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I would really like to know what the hell is in the water these days that's making super young bands really talented! What happened to the days when at the ages of fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, most people were just jamming out in their parents garages and doing Blink 182 and Greenday covers?!

...Okay, I'll admit, I'm not that upset about having to hear another bad version of Basket Case, but for real on the topic of young bands, we were contacted by Keegan, the vocalist from Aurora band Use As Directed, and after checking them out and digging their sound, I poked around on their MySpace a bit and realized that they were all about sixteen or seventeen, and I was blown away. I messaged Keegan back with some questions, and, well, here it is! "Sometimes when you tell people your 16 and 17 years old in a rock band they wont take you as seriously as say a band that is 26 years old. It's a hard barrier to get over but I love surprising people and looking at there faces after they've seen us play live."
-Keegan Powell - Use As Directed.

For our readers who don’t know who you are, roll call! Could you please introduce yourself and what you do for the band?

Yo! My name is Keegan Andrew Powell. I'm 16 years old and I sing and play guitar for Use As Directed.

How did Use As Directed come to be, and where did the name come from?

Use As Directed came to be when I first moved to the town I still live in Aurora. I moved there when I was six years old and my first neighbor and best friend was our drummer and still current drummer Nick. Me and him started a bromance which still goes on till this day. We would skateboard together all day long and would always try and out-do each other. One day he brought a drum set home and I was stumped. I said "Alright this is the end. He's got me beat" I remembered my dad had a few guitars from his previous history as a musician so i decided to show Nick up with them even though I had NO idea how to play. We got started jamming and we were like "I GUESS we can start a band together" haha. The singing part I kind of stumbled upon. From there we picked up Kevin and James and our newest member Adam recently joined as our guitarist.

What was it that inspired you to get into the music scene, and does it continue to inspire you now?

There's been a few pinnacle moments. I'd say one of the biggest was seeing The Starting Line's headlining tour back in 2006. Kenny Vasoli and TSL is DEFINITELY one of the reasons I do what I do today. He's a young dude too, so hearing about his story leaving high school to tour full-time was one thing, but seeing it actually unfold on stage in front of me was amazing. I've seen them several times since but i'll never forget that night. I got home and I called the guys and was like "Band practice NOW!"

What inspires your lyrics? Is there one specific lyric that means the most to you?

That question is kind of hard to answer since the way I'm writing lyrics is really changing as we speak. Before it was about like simply writing catchy music. Now as I get older writing is a lot easier to come by. Things happen to you, you meet people, see things, do things. The lyrics on the next EP will definitely if not all be based on true happenings.

You guys are all still fairly young, what are some of the challenges you have to face out there because of it, and do you think there are any advantages to it?

Sometimes when you tell people your 16 and 17 years old in a rock band they wont take you as seriously as say a band that is 26 years old. It's a hard barrier to get over but I love surprising people and looking at there faces after they've seen us play live. Not too sound egotistical haha but it is very rewarding to get someone go up to you who perhaps before didn't think you could pull it off and go up after to you and say "I didn't think you had it in you!" That's more for the older audience. School definitely gets in the way, though without I wouldn't have met our guitarist Adam and a lot of the songs I'm writing now wouldn't be being written. Getting to shows is hard because were at the point where were JUST about to get our van and some of us have our licenses but because of crazy high insurance prices it's hard to fund that for a bunch of high school kids. It's all a challenge but something were definitely tackling and will continue to tackle as a band. There are however a lot of advantages. We all still live at home and live really close to each other so practicing is something that can easily get done. We also still practice in Nick's basement something were really lucky to have. Being young in a band is hard and but done right and with a lot of work it's very rewarding.

You released your debut EP back in 07, and on your MySpace, it says that around December of this year you'll be writing a new CD, what can we look forward to hearing, and how do you think your music has evolved?

