Recording the songs onto tape was a new experience for the band that contributed massively to the album’s feeling. The record’s opening seconds are a raw experience of Bert crying for Traegan. “There’s this process of recording vocals that’s really special with [producer] Ross Robinson - we’ve called it psychic surgery in the past, it’s really on a psychic level of mental and emotional connection to the vibrations of music. It’s a special thing that it does special things, and usually the little “sessions” we’d have would be about an hour or longer before I’d end up singing any words or notes. "Everybody was in the session that night [they recorded the emotional opening on ‘For You’], the whole band was sitting on the floor, our good friend Ryan Muirhead was taking photos - you can hear the photos being taken. "From when we first started to put the record together, when I was at Justin’s and mapping out vocals, the idea of this song came to us in a moment. It was very heavy at his house. He lost his dad ten years ago, and I never really thought about writing about Traegan until that night. "For me, it was so much of what the record felt like, but also why I fought for it to be on there, is my obsession with annular connections, and Hamlet’s peak of the ghost, that I think it sets the precedence for the record. At the beginning of the play, the ghost appears out of nowhere and then the play starts, it’s the same with Infinite Jest, the beginning is really, really telling, and I really wanted to encourage people to take the whole record in.” 'The Canyon' seems like a rebirth, especially considering the inspiration Justin Shetoski has brought to The Used since he joined in 2015, it’s like an injection of new life. As this record is such a monumental point in the band’s career, was there any point where things felt like they were faltering? “Things always go in waves, and there are plateaus, and I think with art especially, you have your moments of what you’re into at the moment, and it reflects in what you create," Bert ponders. "But as far as personal relationships, it’s always tough, and I’ve always wanted to keep all the love and respect in my heart for what The Used is, and every member being an important part. "The Used is bigger than the four people who started it, and the four people that are in it now. I don’t know if losing the passion is ever something I would say because I’ve never taken a moment away from what I know I was born to do.” “Making 'The Canyon' feels like what I imagined the greatest artists in the world in my childhood did - when I first heard Pink Floyd or Michael Jackson or The Beatles or anything great. This is what it looked like, in an old room that smells a little bit like mould, and for some reason is freezing cold one minute and so hot the next, and it’s full of gear, and it’s brown, and it’s orange and it’s literally old. "There’s something so magical about feeling for what the song is, and knowing taking tracks to tape is a performance, so you start to play, and it’s a show, and allowing the band into my psyche of what these songs are meant to me. There are moments in the drum tracks were all four of us have lost control of our emotions, and it’s never felt like that before recording. I love a new chapter; the book is getting really exciting at this point.” “In the last five years, not drinking has allowed me to have a really clear vision of myself," Bert continues, "and the people around me, and “self” and what that means, having a daughter. Making this record, I’ve never worked on anything harder, and that’s when I’ve felt closer to peace. I feel like maybe peace is this aggressive, passionate drive, endless hard work that’s selfless. I think The Used fans and anyone else who listens to this record would with an open heart, hear that music can portray things that maybe we can’t talk about that are so tip-of-the-tongue, hearing it is worth more than you can talk about.” “Everything I’ve ever loved is in [the record]. Kurt Cobain is all over the place, it’s unavoidable for me, and with this record, I tried just to let it come out and not think about it and not think about what other people might think. As an artist, it’s always the correct path. A lot of it was really painful, so it’s impossible to think. For me, the idea is as honest as it could be, to not fix anything was portraying all my heroes, and that’s the fun part for me. There are shout-outs to everyone I love. It’s bigger and better live, and we did a little acoustic version of ‘About You (No Songs Left to Sing)’, and these songs are so emotionally connected to something bigger that it’s an overwhelming experience.” Taken from the November issue of Upset, out now. The Used's album 'The Canyon' is out now.