The Used

The Used thrives on friction. You can hear it on the band's combustible self-titled debut. You can hear it on the tension-filled follow-up, In Love And Death. It's what makes a Used album or performance such an exhilarating ride. Throughout In Love And Death, you can make out a faint ticking sound, but you never know until the very last second whether it's attached to an alarm clock or a time bomb.

Both options are just as likely. The Orem, Utah-based quartet is made up of four distinct personalities, each with individual musical tastes that don't always overlap and strong ideals that are often diametrically opposed. The chemistry might have combusted a lesser band before it even started, but the equally passionate friendships and shared hardships that make up The Used have held it together.

The band's faith in music ultimately provided an escape from their sleepy hometown, as well as an escape from a combined band history that included poverty, homelessness and, for Bert, drug addiction. The Used documented its own history with surprising candor on the Maybe Memories CD-plus-DVD title, presciently capturing its rise from bedroom to enormodome on digital video.

In many ways, The Used is a completely different band than the one that recorded its debut (the disc has since sold in excess of a million copies). Prior to the release of that album in June 2002, the band had only performed twenty shows in and around Orem. Since then, they've logged a superhuman 600 dates around the world, including successful stints on Ozzfest, Vans Warped Tour and, most recently, Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour. Not surprisingly, In Love And Death reflects that accelerated growth cycle.

"We all knew that the final product we created together last time was totally sick," says Jeph. "And we were confident this time that none of us would stop until we were all happy with the results. We all got what we wanted and I think we impressed each other even though we'd butt heads. Everyone was really pushing themselves and trying new things."

With a long-term career beckoning, you have to wonder if Bert has decided to rein in the pace and run this heat more like a marathon than a sprint. "That's a good question," he says. "Sometimes things just seem out of my control, but they really never are. That's what 'Take It Away' is about. I just need to take small steps every day."