The Used, Fred Mascherino, und The Color Fred

With the initial material preceding the band’s formation, after holding auditions at Howard’s abode, McCracken was invited along and he was so impressed with the quality of songs they had already worked on that he agreed to join. Shortly after this, they decided upon the band name Used, a reflection of the hardships that they had faced as individuals and the feeling they had been left with. With everything in place, the band went ahead and recorded “Demos from the Basement” and sent it to Goldfinger frontman John Feldmann. So enthused by what he had heard, Feldmann made it his mission to find them a label. In 2001 the band signed with Reprise Records.

Finding out there was another band in existence with the same name, the band added prefix ‘the’ and would become known as The Used. In 2002 they released their debut self-titled album produced by John Feldmann. Certifying gold, the album featured the singles “A Box Full of Sharp Objects”, “The Taste of Ink” and “Buried Myself Alive”. Off the back of that album, the band were invited to play at Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution and Warped Tour.

In 2004, tragedy struck as McCracken’s then girlfriend died of an overdose while pregnant with his child. His angst fed into their second album released later that year, “In Love and Death” as an open dedication to her reflected in the track “Hard to Say”. The album also produced the singles “I Caught Fire” and “All That I’ve Got”.

Two years later Steineckert announced his departure from the band as he went on to join punk band Rancid and was replaced by Dan Whitesides. Spending the majority of 2007 touring on Taste of Chaos and Give it a Name festival before releasing their third album “Lies for the Liars”. The album featured the popular tracks “The Bird and the Worm”, “Pretty Handsome Awkward” and “Liar Liar (Burn In Hell)” and peaked at number five in the US Billboard charts.

In 2011 McCracken and the band set up their own record label called Anger Music Group in conjunction with Hopeless Records, giving the band an opportunity for more room for creative control. It was through this label the band released their fifth album “Vulnerable” in 2012.

Though The Used may shy away from the term ‘emo’ band, none-the-less the band capture extravagant and expressive music producing catchy anthems which forever induce fond memories.