{"id":69713,"date":"2018-09-17T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=69713"},"modified":"2024-01-18T23:47:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T23:47:23","slug":"interivew-the-used-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interivew-the-used-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare Circle Pits &#8211; The Used Back on Track"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-69812\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/TheUsed_2018_2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"TheUsed_2018_2\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8220;All the information is out there but it takes a little bit of effort to kind of get involved\u2026 You have to step away from your Instagram for a second.&#8221;<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>After a rocky start to the year having to cancel their UK &amp; Europe tour back in February followed by another line-up change, <b>The Used<\/b> finally made a welcome return to our shores for a series of dates last month. Their schedule saw them spend the weekend at <b>Reading &amp; Leeds Festival<\/b> in between their Europe and UK dates, which was where we were able to catch up with lead singer Bert McCracken for a chat about how much he loved playing in the UK, amongst other things. Sporting a light grey hoodie with the word <em>\u2018Christiania&#8217;<\/em> emblazoned across the front, which Bert keenly informed us was <em>\u201can anarchist commune in Copenhagen\u201d<\/em>, <strong>The Used<\/strong> frontman seemed relaxed and in a jovial mood as we chatted; happy to joke around.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThese are always the most fun shows,<\/i>\u201d he enthused about the band\u2019s run of UK dates. <i>\u201cWhere it\u2019s like a house party. 300 kids and everybody\u2019s just having a good time. If you come out to the show, you\u2019re there because you love it absolutely\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Things seem to be settling in well with new guitarist Joey Bradford too, whom Bert assured us was <em>\u201ca humble and badass player\u201d<\/em> and <em>\u201ca really good fit\u201d<\/em> which led to the all-important question of when the band might start thinking about recording again.<em> \u201cWe are gonna start writing,\u201d<\/em> Bert confirmed. <em>\u201c[We\u2019ll] get into some writing sessions in January, so hopefully there\u2019ll be some new music out next summer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It seems we won\u2019t have to wait too long for a follow up to 2017\u2019s <i>\u2018The Canyon\u2019 <\/i>then, which is pretty exciting but not altogether that surprising considering <b>The Used<\/b> are very much a band who don\u2019t rest on their laurels and rarely take time off. Even when they\u2019re not writing and recording, they\u2019re nearly always constantly on the road, and although they may have taken some time to themselves in February following the tour cancellation, that didn\u2019t last long, throwing themselves into further US tour dates and a significant run on the final Warped Tour.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Used - The Nexus (Official Music Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gdF-1BEFtDI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cIt was bittersweet,\u201d<\/i> reflected Bert of the band\u2019s appearance on the final run of the Warped Tour. <i>\u201cWe grew up on the Warped Tour and it was always a place where I went during the summer to watch 40 bands in one day. It\u2019s sad that it\u2019s over but it was such an amazing tour while it happened. The problem with Warped Tour was it\u2019s kind of overwhelmed lately and it was a little bit harder for bands to come up from it. It\u2019s changed enough to where it\u2019s a nice thing that it\u2019s ending, and we\u2019re trying to work on something to fill the void for next summer.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Discussing the possible plans to fill that Warped Tour shaped void in their lives next year, Bert jokes that the <i>\u201cup and coming My Chemical Romance\/The Used tour is gonna be awesome\u201d <\/i>before going on to say they\u2019d be doing some shows in South East Asia, Mexico and Australia then take time off for writing and <i>\u201cget back on the road in summer.\u201d<\/i> That gives eager fans of the band something to look forward to and is further proof of their keen work ethic. When asked if <strong>The Used<\/strong> are going to be one of those bands that keeps gigging well into their sixties and seventies like the Rolling Stones, Bert laughs before saying, <i>\u201cthat\u2019s the dream, just keep playing.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>With any consistent touring schedule though, it must be hard to find moments to relax and have downtime, but for that, Bert has his books. <i>\u201cBooks are my saviour on the road,\u201d <\/i>he readily admitted. <i>\u201cI can disappear and be in a different place.\u201d <\/i>It\u2019s the one item he wouldn\u2019t go on the road without, but these days it\u2019s less about physical books than digital copies. <i>\u201cDigital books are crazy, so I have like 1400 books in my pocket right now\u2026just on my phone. I\u2019m just finishing Les Miserables again. Victor Hugo. It\u2019s one of the most incredible books, a great story, and half [of it is] a political treatise on egalitarianism.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Used - Over And Over Again (Official Music Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YHDJ4EAnLgk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To hear that McCracken reads digital books might come as a bit of a surprise from the guy who\u2019s been known to offer cash rewards to fans deleting their social media accounts in front of him, but when confronted with his misnomer, he laughed and held his hands up in defence.<i> \u201cI never said I was averse to technology. It is a waste of everybody\u2019s time but there\u2019s a place for everything, I think. I try not to be a fucking curmudgeon. I don\u2019t have any social media, not because I\u2019m better than social media, it all depends on how you\u2019re using things. Just for me in my own personal life, I\u2019m trying to be an example for my daughters\u2026there\u2019s a big world out there. We read a lot of Shakespeare, y\u2019know? We look at Shakespeare, not Instagram.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Used<\/strong>\u2019s Shakespeare circle pits have become something of a phenomenon since their debut on Warped Tour \u2013 a dozen or so excitable punk kids (and adults) leaping around while Bert recites a soliloquy off by heart. Most punk bands use their platform to push their political viewpoints; Bert pushes Shakespeare, and a little bit of the former too. The band have certainly never been averse to saying where they stand on political and social issues.<i> \u201cThat\u2019s the purpose of punk music,\u201d<\/i> Bert spoke passionately on the subject. <i>\u201cIt was never to brand and capitalize, it was to shape the world that we live in. If there wasn\u2019t [that connection] it wouldn\u2019t be punk but I think it\u2019s also up to the individual. The consciousness is everybody\u2019s individual duty, right? All the information is out there but it takes a little bit of effort to kind of get involved and realise what\u2019s going on. You have to step away from your Instagram for a second.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shakespeare, Instagram and politics aside, it seems there\u2019s a lot to look forward to in <strong>The Used<\/strong> calendar over the next twelve months \u2013 new music, new tours, looks like the band are back on the right track and in a good place.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018The Canyon\u2019<\/i>\u00a0by\u00a0<b>The Used<\/b>\u00a0is out now on\u00a0<b>Hopeless Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Used<\/b> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theused.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheUsed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeAreTheUsed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theused\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Becton Simpson (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/swallowmyeyes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@swallowmyeyes<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a rocky start to the year, The Used are back on the right track. We spoke to vocalist Bert McCracken to find out more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,15777],"tags":[15688,3953,246,2144,15733,647,646],"class_list":["post-69713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-reading-and-leeds-festival-2018","tag-becton-simpson","tag-bert-mccracken","tag-hopeless-records","tag-interview","tag-reading-festival-2018","tag-the-canyon","tag-the-used"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shakespeare Circle Pits - The Used Back on Track - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a rocky start to the year, The Used are back on the right track. 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