The Used

Pretty? Handsome? Awkward? You decide.

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More About

• Jeph Howard
• Josephine Collective
• Fillmore
• Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Punk Rock

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In the video for "Pretty Handsome Awkward," an entertaining track from Lies for the Liars, the latest CD by the Used, bassist Jeph Howard dons drag — and he believes he pulls off the look pretty well. As he points out, "I think I could fit in on Santa Monica Boulevard" (a Los Angeles strip he describes as "trannie central" in a Backbeat Online Q&A accessible at blogs.westword.com/backbeat/). Not that achieving this level of attractiveness was easy. "I tried on, like, five different dresses," he reveals, adding, "They were doing my makeup for, like, five hours, and they got a little gem-crazy around my eyes." Plenty of emo artists wouldn't participate in such prankishness, let alone flash their testicles for the camera, as Howard does in an alternate version of the clip currently floating around on the web. Then again, the Used, which will appear at the Fillmore alongside the Bled and Josephine Collective, is more straight-ahead rock than whiny pop punk. That's a good thing, whether Howard looks pretty, handsome or awkward.