While other bands were breaking up and reuniting, the Used just kept reinventing itself with each album. 

The Utah natives were once screamo (or post-hardcore or whatever you want to call mid-2000s alternative music) royalty, but have since evolved into one of the biggest rock bands of the 21st century, adding influences from all different genres of music on their road to success. 

With big plans to release an acoustic live album next year (as well as celebrating the anniversaries of some of their older records), the Used are primed to keep growing their fan base far beyond those who spun their 2002 self-titled debut album to get them through high school. 

Myspace sat down with Bert McCracken, the vocalist of the Used, to talk about Taste of Chaos, the quartet’s first couple of albums, and some advice to his younger self. 

How have you avoided disbanding the Used and still kept the music fresh after all these years? 

I feel like that’s kind of a basic must with art, is to reflect actuality. Human beings are constantly changing. The artist is a constantly changing entity. So for an artist to make something, like Linkin Park, that’s not art. That’s just rehashed capital. That’s something to sell, something to buy, something to trade. We’re really hardcore about what’s real and never wanting to be anything else but what we can truly be. We don’t want to be the coolest, the biggest, not the anything, just as real as we can possibly be. Every record is a new experience where we can show that snapshot of things going on in our personal lives. 

With the obvious evolution on every record, how has the Used changed musically and as people over the last 15 years or so? 

I think we’ve come into how humans naturally change. You kind of learn what you believe and what you care about. You learn other ways to respect what other people believe, although you might not believe that. We’ve all just really become comfortable with our place in the band and what we’re good at as far as creation. We’ve learned how to function while sharing a really small space for 15 years, that’s important. 

When you go back and listen to the first couple of albums (2002’s self-titled debut and 2004’s In Love and Death), what goes through your head? 

They’re totally relatable. I remember what I wrote them about then, but even now I can still relate it to my life. I feel like humans are always in the same kind of trap in some way. We’re always struggling to get over some hill, and that’s like the climb of life. That’s what living is really all about. It’s learning from our mistakes and learning who we’re supposed to be. It’s a wild trip, and I do listen to (the self-titled album) a lot. It’s such a special record. I still so much appreciate hearing how much that record means to people. I 100 percent understand how much music can get you through moments in life that you don’t think you can get through.

What’s it like to have all of these bands from a decade ago back together now for festivals like Taste of Chaos and even some tours? 

It’s fantastic. [Taste of Chaos was] like a weird reunion, seeing all these old faces and being like “Whoa, you look totally crazy different!” but it’s just the magic of music again. You see such an excitement from the crowd whether they’re 35 or 25 or 15, this is a huge part of people’s lives. It’s only as special and important as people make it, so it’s the most special and important thing in the fucking world. To all the true, hardcore Used fans, all the love in my heart goes out to you guys for keeping this dream alive.

At this point, the Used has been a big influence on a lot of the younger bands out there today. What’s it like to have all these bands looking up to you? 

It’s really cool, man. I have a great sense of pride in the fact that I’ve kept things really completely honest. So if someone says they’re influenced by something I did, it’s like “Good, because I didn’t fake it.” It’s also humbling that after 15 years, we’re still able to come out to crowds so humbling and accepting. That we can be putting out new music and having people still backing it. We’re fucking lucky and fortunate. 

If you could give a younger version of yourself some advice from what you’ve learned over the last 15 years, what would it be? 

I couldn’t tell myself shit because I know myself too well, but I would say, “You should quit drinking now. You’ll be way happier.” But maybe not, because those were fun times as well. I guess it’s just that you’ve got to care about yourself as much as you care about the world or the music, because otherwise it becomes unbalanced.