’s pointing fingers back at himself.
Everyone lies and I think it’s such an open statement and Lies for the Liars is
like stealing from the thieves, it’s like "you get what you get."

Regardless of what the
actual numbers are, you guys have had a lot of success and have managed to stay
a big band for a long time, and most bands disappear after one or two big
albums, do you have any advice for bands that are coming up right now?

I mean were just writing
music for our self we’re not writing music to get big and it doesn’t matter if
you are the biggest band in the world, we don’t care. It matters more you’re
happy with what you’re doing and happy with the way you are going about it.

I think that’s what changed
from our first record to this record, is that with first we were doing what we
wanted to do and now with this one, we know what we want to do, so we’re doing it that way if
that makes sense.

What plans do you have
for the rest of the year? You just came off of Taste of Chaos and have been on
the road for a while.

We’re going to tour A LOT.
We’ve got a plan to come to the U.S., but not for a little bit, we’re going to
take our time coming back here. We want to let people soak in the CD for a bit
and let them understand it and then come back. When we finally do our U.S. tour
is going to be pretty sweet, I’m really excited about that.

As far as the record
itself, how is the songwriting been for you guys as a band, obviously you guys
have had a line up change, and you had had a pretty solid line up before for
years so are you guys writing as a group? I guess you had Dean Butterworth on
drums in the studio?

Yes and No, with Dean he
recorded, the way it was written was with our friend Dan from Utah who was
actually there with us and the only reason Dean was there was that John
(Feldman) and Dean had a friendship going on and he knows how he works in the
studio and John knows how he works in the studio and Dan didn’t really want to
record in the studio. It was sort of our drummer just left and everything was
still a little wavy, so we wanted to make sure that things were right.

So we made sure by using
Dean in the studio. There were a couple of changes. I would say that half the
songs that we wrote and recorded, they were jammed out, like how we usually do as
a full band. Just jam and did it that way. The other half was that Quinn has
about a million guitar lines and has an 8 track just filled with guitar lines
and just riffs. And he just loops and loops over those, and loops guitar lines
over that. And when we sit down and jam we have those to kind of go over first
and sit down and can those up and see what we can come up with.

So the other half was him
with those guitar lines sitting down with Bert and getting a vocal line before
actually coming up the music and Bert would maybe come up with a piano melody
and come up with words that way and then from there we’d take it to the studio
and jam it out. Then we’d sit in a room and Dean would play drums to it and
we’d all four of us including John would say "Now try playing it with a slam
here," or "Go into it playing it with a feel here for this fill." Little bit
different since we were talking about the drums more.

You’ve been working with
John Feldman for a long time.

Since the beginning
actually. Right after our demo we started working with him.

Is that a loyalty thing
or is it just he knows you guys?

I think it’s sort of a
family thing. After the 1st record we said we weren’t going to go
back to him but we did, because at the end it was sort of like we know John and
were not scared to do things around him and we know how he works, so that’s
when we decided, let’s go with John for the second record.

And with the third one, we
didn’t have a drummer and it was sort of like oh man, who’s going to let us come
into their studio and write songs without a drummer and we know John and how he
works and how good of a person he is and we back him up as a producer 100% So
we decided let’s try John one more time and this time, let’s push him, we
wanted to push him to his ends. And it seems like John definitely pushes us in
a way that were not used to being pushed and we definitely push him in a way
that he’s not use to.

There was a statement
that you guys made that you didn’t want to be part of the screamo scene anymore.

We never really were, I
think. We never considered ourselves a ‘screamo’ or ‘emo’ band.

But are you more actively
distancing yourself (from screamo) this time?

Not as much, we just don’t
consider ourselves ‘emo’ or ‘screamo’ and we never have. We’re a rock band
that’s all we’ve ever been. It seems like the whole genre even just the name,
is just a name for newer bands is all they’re trying to put it as. And that’s
fine , people try to come up with names for different genres all the time. Rock
music, country music, little sub genres like drone music, sludge music,
softcore, posthardcore, hardcore, it’s just describing like an era I think ,
like a place almost.

But we’re just a rock band
in the end. It just seems like the emo or screamo genres came out of a certain
area, and we came out of Utah. We just wanted to be a rock band that’s it.

We’ve gotten help through Warped Tour , every band on that tour has gotten help through Warped Tour, it’s an amazing thing just to have around.

Do you read the reviews?

I don’t personally, I’ve
read a couple. No matter what if it’s a good review or a bad review, either way
it’s bad to read, at least for yourself. You really just have to go on as you
are and keep yourself level and as straight as you can. And even if your
reviews are all good, you’re going to start thinking that you are better then
you are and if your reviews are all bad, you’re going to start and get angry
and resentful more. At the same time, if you’re happy with it, you’re happy
with it.

There’s a book and it’s
called My So-Called Punk,
and in the book Kevin Lyman describes you guys as one of the few rock bands out
there with real presence. How’s it feel to hear something like that from a guy
like him?

That’s really nice of them
actually. Feels pretty good, I mean he’s done a lot for music, he started one
of the biggest summer tours that has ever existed. How many bands have [been
helped by] Warped Tour? We’ve gotten help through Warped Tour , every band on
that tour has gotten help through Warped Tour, it’s an amazing thing just to have around.

You mentioned all this
extra material, do you think you will do an EP before the international Taste
of Chaos in the fall or winter?

(Fan interrupts Jepha at
the mall)

Fan- "I don’t mean to be
rude or anything, but you aren’t by any chance in The Used?

Jepha - "Yeah
actually I am, haha, but I’m doing in interview right now can I talk to you in
a sec."

Fan- "Oh man, I’m so
sorry, my manager saw you wanted to see if you wanted to come in, I work at Hot
Topic."

Jepha- "Oh no way, yah
I’ll come by and say hi, I promise, thanks a lot."

Did you just make some
kid’s day?

I guess, I stopped by a mall
cause I knew I was going to be doing interviews and I’m pretty far away from
where I was supposed to be going so I’m just walking around a Borders, and some
kid saw me walk by and said that his manager knew me or something.