The Used

Melissa sits down with Quinn and Dan from band The Used

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CONFRONT: So how’s your tour going so far?

Quinn: It’s good. We’ve made it through!

CONRONT: Yeah?

Quinn: Yeah, It’s been pretty interesting. A few surprises, but it’s been busy.

CONFRONT: Any crazy experiences?

Dan: Not since we’ve been in Canada!

*Everyone laughs*

Dan: It’s just been too cold to do anything

CONFRONT: Yeah, you guys aren’t used to the weather…?

Dan: No, we are… but, I mean, we’re from Utah- and it’s pretty cold there but it’s just once the show is over we just kind of hang out together, drink beers and stuff.

CONFRONT: That’s cool… just hanging out

*laughs*

CONFRONT: So do you guys mind just giving me a brief history of the band- how you guys all met, got together?

Quinn: Well I was in a band with Jeph and Brandon, our old drummer. We met Bert around 2001 and we immediately started working on songs and had about a demo’s worth… and that’s when we met John Feldman who’s the singer for Goldfinger. He flew us out to California, to his house and we started our full length album. Everything pretty much just picked up from there: we went on tour, went on Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and that’s basically how it all started. We’ve toured all over the world and our current band has been together for about 3-4 years and we’re just tighter than ever… and this is our fourth full length album.

CONFRONT: Sounds good! Who have been your musical influences throughout your whole career?

Quinn: Just about everything, in a way.

Dan: Anything except new country, Christmas music…

*laughs*

Quinn: I mean, we all grew up on a lot of different music, but a lot of the same music too. The Beatles, Beach Boys, classic rock, punk rock, punk core

CONFRONT: So really everything

Quinn: One hit wonders… yeah, everything

CONFRONT: Do you guys have any personal favorites of your own stuff: songs, albums…?

Quinn: I really like Artwork -our last album- and Shallow Believer.

Dan: I like it all

Quinn: I like it all, but my favorite is probably the new stuff

CONFRONT: Awesome. What would you guys say has been your greatest accomplishment so far in your career?

Dan: I think just being able to do what we’re doing right now. That in itself is an accomplishment that 1% of everyone who dreams of doing this gets to do it, so we’re very fortunate- and to me… I’ve accomplished everything that I’ve set out to accomplish. So now I have new goals to look forward to.

CONFRONT: For sure. Any important lessons you’ve learnt over the years?

Quinn: All kinds, yeah. I’ve probably learnt to communicate better and not gossip as much… I’ve learned how quickly a negative attitude affects everything- you’ve just got to stay positive and roll with it.

CONFRONT: Yeah, for sure. So you guys just released your newest album. What would you say are the biggest differences between Artwork and your first album?

Quinn: They’re in some ways similar because we had most of the album written, most of the music arranged when we got to the studio, same with the first album. But I think that there’s a little less of the producer/artist relationship. It was kind of an equal relationship- it wasn’t so much us leaning on him for ideas. It was new for us at first, when the band first started. It seemed like we needed to listen and try to make it bigger and elaborate and take it out of Utah. We needed to listen and try new things. But we’ve learned so much that we’ve taken that for ourselves and put that into our new record and it’s a lot more of our art.

CONFRONT: It comes more naturally

Quinn: Yeah the production was kind of hand in hand with the producer. It’s heavier, it’s bigger.

CONFRONT: How has fans’ reaction been so far on the album?

Dan: Great. I mean everywhere we go- Just before this tour we were doing our headlining U.S tour, and every single song, every single word… we have rad fans. No matter what song we play they know every word. I mean, I don’t know every word! *laughs* It’s been a great response. More importantly, we love the album so it’s just an extra bonus when other people get into it.

CONFRONT: Yeah, for sure. It’s nice when people like what you do

Dan: Yeah, exactly. Or else… we’d be playing to ourselves!

*laughs*

CONFRONT:  Where does the title of your album come from?

Quinn: The title kind of came out of several ideas. Bert had drawn it onto a folder and we visually just started talking about it… like, Artwork, that just seems like a cool title. It’s got a duality to it, art and work. It just stuck.

Dan: I think also, when we thought about it, it also kind of turned into the lack of art that people are putting into their music. Not everyone, but a lot. And just the lack of work that people do now. A lot of people rely on other people rather than doing it the way they want to do it. This album was 100% ours. It’s our artwork.

CONFRONT: Yeah, definitely. I read that for this album you guys worked with a different producer. How did that affect the final product of it?

Quinn: It was good.

