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Purely Provocative: The Used Bassist Jeph Howard Talks Ego, Fear, Stolen Wallets and Face-Punching Monsanto Employees

Ah, The Used. This alternative rock foursome seems to always know how to produce increasingly complex, emotive and approachable new music while maintaining the specific signatures that A. make the The Used, The Used and B. have garnered them the accolades and droves of fans they already boast. It’s no surprise then, that their April 1st, 2014 release, Imaginary Enemy, has been racking up positive reviews worldwide. this said, instead of your standard interview, bassist Jepha Howard tackled some of our Purely Provocative questions with both charming and hilarious results. Read up on it, yo!

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Ah, The Used. This alternative rock foursome seems to always know how to produce increasingly complex, emotive and approachable new music while maintaining the specific signatures that A. make the The Used, The Used and B. have garnered them the accolades and droves of fans they already boast. It’s no surprise then, that their April 1st, 2014 release, Imaginary Enemy, has been racking up positive reviews worldwide. this said, instead of your standard interview, bassist Jepha Howard tackled some of our Purely Provocative questions with both charming and hilarious results. Read up on it, yo!

If you could choose, how would you die?
Howard: Happy. And I know I will.

Has a fan ever really pissed you off? What happened?
Howard: I only have love.

What’s one of the most fucked up things that’s happened to you as a musician?
Howard: Letting my ego control my actions.

If someone stole all your band’s gear, then you caught the dickwad and no one would ever know what happened next, what would you do to him?
Howard: Take the dickwad on tour with us and make him meditate hours everyday.

What scares the absolute shit out of you?
Howard: Fear is an illusion. We must learn to overcome all fears.

You find someone’s wallet in the street. It contains a ton of cash and/or a winning lottery ticket inside and their ID. What do you do?
Howard: Find them and give it back to them. Money only brings problems. I would; however, keep it if it had no ID and I couldn’t find the person.

Have you ever been too wasted to play live? What happened?
Howard: Not really. We have been playing some of these songs so long it’s like being on auto pilot.

Your instrument/gear (drums, guitar, etc.) has a catastrophic failure on-stage and you have no back-up, what do you do?
Howard: Wreck someone else’s shit so you can’t tell it’s my shit that’s broken.

Name some of your biggest pet peeves. You know… that ones that make you want to wreck shit!
Howard: People smoking close to me, people disrespecting my wife, family or my friends.

If there were zero repercussions to you, what one thing would you do that’s illegal or morally wrong?
Howard: Steal all of the .1% endless amounts of money and split it up between the rest of the world.

Name someone you’d like to punch in his or her stupid face, and why.
Howard: Everyone who works for Monsanto. Enough said.

If you weren’t a musician or totally in love with your job, you’d be…
Howard: An alien or a secret space astronaut.

You kick everyone out of the band because you can replace them with any musician you want. Dead or alive, who do you recruit?
Howard: No one. I wouldn’t be able to tour with any other musicians.

How often have you/do you pirate music? What about Movies and TV shows?
Howard: Never music, but I have movies and TV shows. Because music gets stolen so much I figure I’m evening out the playing field.

What is your stance on the legalization of marijuana?
Howard: Marijuana is a plant grown from nature that has never killed a single living person. It actually helps with problems it doesn’t create them, unlike the legal big monster pharmaceuticals which ARE killing and destroying peoples lives. Fuck you big pharma! Smoke weed and relax.

The NRA: Republican idiots or worthwhile organization?
Howard: I really don’t care. Don’t ban guns, ban evil corporations like Monsanto, Walmart, big pharma, McDonald’s etc… They are more of a world problem that needs addressing ASAP.

Check out the song “Cry”

Born in 2003, V13 was a socio-political website that, in 2005, morphed into PureGrainAudio and spent 15 years developing into one of Canada's (and the world’s) leading music sites. On the eve of the site’s 15th anniversary, a full re-launch and rebrand takes us back to our roots and opens the door to a full suite of Music, Film, TV, and Cultural content.

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