Interview with The Used

The Used interview w/ Quinn and Jeph - interviewer Laura Schriefer

After the guys took a walk they came back to the tourbus. They welcomed me very nicely, shook hands and then smoked a cigarette. After some smalltalk about Jeph’s shirt matching his shoes and being too short on him we went into the bus and did the interview. I Interviewed Quinn (guitar) and Jeph (bass), Bert just arrived when we finished.>

Punk76: May you please introduce yourself shortly for our readers?
Quinn: Hello everyone I’m Quinn
Jeph: And I’m Jeph and we’re one half of The Used
Quinn: Two fourth (laughing)
Jeph: 8/16th (also laughing)

Punk76: I read that you know eachother from highschool, is that true?
Quinn: Uhm, around those days, yeah.
Jeph: Me and Quinn went to the same highschool

Punk76: Have you been friends since then?
Quinn: I was 17
Jeph: I was 19 maybe 20
Quinn: yeah.. 20.

Punk76: In 1997 you did a casting to find a singer, then you met Bert but your official founding year is 2000. What happened in those 3 years between?
Jeph: We’ve been in different bands, I think we met Bert later, I think in 2000
Quinn: We met him in 2000 yeah. And around that time we were in a few other bands and then kind of stopped playing and then we found Bert and Jeph started playing the bass and we sort of got it going around in 1999/2000. 2001 we got signed (note from

Punk76: They got signed to Reprise Records)

Punk76: I guess everyone asks that but why did you name yourself “The Used”?
Quinn: It just sort of came upon us I don’t know. At the time a few people that we knew had said that we used them at some point.
Jeph: Used them for a place to live smiles, to get where we wanted. They were friends who said that to us, that’s the worst part.
Quinn: There were just strong words that friends had said, that we were using them for a car, using them for a place to stay.
Jeph: smiling They’ve taken it back since then. I think it means more now, I think it’s almost like a collective it’s like a lot of our fans had problems in life and they’ve had things they went through and problems they went through and it seems like the Used is sort of the whole, the group, like all the people who have had problems and everything. Life problems, this is what it kind of seems like to me now.
Quinn: It just stuck.

Punk76: Who of you guys is writing the lyrics to your songs? Where do your inspirations come from?
Quinn: Bert does pretty much all the lyrics and the melodys and stuff like that, it’s his world, we all have like different influences but I know Bert reads a lot of Chuck Palahnuik (note from

Punk76: American transgressional fiction novelist), lots of different stuff, Craig Clevenger (note from

Punk76: American author of contemporary fiction), Edgar Allan Poe just a lot of everything and just music, a lot of really hardcore stuff but all of us have different influences.

Punk76: So if he writes a song and you don’t like it, do you tell him and then you don’t play it or do you accept everything Bert writes?
Jeph: There’s nothing that we’ve written that I don’t like personally I mean it’s like each one of us put our little part into it, so if you’re not happy with your part then you should maybe change your part but if you’re not happy with somebodys elses part then we usually talk about it, sit down and try to bring that up.
Quinn: Yeah we usually don’t follow a song too far if we don’t feel it’s good from the beginning. So you know, if we have a good idea to start with then we go for it but if it doesn’t work we usually just work on something else.

Punk76: Do all of you have tattoos?
Quinn: (looks down on the tattoo on his arm) yeah, we all do.

Punk76: Do you think they belong to the rock and roll lifestyle or why did you get them? Quinn: Uhm, just for fun smiling

Punk76: (to Jeph) I see you have a lot of them
Jeph: They’re all fake mine are all Henna laughing I just had a friend who is a Tattoo Artist, and so..

Punk76: Ah, okay, that would be my next question, any favourite tattoo artists you would like to point out?
Jeph: Vic Back is really good
Quinn: Yeah, Vic Back has tattooed all of us and he’s like our homie from Salt Lake
Jeph: There’s Richard Hernandez or Robert Hernandez? >From Spain (note fromIt’s Robert Hernandez). He’s incredible. He’s so incredible, like he’s really really good.
Quinn: Pat Delvar, “Good Times Tattoo” in Salt Lake is where we got most of our work.
Jeph: There’s a girl in Japan named “Nazu” at Chopstick Tattoo, she’s pretty cool. She does really cute stuff but it’s pretty cool.

Punk76: You did lots of big festivals like Ozzfest, Vans Warped Tour and Linkin Park’s Project Revolution, do you enjoy festival shows more compared to shows in smaller clubs or venues?
Jeph: Uhm, they’re just different I wouldn’t say like more I would say different.
Quinn: yeah, well I think we do better inside at a show of our own but we’re used to playing all those shows so we make it work.
Jeph: They’re both good.