Dan: He was hands off

Quinn: Yeah, he was hands off. In the past, with John Feldman he was really hands on. He has a clear vision and he executes things really fast. He’ll say “that’s a good idea”  “That’s not a good idea”. Matt was a lot more… well he had to sort of translate our ideas a little more. We were pretty picky about what we wanted it to be but he gave us time. He was just a really cool guy.

Dan: He was really laid back

Quinn: Yeah! He was just on his phone a lot… playing brick breaker and just listening… not really putting his ego into the mix.

Dan: He had a lot of cool ideas but mostly we just got to do what we wanted to do. That makes it a lot easier to be in the studio and be around someone. Everyone has to be open minded- we have to be open minded- we have to be open to his ideas he has to be open to ours… but it was just a smooth process really.

CONFRONT: Yeah, definitely. And you guys have been together for close to ten years now, overall as a band. Where do you see yourself in 10 more?

Quinn: Oh gosh, just keep growing… I see us on the same path that we’re on. We’re evolving and we’re going through different things with life, you know as you get older, your priorities and stuff. But making music is something that we all see as in the end being fun and being what we do instead of a chore. So I think that we’ll get more into just what we want to do and having fun with it, or continue to.

CONFRONT: Yeah! Who does most of the writing for the band?

Quinn: Bert writes pretty much all of the lyrics. The music is a collaborative thing. It’ll either just spark from an idea, like a guitar idea, or me and Dan and Jeph jam… and we just give it to Bert and he puts some kind of melody… and along the way it transforms itself into a song.

CONFRONT: So the process is always different I guess for each song?

Quinn: Kind of, yeah. We just try and make it collaborative so it’s not just from one. But it depends- sometimes a song or an idea can get too many ideas stacked on top of each other and you lose the feeling so sometimes it comes from an idea, or a demo idea that I’ve got… or it’s me and Dan jamming out, or Jeph and Dan.

CONFRONT: Would you say that you guys collaborated on all the albums, you all really help out?

Quinn: Yeah-  I’d say that for Love and Death we kind of went to the studio with only 10 ideas, maybe even 5 ideas. And we ended up scrapping like… the 5 ideas. So in the process of recording those, I was on my A-track in my apartment just coming up with ideas and bringing them and putting them on CDs. I think for that process it was a lot more of me bringing an idea into the studio and working on the idea with Bert. It was a little less collaborative musically but now everybody is really into their parts. We all genuinely like playing together and adding our own little piece to it.

CONFRONT: That helps, for sure.

Quinn: We rely on each other a lot

CONFRONT: For sure. Where would you say you pull the most inspiration for your songs?

Quinn: I think that’s a question more for Bert… but I think that it comes from his world of thought… I mean, of course- but he’s a crazy writer. He’s quite a poet. I think that a lot of it maybe comes from the literature that he reads, the movies that he watches and his relationships, the reflection of his life and his decisions and his inner struggles, or his struggles. It’s really more a question for Bert though, I think.

CONFRONT: Okay, do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

Dan: Just warm up!

Quinn: Yeah, warm up

Dan: Warm up for about an hour, hour and a half… then we give each other a big hug, say we love each other, have a good show, don’t f*ck up

Quinn: I’ll be watching you!

Dan: Yes, I’ll be watching you, eyes on you all night! … Just kidding *laughs* but definitely the first two. We just give each other a big hug and we warm up.

Quinn: “There are scouts out there tonight, don’t f*ck up”

Dan: “Guys, the label’s watching!”

CONFRONT: “… be careful”?!

*laughs*

Dan: “Don’t trip!”

*Everyone laughs*

CONFRONT: If you guys weren’t musicians, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Quinn: I don’t know! I’d probably just be holding down some kind of job and trying to play music still.

CONFRONT: That’s always kind of been there, music?

Quinn: Yeah, I would still just do that. And maybe if I made it into some kind of production/film/production design thing… But I’d probably get by with a job and try to still play music!

CONFRONT: For sure. Last question, what’s next for the band?

Dan: Well, we have a show tomorrow

Quinn: Then we go home!

Dan: Yeah, we haven’t been home in 80-something days! So then we go home… then we go to Hawaii, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Europe, U.S again, hopefully we come back to Canada somewhere in there. This is kind of just the beginning tour of this record. And in the process we’re going to be writing some new music, so we’ll have a new album coming out as soon as we’re done!

CONFRONT: Awesome! Well thank you very much guys

Dan & Quinn: Thanks!

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