Well were currently writing a new CD and songs as we speak. December was just an ideal month because it's not coming up for a long time and we wanted people to see we weren't just sitting on our butts and doing nothing about new music. Look forward to hearing a WAY more polished Use As Directed. Right now were in the stage of fleshing out as many songs as we can. Were probably going to write about 15-20 songs and pick 5 to make the most bad ass EP ever made... ever. I think it's important especially now not to try and emulate any band. It's very hard to balance something that you love, somethings that's you and something that you can market to people. The stuff were coming up with now is stuff I'm and all the band is really proud of. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I don't want to give anything away but we do have some exciting things planned for it. We'll hit the studio sometime this summer.

You're campaigning to play the Toronto, Montreal, and Buffalo Warped Tour dates this summer, why do you think people out there should vote for you?

Yes yes yes! PLEASE if you get the chance head over to warped.battleofthebands.com/useasdirected and vote for us in all three cities. Warped is a dream for all of us. The whole atmosphere of Warped Tour is something I fell in love with the first time I went to one back in 2005. The thousands of people lined up spending the day outside sweating it up just to see there favorite bands... There's something romantic about it. Warped tour has been a staple of summer for tons and tons of kids around North America. To be part of that would be a dream come true. We work our butts off so it would be very rewarding to be able to play a few dates this summer.

For those readers who haven't seen you play live, can you describe your live show? What gets the best reaction from the crowd?

It's a party. We like to have a lot of fun and interact with as many people as possible. We want to make you feel involved in what were doing. It's always better that way, and of all the shows I've been to the ones where I feel as if I'm sharing that same energy with the band have been the best shows. Sometimes for fun we'll throw in a cover and that always gets a good reaction out of a crowd. Recently we've doing "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry. A while ago we did "What's My Age Again". If you come to a show we totally encourage everyone to stop us and say Hi!

The music industry is a rough one to be in, What fuels your passion to keep going?

I've come nowhere close to where I want to get. I want to see the continent in a van and play to crowds every night. Our journey as a band has only started.

So what can Use As Directed fans look forward to in the future?

A new record late summer, alot more shows, alot more love for the U.S come the time our CD drops, some small touring and trying to get to as many places as we can. Like I've said we've come nowhere close to where we want to get(Not to discourage the success we've had because we really have worked hard to get that) In the next while were going to try and be as many places as we can promoting the new CD without killing ourselves and I can't wait!

Here at the Sound Faction we are five of the most random people you will ever meet, so we like to end our interviews on a less serious note with five random questions. Are you up for that?

Duh bring it on.

If you were a scented candle, what would you smell like?

Root Beer

If you had to be stuck in an 80's movie, which would it be and why?

Princess Bride. Such an amazing movie. I'm not kidding. A must see for anyone.

What's worse: Cheeto fingers or juice mustaches?

You know what's worse then cheeto fingers? Smartpop fingers. But juice mustaches are a quick fix. A quick swipe of the index finger will rid that. Cheeto fingers can ruin ones day and life for that matter.

If you had to be a cereal mascot, who would you be, and why?

Does Cinnamon Toast Crunch have one? If not I'm making one. That cereal might be most the delicious thing I've ever tasted. I had 4 bowls of that for breakfast today.

What's your favourite dinosaur?

Pterodactyl

And here's your shameless self-promo spot: anything you'd like to add about yourselves, the music, or anything else?

Thank you to anyone who has given our band a chance. There's alot of bands out there and alot of other bands people can listen to when there listening to ours. And there's alot of bands out there who should really REALLY not be getting the attention they are now. *Fart* Metro Station *Fart*. Just know when you listen to our band your listening to five best buds who write music for the sake of writing music and having a good time with the goal of playing out to as many people possible. We all really love what we do and honestly we'd be pretty much still in our practice space if it weren't for alot of the amazing fans we have. Thank you and watch out for our new record! Summer 09!

We'd like to thank Keegan from Use As Directed for contacting us and taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to check out Use As Directed at their MySpace here.