I have been a fan of the Used since they went on tour about 6 years ago with some friends of mine in a band called Audiovent.  Their music was raw but catchy and the bass lines were more melodic and fluid than your average rock parts.  Whether it's the angst or the songwriting that appeals to people - they have a large following of fans all over the world.  We're happy to have Jepha using Aguilar Amplification.

David Avenius - How long have you been playing with The Used?

Jepha Howard - We started around 1999, so about 8 years now.

DA - I saw from a Jepha Howard fan site that you were originally the singer for the band.  Where you singing and playing bass?  How did you feel about the transition when you guys invited Bert to be the singer?

JH - I've always been a bass player first but I was a singer in some other bands. When we started The Used I went back to playing bass, which I have always liked more anyway.

DA - There is some great chemistry in the band.  The songs are definitely Rock/Crunk/Ghettotech (lol) like you describe on your myspace page but you also weave in a wide range of sounds and styles like the occasional swing section, strings, or horror movie music.  Is the songwriting a collaboration between all of you?

JH - It changes from song to song, but on this record mostly it was either quinn coming with a guitar line and we would jam it as a whole to see where it felt like it should go.  Then we would record a dummy track of everything and give it to Bert so he could write lyrics and a melody.  Sometimes Quinn would sit down with Bert and a piano and let him come up with a melody to a guitar line he had.  Then from there we would take it and jam it out.

DA - What does your Aguilar rig (DB 750, AG 500, and two DB 810's) lend to the sound of The Used?  Are you using the overdrive of the AG 500 as well as the clean sound?

JH - I love the overdrive - my sound guy Andy loves the overdrive too!  I think he full balls the overdrive and it gives me the deep tone I love to hear.  For me, if it doesn't sound good I don't play well - so I really depend on a great bass sound.

DA - Did you use any Aguilar gear to record with?

JH - Ooooooooh yes I deffo did!  I had three channels: one clean direct, one AG 500 with overdrive and one mic on the cab.

DA - Your videos are very creative and you're starting to incorporate some of those elements into your live show.  What is the vision behind that?

JH - We're just starting.  There are so many things we want to do on upcoming tours.  Plus were going to bring the artwork from our record on tour with us when we can. His name is Chadam and he has some other friends that may join us as well.

DA - What's next Jeph?  The albums doing great, the videos are in top rotation...what should we be looking forward to?

JH -  More songs and more videos.  Check out our youtube site "theusedchannel".  We've uploaded a bunch of random and fun videos and we're still doing more.  Plus we plan on writing a some songs in the next couple weeks.

Thanks Jepha!  For more information on the band check out www.theused.net