~ May Issue ~
 

Lies for the Liars
By Neelofer Lodhy, Managing Editor

The long anticipated wait is finally over! The Used’s new album Lies for the Liars had finally hit stores yesterday. After three years of touring on the international Taste of Chaos tour, and preparations for the new album, they have finally released their third full length album. They already have tons of promotion and hype thanks to Alex Pardee, an amazing artist who did the artwork for previous album In Love and Death, and current album Lies for the Liars. It’s an awesome record, and fans are loving it already.

            As far as background goes, The Used consists of members Bert McCracken on vocals, Jeph Howard on bass, Quinn Allman on guitar, and now Dan Whitesides on drums. Their previous drummer Branden Steineckert, was the founder of The Used, but was unfortunately dismissed while working on their new album. The only explanation for his dismissal was that he was going in a different direction with the new album than anyone else was, but they still wish him the best of luck. Well, as much as it may suck to have Branden leave, you will definitely see him around behind the drums of his favorite band ever Rancid. Rancid’s drummer is no longer around anymore, so Branden just went for the next best thing.

            While on their three year break, every member had encountered new events in their life. Bert McCracken became engaged to his girlfriend, Jeph Howard, being the crazy fiend of green tea bought a coffee shop, and Quinn Allman has been producing bands that have become successful. Evaline is just one of those bands who he produced, popularized, and were even on the 2007 Taste of Chaos Tour in which The Used headlined. All in all it has been a good couple of years for The Used, and now with their new album in hand, everything is going to get even better.

            The album, if you couldn’t tell, seems to have a continuous theme of lies and liars. I can’t really say what sparked the concept of the album, other than personal situations that included liars, but its pretty unique, and it’s a cool idea. Like I had mentioned earlier, Alex Pardee who had done their previous album art, and the album/dvd art for Berth which was released not too long ago, is again doing the art for this album, and has even come up with a mythical character by the name of Chadam. Chadam is quite interesting, he’s featured on the front of the album, and actually has a lot to do with the band, but it is all secrets now. He reveals parts of his life in his blogs he posts on myspace. For more information on Chadam and to read his awesome stories, visit www.myspace.com/chadamlives.

            The new album wasn’t as hardcore as I thought it would be, so far the only fast and upbeat songs I have acknowledged are Pretty Handsome Awkward, and Liar Liar (Burn in Hell). Those songs are amazing. They are so upbeat and full of energy, and just recently the released their first single called The Bird and the Worm. This song is incredible, it’s like a symphony. Well, it’s close to one, it does contain orchestral accompaniment which makes the song sound all the more better, but this isn’t the first time The Used have done something like this. All the songs on the album are different which is good. The sound is definitely different as well but you can still tell it is an album by The Used. I have definitely not been let down. For more information on The Used visit www.myspace.com/theused or www.theused.net, and you can check them out on the first couple of days of this summers Vans Warped Tour, don’t worry about your tickets, because they don’t sell about, but go ahead and buy one anyway because the album is going to sound amazing live.