As Jeph Howard walks along the back wall of the Bren Events Center on the University of California, Irvine campus, he stopped in his tracks after stepping on some ice plant.

“Listen to this,” he said, as he ground more of the plant into the sidewalk with his shoe. It crunched and squished under the pressure, leaving moist streaks across the cement.

“Isn’t that excellent?” he said smiling.

Howard, 29, is the bassist and one of four great minds that make up the increasingly popular band, The Used.

His attention to the little things like ice plant are a solitary display of the many eccentricities he and his band mates share.

The Used, also comprised of vocalist Bert McCracken, guitarist Quinn Allman and drummer Dan Whitesides, headlined the first annual Rockstar Get A Life Tour, another one of Kevin Lyman’s many projects.

The tour started in early April and visited 27 college campuses across the nation.

Last Wednesday’s show at UCI was one of four shows in California, the most of any state on the tour. Following their show in San Diego on Thursday, the tour headed to Arizona for its last two shows, ending May 10th, just in time for Mothers Day.

The tour came to light when The Used mentioned to Lyman their desire to tour with their friends in Street Drum Corps (SDC) again. Lyman set up the tour and got Straylight Run, Army of Me and Lights Resolve to join the tour.

“The original concept was to have it be a job fair,” said Bobby Alt, member of SDC. “It happened in a couple states and I think it went over really well. There just needs to be a little fine tuning for the next tour, to bring it back.”

SDC formed in Los Angeles in 2004 after getting together for the fun of it. Frank Zummo joined brothers Bobby and Adam Alt and made a DVD of themselves in a junkyard, playing on anything and everything.

“[It was] just three drummers going completely mad, smashing cars and all these different things,” Zummo said. “And we sent it out [the DVD], just to see what kind of response we’d get.”

They were quickly hired by Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., where they stayed for a summer and fall season and built up to what they are now.

Originally under the name Bang, they were offered to tour with The Used, but were still in the middle of their contract at Magic Mountain. Instead of bailing out early, they trained three drummers who took their place at the theme park and the Street Drum Corp was born.

Being overbooked inspired SDC to create satellite groups under their original name and can now book gigs for multiple venues on the same night.

Their hard work has recently landed them a spot in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in the Vans Warped Tour exhibit.

“To see our stuff in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame was really amazing,” said Bobby.

SDC took the stage at 7 p.m. that night to a surprisingly large crowd for one of the opening bands.

Blending Blue Man Group, Marilyn Manson, Stomp and plenty of unique musical influences, this “Punk Rock Stomp,” as coined by Lyman, bashed on kegs, trash cans and car parts – essentially anything they could get their hands on. As the set came to a close, Adrian Young, drummer of Anaheim rockers No Doubt, joined SDC for the last song “We Are Machines.”

The dynamic of the music changed for the next two sets as Straylight Run and Army of Me took the stage. Lighters and cell phones swayed for the slower songs and when the house lights came on, the crowd rippled as fans jockeyed for a better spot to watch The Used.

The alt-rockers opened up with “The Bird and the Worm” from their third album Lies for the Liars.

About a quarter of the way through the set, McCracken hand-picked members from the audience to join him on stage for “Paralyzed,” another single from their album.

They also played “Sick Hearts” from their recent release Shallow Believer, which was only released via iTunes on February 19 this year.

“This is my favorite record we’ve ever done,” Howard said. “I think it sounds better than all our other records.”

“Some people, that’s all they’ve heard, Shallow Believer,” Allman said. “It brings fans that we’ve never had before, so it’s good. I think they’re some of our best songs.”

Following “Sick Hearts,” the band stood shrouded in strobe lights and announced that SDC would be joining them on stage.

They mixed their styles, playing riffs and beats from their respective songs, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

As SDC departed, McCracken announced that Bill Whitesides, father of drummer Dan, would be joining them on stage and playing guitar for “Pretty Handsome Awkward,” which was featured on the “Transformers” soundtrack.

“I hope one day we can still be his age and still be rocking out,” said McCracken, in appreciation of the bearded, gray-haired man who has been on tour with The Used for almost a week.

“The only person I know that can party harder than Bert McCracken is Bill Whitesides,” McCracken said, and the crowd applauded.

The Used played a few more songs, exited, and came back for their encore.

They teased the crowd with the intro to “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” a crowd favorite.

House lights came on as the band members threw waters, picks and drumsticks to the crowd. They made their way off stage to meet some of the fans backstage and hop on the bus, once again to do the same thing all over again tomorrow with the guys they know best.

“To get up there and to be on the road with the three fucking coolest dudes I’ve ever met, I’m blessed to even be a part of it,” Allman said.

“We’ve been playing these smaller towns and they’re just here for the music. It’s not some pretentious asymmetrical hair-cut crowd. There’s a lot of down-to-earth people on this tour. I like it.”

The fans have something to look forward to, even with the tour ending. The Used have written about 10 songs and are looking to record in the next few months.

“The last records have been different chapters of a book and we’re closing that book now,” Howard, said. “With this next record, we’re starting a new book.”