The Used

Painful and perverse, intimate and obnoxious, aggressively heavy and irresistibly catchy, confusingly profound and primitively pedestrian – The Used transform songs into anthems.

The reckless honesty and unrelenting dedication that saw The Used kick down doors at radio and MTV, for a generation of disenfranchised post-hardcore provocateurs, persists today. It’s newly remade with a sly shimmer that never sacrifices the band’s enchanting anarchy or restless soul.

Heartwork, the band’s eighth studio album, arrives with the unbound spirit of the pair of platinum albums that first introduced The Used to the world, mixed with the dramatic flair of their gold-certified third. The emotion, sincerity, and vulnerability found on The Used (2002) and In Love and Death (2004) is more urgent and insistent than ever on Heartwork, a diverse 16-song offering filled with double entendre upon triple entendre. It traverses a thematic gamut of self-examination, hyper-literate exploration, political pyromania, and keenly self-aware yet unrestrained whimsy.

The charged manic energy of Heartwork will ring familiar to the multitudes who have seen The Used live, whether back in the day on Ozzfest, Warped Tour or Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution; on their sold-out coheadlining tour with Taking Back Sunday; or headlining Taste Of Chaos with support from My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, Killswitch Engage, and Underoath.

Songs like “Blow Me,” “Cathedral Bell,” and “Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton” take their place alongside some of the best-known jams to emerge from the frenetic “screamo” world, anthems that conquered hearts and minds and Active Rock. “The Bird and the Worm,” “The Taste of Ink,” “All That I’ve Got,” “I Caught Fire,” and “Blood On My Hands” are beloved for their raw emotion, authentic defiance, and inviting empathy, all of which etched them into the spiritual DNA of a legion of likeminded listeners across the globe. As Kerrang! points out, The Used are hugely important trailblazers for the scene that gave us My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.

Heartwork reunites the band with John Feldmann (Panic! At The Disco, blink-182, 5 Seconds

Of Summer), who became an early champion for The Used when the then-unsigned act tossed a demo onstage during a Goldfinger gig. He went on to produce the majority of their discography.

The Canyon (2017), an indulgent meditation on suicide and loss, was captured live-to-tape by Ross Robinson (Slipknot, At The Drive-In). The band calls the experience a “blessing” and a “gift,” but a painful exorcism they are happy to have survived. As much as The Canyon challenged both band and audience, by putting their art to the test, Heartwork stands in brilliant contrast. No less moving or angry, it’s nevertheless encased in warmth, curiosity, iconoclasm, and joyous lack of restraint.

The original incarnation of The Used was born from the conservative isolation, myopic boredom, and restless angst of their crucial formative years, spent some 45 miles from Salt Lake City in Orem, Utah. The inspiration Bert McCracken found in a box full of CDs by Sunny Day Real Estate, Converge, Ink & Dagger, and Texas Is The Reason was as instructive in the band’s formation as the feelings of alienation and disillusion he shared with the others, like the band’s bassist, Jepha. As Jepha has pointed out to the press, The Used wrote those important early albums 100 percent for themselves. It was doubly rewarding to see how much they would come to mean to people.

The Used were never afraid to embrace radio or MTV, turning punk convention on its head. But the way they aligned with the major label machine early on, with incendiary appearances on schlock like TRL Spanking New Band Week, put them in front of kids around the globe who felt the same as the band, about young adulthood and the increasingly fractious world abroad.

The subcultural impact of The Used (2002) and In Love and Death (2004) can’t be overstated. As much as the industry can exploit bands, The Used smartly exploited the system in turn. Even Maybe Memories, a collection of odds and ends released in 2003, went platinum. Similarly, the group never shied away from “emo,” jettisoning the word’s baggage to embrace its strength.

“Pretty Handsome Awkward” and “The Bird and the Worm” helped ensure Lies for the Liars

(2007) was another smash. Artwork (2009) featured their dirtiest, nosiest and most vicious songs to that point, without jettisoning the pop-infused sensibility of their earlier work. Prior to The Canyon, it was the band’s only album that didn’t involve Feldmann, stretching back to when McCracken tossed that demo onto the stage as the producer performed with his own band. Feldmann returned for Vulnerable (2012) and Imaginary Enemy (2014), which balanced the intensity of the self-produced The Ocean of the Sky EP (2013) with the pristine polish of the early albums.

Heartwork is layered and urgent, dense and desperate, and altogether eager to inspire. Raucous adrenaline, bigger choruses, more than a splash of reckless explosiveness, all through a modern laptop hip-hop lens built for Spotify playlists – that’s just a sampling of what The Used have to offer in 2020. No two songs sound alike, as no stone is left unturned in pursuit of a musical muse that somehow, defiantly, never strays from being The Used.

Joey Bradford technically made his official recorded debut with The Used on the band’s Record Store Day 2019 EP, Live from Maida Vale, but truly comes into his own all over Heartwork. His guitars bounce between muscular and angular, between riffs and jangly atmosphere. Dan Whitesides, rhythmic backbone since 2006, locks his drumming in with Jeph’s basslines like never before. Electronic flourishes enhance, but never overpower, the rock, as it’s all strung together by bigger than ever vocals hooks from their singer, who soars with irresistible charisma.

