Exclusive Q and A: The Used Get 'Vulnerable'

posted in: Exclusive Interviews • Rock

Ten years ago, The Used exploded onto the modern alternative rock scene with their edgy and emotionally-charged debut album, The Used. Led by versatile frontman Bert McCracken”a vocalist who’s sweet and smooth pop voice can be easily turned into an ear-shattering scream” the group made a name for themselves with singles like “Taste of Ink” and “Box Full of Sharp Objects.” The Used saw further mainstream success with their subsequent records, In Love & Death and Lies For The Liars, as their shows became bigger and bolder than ever before. In 2010, they released Artwork, a strongly negative and dark album on which the band had struggled for creative control.

Never ones to quit when the going gets tough, The Used decided to take matters into their own hands and go DIY for their upcoming release, Vulnerable. Both McCracken and guitarist Quinn Allman took the time to meet up with us at SXSW in Austin, TX, to discuss the new album and how the band has grown, musically and personally, since they first began.

OS: You just returned from Soundwave in Australia. What was that experience like? How did the fans respond to the new single?

BM: It was amazing. It was the biggest, craziest festival. I mean, there’s like, one million bands on it, I think? 1,200,000 bands? [laughs] A lot of metal bands, so for a band like us¦we kind of had to watch where we walk and not get beat up by all the metalheads. But it was so fun. We’re just doing I Come Alive right now from the new record, since it’s not out yet¦but the feedback we got was amazing. Australian fans are fucking crazy.

OS: I hear that from a lot of people, that fans overseas are so much more excited¦

BM: It’s weird…England and Europe and Australia are really crazy.

OS: You’re about to put out your brand new record, Vulnerable, and you’ve taken a DIY approach to this release. Can you talk about the advantages and disadvantages of releasing your own record?

BM: I guess the only disadvantage is we have to do pretty much all of the work ourselves. We teamed up with Hopeless to handle the distribution of the record, which is really cool. They’re really on it. I’d say the advantages are¦everything else in the whole world. We get to do whatever we want with our own music, we get to create the type of things we want to create, no one can tell us what to do or how to do it, we get to make our own music video the way we want to make it¦I mean, just 100% creative freedom. It’s incredible.

OS: Based on the first two singles from this album, you guys seem to be stretching into new genre territory. Who, or what, inspired you to start adding these pop and electronic elements to your songs?

BM: I think that we’re all really into different types of music. Every person in the band has different tastes. Our drummer just really loves butt rock and Mí¶tley Crüe and shit. Everyone’s into such different music, and I think especially with music nowadays, it’s not very genre-specific. We can sort of mish-mash and add in whatever we feel like. I think, in the end, after Quinn puts his guitar and my voice on there, I think it definitely sounds like The Used.

QA: That’s the fun part, really. That’s the thing we’ve always liked doing, taking a style and changing it around and doing something different with it. We could have something that sounds like Enya and then if Dan puts a heavy rock beat to it and Bert does something different on it¦that’s the fun part.

BM: It makes it more fun for us, too.

OS: In contrast to Artwork, you’ve said that Vulnerable is a more positive record. What are some the lyrical themes on this album that contribute to that?

BM: There’s a lot of thematic talk of fire and burning. It goes along with the theme of daring to dream and living your life with an open heart and becoming more than just the person you think you are. I think that what everyone should really get out of this record is the fact that we have the ability, as human beings, to accomplish anything we put our minds to.

OS: You recorded Vulnerable with [producer and Goldfinger frontman] John Feldmann, who you’ve worked with before. Why did you decide to work with him again?

BM: He’s like family to us, so it just felt right and the right time, the moment. We just got dropped from the record label, so working out how we were going to pay to make our own record was kind of an issue. He was very lenient in dealing with us¦and also, he’s just very creative and he’s a hard worker. His work ethic inspires us every day to work harder and it’s just a beautiful situation.

OS: You’re a band whose first album is considered a classic in your genre. Do you ever feel pressure when writing a new album to try to compete with that record?

BM: We can only write what we have in our hearts and we can only write for us. It’s not a competition with ourselves. I love our first record, I love our new record. At the same time, I think this new record has a lot of emotional throwbacks to the first record about escaping and daring to dream and really rising up to the occasion.

OS: One thing that I’ve always appreciated about The Used is how you grow and change with every record. You haven’t just made the same album five times.

BM: That would be so boring for us, to do that! We make music that we want to hear first, you know?

OS: Definitely. While we’re on the subject of your older material¦we’re approaching the ten year anniversary of your debut album. Looking back on the last ten years, what do you think is the most important lesson you’ve learned as an artist?

BM: For me, personally, what I’ve learned about life is that it’s really all about successes and failures and what we do with those successes and failures really defines us as people, especially as artists.

QA: I think just living your life, making the most of every moment. Having a good attitude is the key to life in general, I think¦and just never settling. If something’s good, that’s cool, but try to make it great. That’s kind of my mantra, I guess.

BM: That’s your creed, dog! [laughs]

OS: So, what’s in store for The Used for the rest of 2012? Will we be seeing you guys out on tour in the US this summer?

BM: We’re doing some Europe and UK dates in April, and then in May we’re doing a headlining tour through the states. Then in June and July we’ll be out on Warped Tour…then some more European stuff, South America, East Asia, all over…then back in the states for another headlining tour in the fall.

Listen to “I Come Alive” below and make sure you pre-order Vulnerable, which drops on March 27th!