10 Years (band)

Lore & Background

10 Years were initially formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1999 with singer Mike Underdown, drummer Brian Vodinh, bassist Lewis Cosby, and guitarists Ryan Johnson 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. 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 named deficit. 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. As of 2020, the band has released nine studio albums, with *Violent Allies* being the most recent; the 2022 release *Deconstructed* is a compilation/remix album, not a studio album.

Reader's Guide

10 Years emerged from Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1999 and gained prominence with their 2005 major-label debut The Autumn Effect, which produced the hit single 'Wasteland.' That song reached No. 1 on both active rock and Billboard Alternative Songs charts and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The band's music video for 'Wasteland' received nominations for Best Direction and Best Art Direction at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. Over the following decades, 10 Years released nine more studio albums, including Division (2008), Feeding the Wolves (2010), Minus the Machine (2012), From Birth to Burial (2015), (How to Live) as Ghosts (2017), and Violent Allies (2020). Their 2022 album Deconstructed featured alternate takes of their biggest hits. The band has toured extensively with acts such as Disturbed, Korn, Breaking Benjamin, Sevendust, and Mudvayne. Despite numerous lineup changes, Brian Vodinh and Matt Wantland remain the only founding members still in the group. Their 2024 EP Inner Darkness preceded a full album announced for 2026.

Did You Know?

• The band's first single 'Wasteland' spent over 12 months on the rock charts and reached No. 1 at active rock radio in December 2005.
• The album Division (2008) was dedicated to actor Brad Renfro, who was Jesse Hasek's cousin.
• As of December 2017, The Autumn Effect and its single 'Wasteland' have been certified Gold by the RIAA.

Knoxville Roots and a Shifting Roster

10 Years first coalesced in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1999, uniting singer Mike Underdown, drummer Brian Vodinh, bassist Lewis Cosby, and guitarists Ryan Johnson and Matt Wantland. From the earliest days the group's personnel proved remarkably fluid. Underdown eventually stepped away to pursue acting and launch Courage, You Bastards in Los Angeles, and the band turned to Jesse Hasek, who had been playing in a local group called deficit. Bassist Andy Parks filled in for a period before Cosby returned to the fold in 2002. Over the years the roster continued to turn over, with Wantland at one point announcing his departure in late 2009 to explore other interests. Despite all the churn, Vodinh and Wantland stand as the only founding members still attached to the project. The current four-piece—Hasek on vocals, Vodinh on lead guitar, Wantland on rhythm guitar, and Chad Grennor on bass—carries forward a sound that has been shaped and reshaped by every member who passed through the Knoxville scene.

The Autumn Effect and the Wasteland Breakthrough

After cutting two independent records—Into the Half Moon in 2001 and Killing All That Holds You in 2004—10 Years caught the attention of Universal Records and signed in 2005. Their major-label debut, The Autumn Effect, dropped on August 16, 2005, and immediately began to gain traction. The lead single "Wasteland" climbed the rock airwaves for more than twelve months before finally cresting at number one on active rock radio in December 2005. By mid-February 2006 it had also claimed the top spot on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. The accompanying music video, which tackled themes of human-rights abuse and addiction, earned nominations for both Best Direction and Best Art Direction at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. As of December 2017, both the album and "Wasteland" have been certified Gold by the RIAA, cementing the record as the band's defining commercial statement.

A Decade of Sonic Reinvention

From the second major-label album onward, 10 Years made a point of refusing to repeat themselves. Division, released in May 2008, was described by the band as sounding like it could have come from an entirely different group, and it featured a track co-written with Stone Temple Pilots and former Army of Anyone guitarist Dean DeLeo. The record carried a deeply personal dedication to Brad Renfro, an actor who died at twenty-five and was vocalist Jesse Hasek's cousin. Feeding the Wolves, which arrived in August 2010, leaned into the heaviest material the band had yet recorded, produced by Grammy-nominated engineer Howard Benson and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge. By 2012 the group had moved to their own imprint, Palehorse Records, a label operating within Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group, to release Minus the Machine. In total the band has put out ten studio albums, with Deconstructed arriving in 2022, an EP called Inner Darkness following in 2024, and a new full-length already announced for 2026.

The Open Road: A Band Built on Touring

10 Years have spent as much time on the road as in the studio, and their touring résumé reads like a who's-who of the mid-2000s alternative-metal scene. In the summer of 2005 they shared bills with Disturbed and Ill Niño, then joined Breaking Benjamin and Smile Empty Soul that fall. They rode the Masters of Horror tour alongside Mudvayne and Sevendust, opened for Korn and Mudvayne on the See You on the Other Side tour, and later appeared on the Family Values Tour with Korn and Deftones. A 2006 Australian run placed them on the same bill as Hatebreed, Disturbed, and Korn. In 2008 they headlined the Revolution Stage at Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution alongside Atreyu, Hawthorne Heights, and Armor For Sleep. The 2010 cycle saw them open Shinedown's Carnival of Madness tour with Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, and Sevendust, before joining Sevendust again on the Hard Drive Live tour. By early 2011 they were headlining a spring run with Hollywood Undead, a pattern of escalating support slots that tracked the band's steady climb through the genre's hierarchy.