After testing out songs from their latest album Artwork on European stages, the Used are eager to introduce their new material to their fans back home in the States. Rolling Stone talked with guitarist Quinn Allman on the eve of the band’s American tour, and he told us about how changes in the past few years have helped motivate the band’s new direction.
“Before we started the new album, we parted ways with our management and knew we needed to come together. Just the four of us and no one else,” Allman says. “It helped us to strip things back to what they were in the beginning and what it’s always been about: Bert McCracken’s lyrics and our music.”
In addition to parting ways with their management, the band also replaced drummer Branden Steineckert with Dan Whitesides, who reinvigorated the band during the Artwork sessions. “Having Dan in our band has been the best thing that could’ve ever happened. He’s helped the band become stronger and tighter than ever,” Allman says. “I’ve yet to hear a more powerful, hard-hitting and articulate drummer. He’s breathed new life into not only us but the older material as well.”
The final change came when they began recording their new album without their longtime producer and mentor, John Feldmann from Goldfinger. “We went into the studio on our own and created our own vision and process, no rules or time constraints,” Allman said. “When you listen to the record I definitely think we made the right decision and were right where were supposed to be… where we wanted to be.”
Every night on tour, the Used are playing roughly 20 songs a show, with about seven songs taken from Artwork and the remaining tracks split evenly among the band’s first three albums. Additionally, each show will...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily