The Used Are Gang Of Octopussies

Magnolia was released in 1999; Fire In The Sky was released in 1993. But in 2010, those films are still having a profound effect on Bert McCracken's life.

McCracken's no aspiring filmmaker — he's the scruffy frontman of Utah screamo-punks The Used. He's not contemplating the critical value of each movie; they're actually the reason he gets held up whenever he tries to enter Canada.

"I don't even feel guilty. I'm not a criminal," he says, doing his best Richard Nixon impression. "I stole [those] two movies from Blockbuster. The cops stopped us, and said, 'Let us look in your backpacks,' and there were movies in there."

McCracken says The Used's criminal records — which, he jokingly added, include child abduction, methamphetamine trafficking and tax "persuasion" — are nearly a decade old, but they still haunt the band.

But their border problems don't end there.

"When our bass player was going through customs recently, they were asking them all about his tattoos — like, 'what gang is that tattoo?'" said McCracken, himself a tangle of messy hair and faded ink. "It's a tattoo of an octopus — yeah, it's a gang.

"We're called the Octopussies."

But considering McCracken and Octopussi-er Used guitarist Quinn Allman were relaxing and smoking cigarettes in the bowels of Toronto's Air Canada Centre while I was conducting this interview, they were no worse for the wear.
The band were preparing for a show with Three Days Grace in support of their latest album, last year's Artwork. They had spent the last two months touring Canada, soaking in plenty of new sights.

"It's our first time in a couple places," he said. "We played Victoria, Regina, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat or Edmonton."

They've already made plenty of fond, if sordid, memories in places like Toronto.

"We'd played a lot of the same arenas when we did the Taste Of Chaos tour," he said. "It's kinda cool to be back and to be like, 'Hey, I fucked that girl in that bathroom right there!'

"There's my cum stains, there's Bert's," Allman chimes in, pointing to an imaginary urinal. "And you can see where our boots smacked together on that wall right there!"

But they're joking — we think. McCracken also says that it's been rewarding playing for fresh ears in Three Days Grace's audience.

"[Many of the fans], they're new," he said. "They're new to us, they're new to music. Our sound is from a different generation.

"A lot of people I've talked to — it's their very first concert they've been to, and they've been waiting to go to the Three Days Grace show. It's cool that they get to see a real, honest rock band while they go and see the other things, as well."

New fans have responded well to songs from Artwork, an album their scraggly singer describes as "pure honesty."

McCracken took his time penning his lyrics for the album and the band fleshed out previously abandoned song ideas predating their previous album, 2007's Lies For The Liars.

"We wanted to make a record that had the pop sensibility of a Used record," he said. "But we avoided things that were so sharp and clean, and let some of the mistakes shine through. We let the true sound of us come through."

The band will be touring the Japan, the U.S. and Australia next. They'll be headlining their American dates, starting Jan. 27, with Atreyu and Drive A in tow. McCracken promises fans a good time, no matter the locale.

"Don't eat glass, smoke grass, cut class, give us some cash and we'll give you a bash my lass," he says with a chuckle.

Words to live by.

Catch the Used at the following dates:

Jan. 15 Nagoya, Japan @ Club Quattro
Jan. 16 Tokyo, Japan @ O-East
Jan. 27 San Diego, CA @ House of Blues w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Jan. 28-29 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Jan. 31 Lubbock, TX @ The Pavilion w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 1 Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 3 Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 5 Fargo, ND @ The Venue w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 6 Sioux City, IA @ Convention Center w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 8 DeKalb, IL @ Convocation Center w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 9 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 12 Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 13 Providence, RI @ Lupo's w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 14 Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 16 Niagara Falls, NY @ Rapids Theatre w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 17 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 19 Columbus, OH @ Lifestyles Pavilion w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 20 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 22 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 23 Knoxville, TN @ Valarium w/ Atreyu and Drive A
Feb. 25 Charlotte, NC @ Fillmore w/ Atreyu and Drive A
March 12 Sydney, Australia @ The Roundhouse w/ Atreyu and Drive A
March 14, 16 Melbourne, Australia @ The HiFi
March 18 Brisbane, Australia The Tivoli