American post-hardcore/emo rock act The Used have been barred from touring Canada for the next decade.
The band were forced to cancel their upcoming Canadian tour dates due to “border and immigration issues” according to a statement on the band’s website. Adding that “[we’re] very sorry, but its completely out of our control. Once we are allowed back into Canada we will make up the cancelled shows.”
The group were in fact denied entry because of frontman Bert McCracken’s criminal record.
The Used are currently on tour as part of the Warped Tour, and McCracken spoke to Rolling Stone about the cancelled Canadian shows, “They won’t let me in,” he explained, “They said not for ten years. It’s weird, they’re like, ‘You need to rehabilitate these crimes before you come back to Canada.’ I’m like, ‘What does that mean?'”
The 30-year-old singer says the crimes in questions are all old news and for minor transgressions, “when I say criminal record, I’m talking teensy, eensy misdemeanors they still have on my record from, like, 2001 and 2003 – trespassing,” he expalined.
It’s not the first time the band have had troubles entering the country, with fellow bandmate and bassist Jeph Howard noting, “we’ve been denied many times. Half of our crew couldn’t get in either.” He did joke about a creative solution to their border troubles though, “the people that can get into Canada, we’ll play there with a holgram of Bert,” suggested Howard.
Though hailing from Utah, the quartet note that they’re big fans of touring the great white north, “it’s nice once we get up there, but trying to get in is a nightmare every time,” says McCracken. “We’ve been strip-searched. They made us spread our butt cheeks.” Probably through the fault of the prankster singer though, “I left some weed on the bus… I just wanted to show someone my butt.”
When asked about how they’d plan to make up the cancelled shows to Canadian fans, the group suggested playing ‘border tours’ along North American cities, “the Fuck Canada tour and play the borders, and all the Canadians get in for free with their passports,” offered McCracken.
