The Used

The Used is an emo-punk screamo or a post-hardcore alternative rock band from Orem, Utah, United States consisting of Bert McCracken (vocals), Quinn Allman (guitar), Jeph Howard (bass) and Branden Steineckert (drums). Their self-titled debut album The Used produced by Reprise Records has so far sold nearly 200,000 copies and counting. The band later released Maybe Memories, a live album featuring the songs from their self-titled album and previously unreleased home demos that also included live footage and interviews on DVD. They released their second album In Love and Death, produced by Warner Brothers, in September, 2004. They will be starting work on their third album, due out in 2006.

Biography

In 1997, Quinn Allman, Jeph Howard, and Branden Steineckert were just three teenage boys playing in their band in their hometown of Orem, Utah. They dreamed of a bigger, brighter future than what awaited them in one of the most densely religious areas of the country. Their band needed a lead vocalist and they found one in Utah native Bert McCracken. They created a home studio and began recording.

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Orem and neighboring city Provo didn?t offer much in the way of paying gigs. When the band did manage to land a show, they often weren?t invited back. "Everywhere we played, people wouldn't let us back because the way we play, I don't know...we kinda...I think it would frighten some people," drummer Branden Steineckert explains. "It's just us goin' off, and it's too much, the puke and the blood and things like that."

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The band struggled with personal problems, too. They faced homelessness, poverty, and drug addiction. Music proved to be a way out. "You're held down so long and told what to do," says Steineckert. "You're supposed to fit in this fuckin' mold all the time. Music is your one place to break out and just say fuck it all, do what you want, be the person you are with no fuckin' rules."

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The band released their self-titled first album in June 2002. Recorded in both John Feldmann?s home studio and Olympic Studios in London, it has since sold over 200,000 copies. Singles include ?A Box Full of Sharp Objects,? ?The Taste of Ink,? ?Buried Myself Alive,? and ?Blue and Yellow.?

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The Used?s sophomore album, In Love and Death, released September 2004, was also produced by John Feldmann (of California-based punk act Goldfinger) and was recorded in his Los Angeles home. It?s a step away from the bloody-throated screamo of The Used, but it still holds true to the rebellious nature that was the foundation for the Used.

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The Used toured in the 2002 Vans Warped Tour, the 2003 Vans Warped Tour, Linkin Park?s Projekt Revolution Tour and most recently, the Taste of Chaos tour. They?ve announced a fall 2005 tour (with Glassjaw) throughout August and September.

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They won Best International Band at the Metal Hammer awards in June 2005.

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They have recently been targeted by a parents' group called Mothers Against Hard Rock, along with My Chemical Romance.

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