I have enough information now to write the biography.
The Used formed in Orem, Utah in 2000, brought together by drummer Branden Steineckert, guitarist Quinn Allman, and bassist Jeph Howard, who had been playing in various local bands through the 1990s and were searching for a vocalist to complete their lineup. Allman then asked McCracken if he was interested in joining the band, and after being given some music, he wrote the lyrics to what would become "Maybe Memories," then returned the next day to record a demo version of the song and was officially confirmed as the band's vocalist. The group endured a rough start, as during the early days of the band, members suffered from poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, panhandling for change in order to buy food. Steineckert sent their songs to John Feldmann, and on hearing the song "A Box Full of Sharp Objects," Feldmann flew the band to Los Angeles on his own expense and helped them find a record label. Their raw, emotionally charged sound blended post-hardcore aggression with pop-punk melody, a combination that would come to define their early identity.
The band's breakthrough arrived with their debut studio album, released on June 25, 2002, through Reprise Records , which introduced the world to the classic lineup of McCracken, Allman, Howard, and Steineckert. The self-titled record spawned the singles "The Taste of Ink," "Buried Myself Alive," and "Blue and Yellow," and eventually was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2019. The momentum carried into 2004's In Love and Death, which went platinum and reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 , cementing the band as one of the defining acts of the emo and post-hardcore explosion of the mid-2000s. Their third album, Lies for the Liars, released in 2007, produced the band's highest-charting hit in America, where "The Bird and the Worm" hit number 9 on Alternative Airplay, and the album itself peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, marking the group's peak on the American album charts. The Used's career arc has been marked by relentless touring and a handful of significant lineup shifts. In 2006, the band replaced longtime drummer Branden Steineckert with Dan Whiteside , who has remained behind the kit ever since, while guitarist Justin Shekoski would later join following Quinn Allman's eventual departure. The band built its reputation as a ferocious live act on package tours including Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and Projekt Revolution, and continued releasing records steadily, including Artwork (2009), Vulnerable (2012), Imaginary Enemy (2014), The Canyon (2017), Heartwork (2020), and Toxic Positivity (2023). Across their catalog, the Used became one of the leaders of their era and enjoyed much success with many albums certified gold and platinum by the RIAA, selling over 10 million albums combined worldwide. The band remains active today, with 2025 standing out as a milestone year. 2025 was one of the biggest years for The Used, as the band wrapped a tour playing three of their most iconic albums each night in a different city, turning their 25th anniversary into a three-night celebration in all the biggest cities across the world. They have continued to share stages with longtime peers, including a high-profile appearance supporting My Chemical Romance at the Hollywood Bowl , and the band has indicated they've been working on new music and are hoping to release soon . More than two decades on, The Used remains a touchstone of the early-2000s post-hardcore and emo movement, still touring and still commanding the same raw intensity that made them a defining live act of their generation.
That intensity is exactly what drew Wayne Dennon's lens to them. Wayne photographed The Used at one show back in 2009, right around the fevered, noisy era of Artwork, capturing a band at the height of its chaotic, screaming glory. The resulting 24 photographs remain part of this archive today, a small but treasured piece of Wayne's decades-long documentation of live music, and they have since been viewed by archive visitors 18,603 times, a testament to how enduring the connection between this band and its fans continues to be.
