The Used: Final Night of the Take Action Tour

The Used: Final Night of the Take Action Tour

Originally Posted: March 17, 2013

On the road for nearly two months on this year’s edition of the Take Action Tour, The Used were back in their part-time hometown of Los Angeles at The Wiltern Theater. This was the final night of the tour, a time for mischief and mayhem involving silly string and other surprising anomalies associated with all good things coming to an end. Even in spite of this being the grand finale, The Used were still doing interviews with the press. Highwire Daze was able to catch up with guitarist Quinn Allman and drummer Dan Whitesides in the backstage dressing room area just prior to the doors being opened. In this final night of the Take Action Tour, we discussed life on the road, the youthful cover star on their current albums Vulnerable and Vulnerable II, their association with the It Gets Better Project, and many other topics of interest. Read on…

Editor’s Note in 2020:  Still my only interview with The Used to date.  And both very nice guys!  Quinn Allman would eventually leave the band in 2015.  Dan Whitesides is still very much within the ranks of The Used.  This interview took place a few hours before their set at The Wiltern in Hollywood on the final night of the Take Action Tour 2013…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in The Used, and what’s the most embarrassing song you have on your IPOD.
Quinn: Hello everyone, my name is Quinn Allman and I play guitar for The Used. And the most embarrassing song in my player – I would have to go with Macho Man Randy Savage – I have the whole record. But my favorite song is a track called My Perfect Friend. It’s a really good song and you should check it out right now.

Dan: I’m Dan. I play drums in The Used. And I wouldn’t say it’s my most embarrassing song – but it probably is my most embarrassing song – I have Hannah Montana – The Hoedown Throwdown. It’s right here. (Editors Note: Proceeds to play it) You know what I mean. That’s proof. (Editors Note: The Randy Ravage song is then played by Quinn. We are rocking the hitz!)

That’s good. Good songs! So how has this Take Action Tour been going so far and what have been some of the highlights? This is the last night.
Quinn: It’s been a great tour. We’ve gone all over the States. We’ve been East Coast / West Coast / North Coast / South Coast / Texas / Florida / New York.

Dan: It’s been about a two month long tour and it’s been amazing. The shows have all been really, really good. It’s probably the best tour we’ve done in a few years. And some of the highlights have been – I mean honestly the amount of people that are coming to see us play 12-13 years after The Used started is unbelievable. That’s definitely one of the main highlights for me.

Tell me about the charity being sponsored by Take Action this year – The It Gets Better Project and what is your involvement with the charity.
Quinn: We’ve worked with them a little bit in the past. I know our singer Bert has been in contact with them. But we chose them just because not out of that relationship we already had – but it goes well with a lot of the audience that we’re in front of – a lot of these teenagers – the younger generation. It gives them something to sort of understand and feel that they can express who they are in almost a vague sense – to not discriminate against other people for any reason. I think it’s great! Every day with our fans – people come up to us and they’re in hard places – whether it’s family, abuse or other circumstances – it’s nice to have an organization that really does have a good head on their shoulders in helping other people with problems.

How do you feel when fans approach you with problems?
Dan: I mean, no one really approaches us with their problems. A lot of times you get like “You saved my life!” and it’s flattering. Why I think they say that – we’re all down to earth people so I’m sure that’s helps. But Bert’s words – he writes words that people can connect to. And if that’s the way that The Used has been for them, then that’s amazing and we love it and we support it.

What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home from the Take Action Tour?
Dan: I’m going to kiss my baby and my wife really hard, because I have not seen them in two months, so I cannot wait!

Quinn: Same here! I need to see my wife and my step son. He needs me too. We were just talking about it actually. We’re going to go to the Mummy museum right when I get home.

Dan: You gotta jump right back into real life when you get home, which is fun because this tour is over and it’s been too long!

When I first saw the kid of the cover of Vulnerable, I thought of the classic U2 album cover art for Boy. Who is the kid on the cover of Vulnerable and will you have him on other covers again like U2 did for a while?
Quinn: That’s Julian Feldman – he’s our producer John Feldman’s son.

Dan: We’ve used him a lot. He’s our backdrop as well – and he’s on the cover of Vulnerable 2. But that’s it – I don’t think we’ll take it further than that.

Quinn: That sort of summed up the whole feeling of Vulnerable was the youth – the image of him – just the child with a poised look in his eyes almost on the edge. So I think it really applies to that. In the future how that develops – maybe in 10-20 years when Julian is grown up – there might be some looking back kind of thing.

With Vulnerable being out for about a year now, has there been any thought about recording anything new?
Quinn: Actually yeah there is. We have some time off after the tour. Half will be at home time to write, record and then we’ll get out to L.A. together around the end of March – and whenever we can we’ll start to piece together an album.

Dan: Either by the end of this year or early next year.

Quinn: We have some big plans for next year which we’re really excited about.

Dan: Secret plans…

Quinn: Secret plans!

When you look back on the first few The Used albums, what do you think of them now?
Quinn: I look back and I get overwhelmed by the sheer power of the moment when all that shit went down – because it affected my whole life forever. And I listen back to it, and it’s just such a flash to me, because it happened so fast. And I look back and see tattoos of people and lyrics and so many things – and every night playing these shows, thousands of people every night 12 years later. And I think about the generation of kids that our music has touched and influenced and I feel proud – and I feel overwhelmed with that. I think that it’s helped me to see the beauty in life and know that what I’ve done and what I’ve spent a majority of my life on has been for the good work of – I think – for the good work of humanity and helping kids through sharing music and art and expression – and helping them to do the same thing, so I am very happy to look back and say that.

And Dan, when you look back on the first few The Used albums, what do you think?
Dan: I love them. When I think back now, I can’t think of one song that I don’t like. I think it’s timeless music – I know its timeless music because if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here 13 years later. A lot of the bands that The Used came up with are gone. I don’t know why they’re gone, but a lot of them, they just faded away. And The Used is one of those bands that didn’t fade away. I think now we’re definitely stronger than ever. And timeless music helps.

Describe the other bands on Take Action Tour with just one word…
We Came As Romans
Dan: Spork

Quinn: Hardworking

Crown The Empire
Dan: Pterodactyl

Quinn: Nice

Mindflow
Dan: Brazilliant

Quinn: Clubster

(Editor’s Note:The one word description took a bit of time, but The Used was definitely up for it. After describing Mindflow, as “Clubster” Quinn continues…)

Quinn: Mindflow are really positive guys. They are really happy to be out here. All of the bands have been really nice honestly. It’s been fun. We’re at a point now where we’re probably just starting to bust each other’s balls.

Well maybe it’s good it’s the last day.
Quinn: (Laughs) No, we’re all getting along. We get along great to the point where all we have left to do is bust each other’s balls.

Do you have any messages for your fans out here in the Los Angeles area?
Quinn: Thank you for your continued support. We’re just glad that as fans or anyone listening, that our music has helped in a way in your life or for someone you know. We’re really, really grateful to be able to have this stage and have an audience. We get lots of love down here. L.A. is pretty much our home base now. So yeah, all the love and appreciation in the world.

Dan: I agree 100 percent. I’m down with what Quinn said.

Quinn: And that’s the verdict.

(Interview and Photo by Ken Morton)

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