10 Years - A Prophetic Name for a Prophetic Band

When reading the history of Knoxville rock band 10 Years, some biographies say they started in 1999 with their original singer, Mike Underdown, and some biographies say they started in 2002, when vocalist Jesse Hasek took over. What does guitarist Matt Wantland have to say? 

According to Wantland, the band officially started in 1999, putting to rest the misinformation found even on their own website that the band formed in 2002. “We did start the band in 1999. The original people who in the band were me, Tater [Ryan Johnson] the guitar player, Brian [Vodinh] the drummer, a different singer for a few years, Mike [Underdown], and Lewis [Cosby], who plays bass. It was probably 2002 when Jesse joined the band, so I guess some people look at that like the full creation of 10 Years but we’ve been doing it for a little over a decade now. We might even have one CD floating around out there with a different singer [Underdown] on it.” Wantland is referring to the album the band released in 2001, Into the Half Moon.

In 2004, the band independently released Killing All That Holds You, their first album with Hasek on lead vocals. “We had a local guy we paid to record it… we were really young. I don’t think I have any copies of it.  It’s the first thing we ever did with Jesse on it,” Wantland said.

10 Years singed with Republic/Universal in 2005 and released Autumn Effect in August of that year. How does a band get signed with a major record label? Said Wantland: “We just started playing around here as soon as we got the band together… we thought we had enough songs and we had enough cover songs so we just got out there playing. We played around 5 years in this town before we became friends with one of the radio DJs at the local station WNFZ [94.3 Knoxville], and he actually started playing us. I think Universal was like ‘Who is this band who is getting more requests than all our national acts?’”

Released in 2005, their album Autumn Effect put 10 Years on the rock n’ roll map with their song “Wasteland,” featuring not one, but two music videos. “Version One” repeatedly flashes to a fish gasping for air and finally dying (reportedly, the fish was computer generated). The “Amnesty International Version” refers to the torture, abuse and loss people all over the world endure at the hands of others. It points out that society is a “wasteland” but it also shows that the human spirit is stronger than man’s evil and as much as people feel hopeless, the “wasteland” can be overcome one person at a time.

In May of 2008, 10 Years followed up Autumn Effect with their second major label release, Division. Does Wantland believe that the band grew between albums and is still evolving? “I guess we are. We’re human beings… it’s impossible not to. I’d like to believe that, anyways. [He laughed.] I don’t think Division sounds much like Autumn Effects. You know, there’s a two year gap, three year gap, when you’re writing something, and I don’t even think you’re the same person. You’ve been through a couple of relationships and a few of the guys have had children. It’s like we’re not the same people, and we’re not always coming from the same place. We definitely evolve and it keeps changing. We try to do new things, and playing as much as we do, I think technically we get a little better at playing because we’ll stretch our wings a little harder each time.”

10 Years may well be one of the hardest working bands in the industry. How does that fit in with starting a new project? “When we put out Autumn Effect, we toured for probably 18 months straight,” Wantland said. “We wore ourselves to the bone, just overworked ourselves, and it took us almost a year to do Division because we were so tired. After playing guitar everyday for almost 18 months… there was no way I could play. I guess what we’re trying to do on this kind of touring cycle and writing thing is instead of really disappear, we’ll do one tour for a month and a half and then we’ll take three weeks off, and we’ll just jam and write a few songs in between that, so we’re kind of doing both at the same time… that way we don’t burn ourselves out on either one. It’s been kind of a nice way to do it.”

Songwriting, producing, and the direction of the music industry and record labels… all topics touched on by Wantland. 10 Years is well known for the importance they attach to their songwriting and their desire to do their craft well. Vodinh and Hasek write the foundation of the songs, but there is not anything done that is “not worked out in the room,” said Wantland. “If there’s a bass line that really makes the song work or another guitar part structurally, it will start there but it definitely won’t end until everybody has had their hands on it. The important thing is to write a good song.” 

Although Josh Abraham (Staind, Static-X) produced Autumn Effect and Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam, Nickelback, Soundgarden, Rob Zombie) produced Division, Wantland feels that the band has, in a way, kind of self-produced. “It was funny… in both situations Brian has a really good ear for arrangement, and the way we write songs they don’t get changed much when we work with anybody else. I don’t think we’ve ever had anybody that truly challenged or seen anything way beyond where we actually have already been… we’re pretty self-sufficient. We’re just now talking about what we might want to do with the next one; so, we’re not sure yet.”

And finally, the music industry and the record labels. How does 10 Years sell something that fans no longer want to buy? And, how do they deal with record labels that want more control over bands as they continue to lose control over profits? 

“It is kind of a weird situation,” Wantland said. “We got in right before a lot of things went really really digital, before iTunes got really big and you could download one single. It’s really hard to sell a record nowadays. If [the fans] want it they can get it for free. If people go get the record and still come to the show that’s fine by me. I don’t care if I sell a million records. People love music and it doesn’t matter how they get it. They come to the show to enjoy it… it’s fun getting out there because you can’t download a t-shirt and you can’t download a live experience. You can watch it on YouTube, but is that the same? This is a hard question to answer because I don’t think anyone really knows how it’s going to end up right now, but you know, it’s about staying in touch with [the fans], emailing them… and that’s another thing… it’s all internet and MySpace and Twitter and Facebook. Anybody can ask you a question quicker. Calling you when you’re at home… there’s no separation between us and fans anymore, so we spend a lot of time just talking to them and answering their questions, keeping in touch with them so they know who we are and appreciate what we do.”

The band 10 Years is ten years old. Did they know when they picked that name that they would last at least that long? Was it a sign of the future, a prophecy, deja’ vu? Or was it a group of high school kids making bets in someone’s bedroom that the band they had just formed would not last ten days, let alone ten years? Only 10 Years knows the real meaning of their name but it is a safe bet that the band has a bit of fortune teller in them, and if they were so right about their name, their music would surely be as successful. Find out for yourself Tueday night, June 2, when 10 Years with special guests Adelitas Way play The Venue.