Profile of Jeph Howard on Famous Like Me

The Used is an emo-punk screamo or a post-hardcore alternative rock band from Orem, Utah, United States consisting of Bert McCracken (vocals), Quinn Allman (guitar), Jeph Howard (bass) and Branden Steineckert (drums). Their self-titled debut album The Used produced by Reprise Records has so far sold nearly 200,000 copies and counting. The band later released Maybe Memories, a live album featuring the songs from their self-titled album and previously unreleased home demos that also included live footage and interviews on DVD. They released their second album In Love and Death, produced by Warner Brothers, in September, 2004. They will be starting work on their third album, due out in 2006.

Statistics

• Genre: Emo / Punk Rock / Post-Hardcore / Screamo
• Country: USA
• Status: Active
• Time: 2001 – present

Biography

In 1997, Quinn Allman, Jeph Howard, and Branden Steineckert were just three teenage boys playing in their band in their hometown of Orem, Utah. They dreamed of a bigger, brighter future than what awaited them in one of the most densely religious areas of the country. Their band needed a lead vocalist and they found one in Utah native Bert McCracken. They created a home studio and began recording.

Orem and neighboring city Provo didn’t offer much in the way of paying gigs. When the band did manage to land a show, they often weren’t invited back. "Everywhere we played, people wouldn't let us back because the way we play, I don't know...we kinda...I think it would frighten some people," drummer Branden Steineckert explains. "It's just us goin' off, and it's too much, the puke and the blood and things like that."

The band struggled with personal problems, too. They faced homelessness, poverty, and drug addiction. Music proved to be a way out. "You're held down so long and told what to do," says Steineckert. "You're supposed to fit in this fuckin' mold all the time. Music is your one place to break out and just say fuck it all, do what you want, be the person you are with no fuckin' rules."

The band released their self-titled first album in June 2002. Recorded in both John Feldmann’s home studio and Olympic Studios in London, it has since sold over 200,000 copies. Singles include “A Box Full of Sharp Objects,” “The Taste of Ink,” “Buried Myself Alive,” and “Blue and Yellow.”

The Used’s sophomore album, In Love and Death, released September 2004, was also produced by John Feldmann (of California-based punk act Goldfinger) and was recorded in his Los Angeles home. It’s a step away from the bloody-throated screamo of The Used, but it still holds true to the rebellious nature that was the foundation for the Used.

The Used toured in the 2002 Vans Warped Tour, the 2003 Vans Warped Tour, Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution Tour and most recently, the Taste of Chaos tour. They’ve announced a fall 2005 tour (with Glassjaw) throughout August and September.

They won Best International Band at the Metal Hammer awards in June 2005.

They have recently been targeted by a parents' group called Mothers Against Hard Rock, along with My Chemical Romance.

Rebellion is what The Used is all about and they focus their rebellion into their sound. "I've rebelled against all types of conformity throughout my life, not just Utah's conservative culture," singer Bert McCracken is quoted as saying on the band’s website. "I rebelled against the Mormon Church by going to other churches. I rebelled against my parents by not eating meat. I rebelled against my friends and myself by doing drugs. And I rebelled against everything that was holding me down by playing music with these guys."

Some critics have been a bit dismayed at their inability to fit The Used into a set compartment, but what has happened is that their varied deliveries have generated a wider appeal.

VOX: Your sound, to me, is really a hybrid of emo, metal and rock. What do you guys see it as? What influences you?

Quinn Allman: Well…I'm not really influenced by metal, but I do like hard music, but more along the lines of Refused, Jawbox, At the Drive In, that stuff. We're more just a rock band, I think, just straight-ahead rock. Maybe more emo…on the emo side, I like Jimmy Eat World, Promise Ring, Milemarker…the Jade Tree [Records] stuff… Bands like that are doing new things and using different sorts of song construction, and I think that's what interests me about them and is sort of an influence.

REVOLVER MAGAZINE SAYS:

In Love and Death is a cohesive, well-crafted, and infectious document of antipathy, reflection, fear, and sorrow that eclipses the contrived sentiments and restricted boundaries of most run-of-the-mill screamo acts. Instead of seesawing between scorching noise and melancholy melody from song to song, the Used now contrast mood and tone within each track, layering barbed guitars over delicate piano one moment and vicious lyrics atop a jangly pop rhythm the next. The disc isn’t as heavy as the band’s 2002 self-titled debut, but Allman’s guitars still quiver, stutter, and stab with lethal intent, and McCracken’s screams often resemble the hopeless cries of a dying gunshot victim.

Members

• Bert McCracken - Lead vocalist / Piano
• Quinn Allman - Guitar / Backup vocals
• Jeph Howard- Bass / Backup vocals
• Branden Steineckert - Drums / Backup vocals

Discography

Albums

• The Used (2002)
• Maybe Memories (CD & DVD) (2003)
• In Love & Death (2004)

Singles

• 2002 "A Box Full of Sharp Objects"
• 2002 "The Taste of Ink"
• 2003 "Buried Myself Alive"
• 2003 "Blue and Yellow"
• 2004 "Take It Away"
• 2005 "All That I've Got"
• 2005 "Under Pressure" (with My Chemical Romance) #41 US
• 2005 "I Caught Fire"

Music videos

• "A Box Of Sharp Objects" from The Used (2002)
• "The Taste of Ink" from The Used (2002)
• "Buried Myself Alive" from The Used (2003)
• "Blue and Yellow" from The Used (2003)
• "Take It Away" from In Love & Death (2004)
• "All That I've Got" from In Love & Death (2005)
• "I Caught Fire" from In Love & Death (2005)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Jeph Howard