Bert McCracken can quote Hamlet as readily as he might Stephen King. The energetic and thoughtful singer’s much publicized rehab stint a decade ago redirected his obsessions toward the written word and its greater connection to the world, from 18th Century Scottish enlightenment figure Adam Smith, to socialist revolutionary Karl Marx, to author and philosopher Paulo Freire.

Heartwork namechecks three of McCracken’s favorite works of literature, beginning with “Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton,” inspired as much by the 1667 English epic as the context within which it was written. “Gravity’s Rainbow” is named for the singer’s favorite book ever, the 1973 novel by the famously dense, complex, and profound Thomas Pynchon. “1984 (infinite jest)” blends Orwell with David Foster Wallace; Infinite Jest shares several recurring themes with The Used: depression, addiction; corporate oligarchy. (Wallace, sadly, committed suicide in 2008.)

In addition to the literary figures woven throughout the record, the album features a number of formidable flesh-and-blood musical guests. These are folks who’ve appeared alongside The Used on festival and touring bills and who share the band’s affinity for working with John Feldmann. Jason Aalon Butler (Fever 333) on “Blow Me”; Mark Hoppus (blink-182) on “The Lighthouse”; Travis Barker (blink-182) on “Obvious Blasé”; and Caleb Shomo (Beartooth) on “The Lottery.”

The honesty, integrity, and freedom of expression championed by The Used endures, maintaining bonds that have outlasted numerous trends, and evolutions in the way music is consumed. It was never about being “celebrities” or “the biggest band ever” or drowning in oceans of adulation. The Used resist any form of corruption in their art and dominate on any stage.

Boredom, complacency, and entitlement remain in the crosshairs of The Used. This music is a weapon.

Pierce The Veil

“‘Pass the Nirvana’ is about the many horrible traumas that the youth of America have endured over the past few years,” says frontman Vic Fuentes about the song’s powerful, relatable, and topical subject matter. “COVID, no proms, no graduations, an insurrection, school shootings. The list goes on. Their lives have been tossed around like clothes in a dryer, as the tensions within our country have infiltrated our own homes, friends, and families. To me, the song represents a euphoric detachment from all of that anxiety and stress and about finding some form of peace or nirvana.”

Right now, Pierce the Veil are at their most raw, crackling with urgency and immediacy. Never predictable, always engaging, Pierce the Veil continue to soar on the strength of highly potent energy, rich musicality, and a scrappy sense of authentic exuberant ambition that’s frankly

unrivaled. The aforementioned Fuentes, guitarist Tony Perry, and bassist Jaime Precadio put volatile, angsty, confessional emotions into the music, which is why their songs resonate with so many. “No matter where the band performs, fans will show up,” wrote Loudwire. “When you see Pierce The Veil live, you’ll understand why.”

PTV’s evolution from album to album is nothing less than stunning. The early buzz generated by A Flair for the Dramatic (2007) made its follow-up one of the most anticipated albums of 2010. Selfish Machines shot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. The Chicago Tribune saluted Collide with the Sky for its “post-hardcore punk with more than a few nods to Queen.” They became a true arena act on Misadventures, selling out huge venues without losing the intimate connection with their fans.

Pierce the Veil have long cemented their status as one of the most exciting and relevant acts in their genre — by constantly evolving.

Don Broco

Always unique, and forever pushing boundaries, Don Broco are never ones to follow the trend and the new album Amazing Things is very aptly named. It’s yet another genre-bending masterpiece with electro, rock, pop, metal and more all wrapped up in their own unique blend, bringing to mind the likes of Deftones, Beastie Boys, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit amongst others… but simultaneously sounding like nobody else on earth.

Amazing Things is the band’s fourth album, and follows the release of 2018’s Technology, which was was a Top 5 album in the UK charts and has had over 100 million streams to date, and also 2015’s Automatic, which provided the band with their first Top 10 album in the UK.

Garnering nothing but praise for their relentless high-octane performances, Don Broco have previously sold-out arena shows across the UK, headlining Wembley Arena after selling out Alexandra Palace as well as festival performances around the world including Vans Warped Tour, Download, Reading & Leeds, Slam Dunk & more. They have also toured with the likes of Mike Shinoda, State Champs, Dance Gavin Dance and Our Last Night in the US as well as selling out their very own Debut US headline tour.

Girlfriends

Always unique, and forever pushing boundaries, Don Broco are never ones to follow the trend and the new album Amazing Things is very aptly named. It’s yet another genre-bending masterpiece with electro, rock, pop, metal and more all wrapped up in their own unique blend, bringing to mind the likes of Deftones, Beastie Boys, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit amongst others… but simultaneously sounding like nobody else on earth.

Amazing Things is the band’s fourth album, and follows the release of 2018’s Technology, which was was a Top 5 album in the UK charts and has had over 100 million streams to date, and also 2015’s Automatic, which provided the band with their first Top 10 album in the UK.

Garnering nothing but praise for their relentless high-octane performances, Don Broco have previously sold-out arena shows across the UK, headlining Wembley Arena after selling out Alexandra Palace as well as festival performances around the world including Vans Warped Tour, Download, Reading & Leeds, Slam Dunk & more. They have also toured with the likes of Mike Shinoda, State Champs, Dance Gavin Dance and Our Last Night in the US as well as selling out their very own Debut US headline tour.