Tragedy, heartbreak and the passage of time lie at the heart of the new album from Utah rockers The Used.
Entitled 'The Canyon', the seventh studio album for The Used will be released at the end of October and plumbs the darkest depths of the band's lived experiences. “Growing up in Utah we lived really close to a canyon,” vocalist Bert McCracken begins.
“I spent the majority of my childhood in a canyon called Provo Canyon where I associate all the happiest moments of my life and moments of freedom, where I found my own beliefs and I found a love for music and lyrics and marijuana; where also a lot of the most hurtful and hard things I've ever had to deal with happened in that exact same canyon.
“About a year ago now, a really close friend of mine took his life up that same canyon, not far from where we used to be really living life. So that metaphor became really heavy – the yin-yang duality of love and loss, pain and joy, peace and freedom and what it all means to me.”
“We all know that God was the bad guy from the beginning.”
For long-time fans of The Used, this is the same person (Traegan) who sold Bert's late (and then-pregnant) girlfriend the drugs upon which she overdosed and died back in 2004 providing the inspiration for the band's sophomore LP of the same year, 'Life And Death'.
“The themes are very similar to the basic themes that The Used has always at least tried to walk next to, the big, philosophical questions we all have,” Bert says.
“What are we doing here on this planet? What does it mean to love and to lose that love, and how can we ever wrap our minds around such a limited amount of time we have here? Whether or not we like to admit it to ourselves, everybody dies and this is our chance we have to live now.”
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The analogy of 'the canyon' refers not only to the literal canyon of Bert's youth, but also a metaphorical crevasse into which one can fall as well as the eons-long process it takes for such a landmark to form. “If you think about what it takes for a canyon to be there, this amount of time humans can't fathom; it's hundreds and thousands of years of water cutting rock, like a knife. It's an intense analogy for a lot of things.”
'The Canyon' represents a new chapter in the story of The Used for several reasons, the first being the fact it was recorded entirely live-to-tape without any post-production edits. “We recorded the whole thing on tape and didn't try to fix any of it. We didn't use a computer as an instrument – a computer is not a f@#$ing instrument!” Bert laughs.
“This was a huge approach for us going into it. To be honest, tracking drums on a tape in that kind of atmosphere really puts the band to the test.
“[Producer] Ross Robinson, who's such a legend already, he really allowed us to open up and make a record that for me feels more like a novel and I learned the most about life with the big novels, like the Bible,” he laughs again. “The best fiction is worth taking a close look at.”
As a lyricist, Bert draws heavily on his love of literature and on the works of some of his favourite and much-read authors, such as David Foster Wallace, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and the prophet of our modern age, George Orwell. “There is not another man like Orwell,” Bert says.
“ I can't wait for the Australian fans to hear this record.”
“I think people will appreciate the song on the record 'Selfies In Aleppo' and it's a really deep look at Orwell's time in the Spanish Civil War reflected against the Syrian Civil War, but from a Book Of Revelations standpoint: God's army versus the Devil's army and whose side is whose.
"In my mind when I read the Bible, I think that God was always the antagonist as he is. We all know the truth – we all know that God was the bad guy from the beginning.”
Another reason 'The Canyon' is such a significant addition to The Used's catalogue is because it is the first studio album to feature new guitarist Justin Shekoski, a one-time touring member who permanently replaced Quinn Allman in 2015.
Bert says working with Justin has administered a much-needed injection of enthusiasm and creativity to the band that has led to some of their best work yet. “Since we first started playing with Justin he's been an absolute inspiration; a driving, aggressive, passionate force that has really kept the band on another level,” Bert explains.
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“He's got a lust for life that's unmatched... when he puts his mind to something he goes [and] gets it; he's driven and it inspires all of us, so we're very grateful for his love of the language of music.
"He's very schooled, so we can really get deep and the more you understand the language of music the more you can say with it.”
As for an Australian tour for The Used, Bert says that although they're keen to get down here to play the new album live by the end of the year, the band want to make sure it's a special event for their fans. “I'm hoping coming up to the end of this year,” he says.
“We're still trying to make something really special happen like we did last time. We don't want to just bounce around quick, we want to do something big. I can't wait for the Australian fans to hear this record.”
Though writing and recording 'The Canyon' proved to be an intensely emotional and painful journey, Bert clearly believes in suffering for his art and finds solace in a timeless quote from Orwell that likens writing a story to wrestling with an invisible demon within yourself.
“When you're in something deep, the pain of that creation would never allow you to feel for even a second, and thoughts passing through your mind, about what other people might perceive this to be,” he says.
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“The creation process, if you're honest and open to it, is beyond painful; it's the closest I've been to peace and that says a lot about what I believe peace to be... I think that some of us were put on the planet to face that demon and suffer with the realness.”