Punk76: This year you released a digital EP named “Shallow Believer”, why didn’t you release it as a normal album/CD?
Quinn: We got kinda pushed into the corner with our record label they were trying to put something out there. We look back on it now with a little bit of you know.. I don’t know.. we wanted to put it out but our label put it on Itunes.

Punk76: Did you ever think about releasing an acoustic album?
Quinn: Uhm, not really.

Punk76: Just because you don’t like it or you just didn’t think about it yet?
Quinn:It’s sort of.. thinks a bit I don’t know.. I mean yeah we.. I don’t know. Not really.

Punk76: How important is the internet for your carreer? Especially communitys like Myspace and so on?
Quinn: It’s important for everybody.
Jeph: Yeah, it’s a big part of music now.
Quinn: It’s just gonna get bigger and it will be the main. I think it’s the new marketplace for everything.

Punk76: Do you have the time to read your Myspace messages sometimes? I mean I guess you get lots and lots of them?
Quinn: Oh yeah, we try to everyday.
Jeph: We do as much as we can. Dan, our drummer, does the most, he spends 3 or 4 hours a day on Myspace.
Quinn: We have another thing called “Kype” that we put videos on and then those videos go to myspace, we do that a lot, too.

Punk76: You released 3 DVD’s so far, which one is your personal favourite?
Quinn: Berth.
Jeph: Yeah Berth is a good one. They all have their good points I think. The third one, you mean the last record that came with the DVD?

Punk76: Yes
Jeph: I think the new one will be good, too.
Quinn: We’ll have a new one.
Jeph: Started working for the new one.

Punk76: [ Question to Quinn] Quinn, one of our readers would like to know how old you’ve been when you started playing guitar. Did you take lessons?
Quinn: I took lessons for maybe like 3 weeks they were just like.. I started playing when I was 15 and when I was 16 I got an acoustic and I took lessons for almost like a month, just fingerpicking and learning the chord names, the notes and stuff but most everything I’ve learned from is from listening to a CD jamming along in my room. Haven’t done that in a long time though. Now I just play by myself or with the band.

Punk76: If you could choose one band to do a worldtour with, which band would it be and why?
Jeph: thinking It would have to be a band that is bigger than us.
Quinn: There’s not not very many there smiling
Quinn: Foo Fighters would be really cool.

Punk76: Foo Fighters, I just saw them at a festival.
Jeph: really? How was it?

Punk76: They were pretty good.
Jeph: Weezer would be cool.
Quinn: The new album sucks.
Jeph: The new album does suck.
Jeph: N.E.R.D would be cool smiling we just saw them play.

Punk76: They did the Project Revolution tour, right?
Jeph: Yeah, they were really good.

Punk76: What is your favourite food?
Jeph: It depends which country.

Punk76: Germany?
Jeph: Falaffel. Punk76: laughing Very german
Jeph: Is it?
Punk76: No, not really.
Jeph: Europe, mostly Falaffel.
Quinn: Panini, Falaffel..
Quinn: I like asian food, I like sushi.
Jeph: Japanese is my number one favourite food.

Punk76: If you wouldn’t be in a band, what would your profession be?
Jeph: Pro Basketball player.

Punk76: Basketball player, interesting.
Jeph: laughing no, I can’t play sports. A home musician?
Quinn: I’d be.. there would be music involved somehow. Who knows? I don’t know.

Punk76: What kind of car do you drive? What is your dream car?
Jeph: I have a Mini

Punk76: A Mini? Really? Very cool.
Quinn: I’m getting a (Toyota) Prius laughing
Jeph: The hybrid cars..
Quinn: I’ve haven’t had a car in a while I’ve just been renting cars..
Jeph *laughing* :oh god..

Punk76: Why don’t you buy one?
Quinn: ‘Cause I have a lot of bills.

Punk76: And you don’t get a lot of money?
Quinn: I’m gonna buy a car.. no I just have been.. lazy.
Jeph: I’d like a trike, like one of those motorcycles with 3 wheels, with the 2 big backwheels. I want one of those so bad.
Quinn: I’d like a vintage BMW or something like that

Punk76: What is your favourite song right now?
Quinn: Death and all his friends – Coldplay.
Jeph: Yeah, that is good. Thinks favourite song..

Punk76: Or favourite CD if you can’t decide
Quinn: The new Coldplay Album is great, it’s fucking awesome.
Jeph: smiling I just bought the new N.E.R.D record

Punk76: And I guess you like it?
Jeph: Yeah it’s really cool.
Quinn: Really good..

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