The practice of battle testing new songs on the road before heading into the studio is one that often divides audiences, some of whom are excited at the prospect of a sneak preview and others who just want to hear their old favorites. But the potential detractors don’t bother guitarist Quinn Allman of The Used. “We have fans who wanna hear stuff from all different eras. There’s kids that wanna mosh around, there’s kids that just wanna cry and shit. We just play what we want to play regardless.”

Fans of the band that were able to catch them at one of their three recent New England shows no doubt know that The Used have plenty of new material. The band has been touring ostensibly in support of their iTunes only Shallow Believer EP, but with plans to record soon after touring is over, the “Get a Life” Tour has been about new music.

“It’s stuff that we already know, we just wanna play it to see how it feels to play it,” says Allman. While the songs may change subtly from night to night, the band isn’t overly concerned with winning over fans immediately. “We don’t really play it to see their reactions as much, but if they like it that’s just a plus.”

Allman and the band have already come up with a genre for the new album’s sound. “We describe it as ‘gross-pop’,” he says, “it’s gonna be pretty raw. I think a lot of the stuff is very much more poetic and lyrical, and the sound is more retro and raw with less production.”

And the man to produce this gross-pop? “We’re actually talking with Rivers Cuomo, he’s been a fan of our band, and we’ve asked if he’d like to produce some songs.” Since the band will be coming fresh off a tour and are playing tighter than ever, in Allman’s estimation, they plan to record the album in similar live fashion. “Our plan is to just get a great live room. We’ll have fun with it afterwards but we really want to keep it simple.”

The Used hope that Cuomo’s experiences with Weezer will enable him to lend a unique perspective to the recording process. “The stuff that Rivers’ has done, even just Pinkerton, Pinkerton sounds amazing, and that’s kind of the style we want to get,” Allman says. “Pinkerton just has the most unique sound out of all of them, but the songs on the Blue Album….”

The release of Shallow Believer, a collection of B-sides from Lies for the Liars, has allowed the band to move in this new direction with a new sense of freedom. “It sort of just purges everything that was in there,” Allman says. “It’s like cleaning out your studio or cleaning out your room. It’s being able to get rid of all your past references and start bringing in new ideas.”

With certified gold and platinum sprinkled over three studio albums, two live CD / DVD’s, and a new EP, The Used certainly have a formidable catalog. But it’s the excitement of a new direction that lifts the band above peers content to sit comfortably in the same old sound.

“I’m kind of hopeful it will be out by the end of the year,” says Allman. Until then, he says the band will be on myspace, making themselves available to the fans, excited about the contact but not overly concerned with the reactions, much like the concert experience. “I think it’s good to encompass what your band is, to be able to see what kind of kids are attaching themselves to it and what they’re saying, but I don’t feel obligated to the fans. I feel obligated to myself. But I think that when you can talk to them and get a perspective difference you get to see things that you can learn from all the time. It’s very cool.”

Here’s hoping that the new recording process satisfies Allman and company as well as all their fans.