10 Years (band)

Early years, Into the Half Moon (1999–2001)

10 Years were initially formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1999 with singer Mike Underdown, drummer Brian Vodinh, bassist Lewis Cosby, and guitarists Ryan "Tater" Johnson (also of The American Plague) and Matt Wantland. In 2001, Cosby left and the band recruited Andy Parks on bass. They independently recorded Into the Half Moon the same year.

Killing All That Holds You, The Autumn Effect (2002–2006)

Lead vocalist Mike Underdown left the band to pursue a career in acting and start up a new band, Courage, You Bastards, in Los Angeles, California. 10 Years soon recruited current vocalist Jesse Hasek from another local band. In 2002, Parks decided to leave the band and Cosby returned. The band then released their independent album Killing All That Holds You in 2004.

10 Years were then signed to Universal Records in 2005 and released their major label debut, The Autumn Effect on August 16, 2005 with the songs "Wasteland" and "Through the Iris" picking up regional radio play. Their first single, "Wasteland" spent over 12 months on the rock charts, finally reaching No. 1 at active rock radio in December 2005.

That same summer, the band toured with Disturbed and Ill Niño. In the fall of 2005, they toured with Breaking Benjamin and Smile Empty Soul, then followed up with the Masters of Horror tour with Mudvayne and Sevendust. They opened for Korn and Mudvayne on Korn's See You on the Other Side tour. They also toured with Korn and Deftones on the Family Values Tour, which started in late July 2006.

In mid February 2006, "Wasteland" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. "Wasteland" has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

In mid-2006, the band toured Australia in a lineup which included Hatebreed, Disturbed and Korn.

Their first music video, "Wasteland", addresses the social problem of human rights as well as addiction around the world. The video received a nomination for Best Direction and Best Art Direction at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, but did not win either.

On March 27, 2006, an EP was released on iTunes containing acoustic versions of "Wasteland", "Prey", "Through The Iris" and "Faultline" from The Autumn Effect.

Division (2006–2008)

On November 19, 2006, 10 Years unveiled and confirmed the title Division for their second album. The band would begin recording Division in late June 2007 after spending the better part of a year writing.

Lewis told in an interview that the album is "so different from the first one [The Autumn Effect], but it's still 10 Years," and, "It just sounds like [the songs] would be from a totally different band, which was, you know, the goal." It was also revealed that the track titled "Focus" was co-written with Stone Temple Pilots and former Army of Anyone guitarist Dean DeLeo.

On May 21, 2007 a demo song titled "All Your Lies" from Division was released onto their MySpace along with a post stating the band had chosen producer Rick Parasher to produce the new album. On September 7, the band announced on their MySpace that the album was finished and would be released in 2008, following a tour with Dir En Grey, Sevendust, Operator, Thousand Foot Krutch and Chevelle.

On January 6, 2007, tragedy struck in the band's hometown of Knoxville. When a young college couple, Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, were murdered. A year later on January 29, 2008, "Beautiful," the new single from Division, was released to iTunes and a snippet was also posted on the band's MySpace page, and were dedicated to Christian and Newsom. Division was released on May 13, 2008 after being pushed back due to finalization of the album's artwork.

10 Years was featured on the Revolution Stage of Linkin Park's Summer Projekt Revolution 2008 tour with Atreyu, Hawthorne Heights and Armor For Sleep. They went on tour with Mudvayne until mid December 2008.

On August 2009, Matt Wantland announced he was leaving the band to pursue other interests.

Feeding the Wolves (2009–2011)

10 Years announced that their upcoming and third major label album would be entitled Feeding the Wolves. The album was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge. The band has mentioned the album is of their heaviest material to date and "very similar to some of their early songs."

Throughout the first half of 2010, the band went back and forth between putting on live shows and working in the studio. Before the album was released, the band debuted new songs at live performances such as "Dead in the Water", "Now is the Time", and the new album's first single "Shoot It Out".

On June 12, 2010, "Shoot It Out" was featured on Sirius/XM Radio. The track was released to radio later that month, and was made available for download on iTunes July 6. Feeding the Wolves was released on August 31, 2010.

To promote the album's release, the band opened Shinedown's 2010 Carnival of Madness summer tour alongside Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, and Sevendust. In the fall they joined Sevendust again on the Hard Drive Live tour with support from Since October and Anew Revolution.

In December, the band went on a mini-headline tour, where they played some older songs that they had not played in some time. February 2011, their new single "Fix Me" releases to radio while they headline a spring tour with Hollywood Undead.

On June 17 and 18 the band shot a music video for "Fix Me" in Columbus, Ohio with production company Thunder Down Country. The video was released via YouTube on August 9, 2011.

Minus the Machine (2011–2014)

On April 2, 2012, the band announced that their upcoming record, Minus the Machine, was to be released on July 30 on their own independent label, Palehorse Records; a label which the band stated is a part of Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group. They also announced a four-week headlining tour to support the record, which was to begin on June 27 in New Orleans.

On May 11, the band unveiled the cover art of the album and it was announced that the album's release has been pushed back to August 7. 10 Years released their first single "Backlash" on radio and iTunes on June 19. On July 2, 2012 10 years releases a compilation video on their website featuring another song "Knives" from their upcoming album Minus the Machine. "Backlash" music video made its premier on July 27, 2012. 10 Years reveal to fans the next single "Dancing with the Dead" from their latest record on October 25, 2012.

10 Years recruited Fair to Midland bassist Ryan Collier to join them on their upcoming North American headline tour On September 19, 2012. Collier replaced Lewis Cosby, who took time off to prepare for the birth of his first child.

On December 29, 2012 at a home show in Knoxville, 10 Years performed a special version of "Shoot It Out" featuring the original lead singer, Mike Underdown, along with current vocalist Jesse Hasek.

10 Years toured Australia in late February as part of Soundwave 2014, after not playing in the country for seven years.

From Birth To Burial (2014-present)

From Birth to Burial is 10 Years's seventh studio album, released on April 21, 2015. Their first single Miscellanea was released on February 13, 2015. The Band have been on tour supporting the album touring with Breaking Benjamin for the American leg of the tour and Dead Letter Circus for the Australian leg.

On September 2016, founding member Ryan "Tater" Johnson announced his retirement from touring, due to back and shoulder injuries from long-time touring. Although he will no longer tour, he says he will still write music with the band.

Musical style and influences

The band's genre has mainly been termed by journalists as alt-metal however they've also been categorized under post-grunge and progressive metal. The band are heavily influenced by the alternative/progressive metal group Tool, with critics comparing singer Jesse Hasek's singing to that of Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan's. They have also been influenced by, and recently compared to, Deftones.

Band members

Discography