LIFE LESSONS
BERT McCRACKEN
The Used frontman’s real name is Rob, and these days he prefers books to booze. But after years in Australia, he’s still not used to giant spiders
WORDS: EMILY SWINGLE PICTURES: HUNTER GARRETT
These days Bert prefers Shakespeare to shots
PRESS/ HUNTER GARRETT
FROM CRYSTAL METH to Cristal champagne, The Used’s Bert McCracken’s had it all. Now 13 years sober, the emo pioneer has experienced both extreme highs and lows throughout his life, but always found the strength to come back better with emotionally driven, ink-stained missives on love, death and everything in between. To mark The Used’s 25th anniversary, he unravels how he reached the brink and bounced back.
YOU MIGHT CHANGE…
“Twenty-five years ago, I was a totally different person. I was a little unhinged, wild and ready to bring chaos to whatever situation I was faced with. A lot of the antics and shenanigans created hype around the band – ‘The singer’s crazy, he throws up onstage, blah, blah, blah.’ I haven’t seen many videos of me at my worst, but there’s one where I’m really wasted. I honestly can’t believe who I was.”
…BUT YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE PAST
“I don’t think I’d change anything about my past – life has to play its course. Every decision has gotten me to this point in life. Even if I could go back and tell myself to stop, I’d just get laughed at. You could say it’s ironic I was in a straight-edge hardcore band before The Used… they kicked me out when I started smoking weed. It went downhill from there.”