Noisecreep is proud to exclusively reveal that The Used's 'Artwork' is due out September 1. The Used 'used' a new producer in the form of Matt Squire, which marked one of many changes in the band's career.

"There was a lot of synchronized headspace. We had a vision that we wanted to get across but we knew we needed to take it back to where we were in the beginning. We ditched our management. There was a series of events that got us off our a--es and made us say, 'Hey, f--- everyone else. We had some troubled water with our management and then when we worked with Matt, he let us do our thing. He was laid back and let us do our thing. It was me, my guitar and Bert singing. The last few records were more 'gangbang scrapbooking,'" guitarist Quinn Allman told Noisecreep.

The album 'Artwork' has a theme of self-hate that is a constant current rumbling through the album. "It's a body of work and it's not necessarily a pre-conception. It's about hatred of yourself of something or someone that you think you are. It's a lyrical escape into that thing. It's also about not trying to hate yourself, too. It's more about just facing that, not contemplating that way of being," Allman also said, divulging just enough info about the album's psychology and philosophy.

The hate-theme isn't a veiled reference to how the band feels about itself or each other. "In our band, we have real lives and we're real friends," Allman said. "We all have our shit. It's about self-hate definitely and weighing out the decisions in life. It's never the band. We cling to the music. It's the only thing any of us have at all. Everyone goes through it. We've been humiliated which lead us to think, 'How serious is this shit?' So, what's worth living for is the theme of the record."

While it's not uplifting, Allman is adamant that the album is an exercise in contrasts. "It creates good will. It's an uplifting contrast, though. [Vocalist] Bert [McCracken] is a great poet. I will say that. He can twist a situation into something you almost ironically play events and attitudes." As for the humiliation the band experienced? It was at the hands of former business associates.

"We were taken advantage of and had the wool pulled over our eyes and we're glad to be out of that situation. It's not that we carry it around, but that series of events reacting is what the record is about. I can see how that all goes down, where the line needs to be drawn. It will never happen again."

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