If you check out the website for Tennessee’s 10 Years, you’ll see the band described its latest studio experience as "an intense creative process." There’s a variety of reasons why the album Division was such a labor of love, be it the longer-than-usual songwriting period or producer Rick Parasher’s (Pearl Jam, 3 Doors Down) heavy hand in the creative process.
Guitarist
Matt Wantland readily admits there were personality conflicts between
Parasher and a few members of 10 Years, but he’s also quick to say that he wouldn’t have had it any other way. For
Wantland,
Division represents the best guitar work he’s delivered throughout his career.
The May release of Division follows the success of 10 Years’ previous album The Autumn Effect, which featured the hit single "Wasteland" (the track hit #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2006). Reaching that high point wasn’t an easy path, and it certainly didn’t come without handing out fliers on multiple occasions, connecting with fans, and more amazingly, actually building a stage for the debut show. Wantland told Ultimate-Guitar writer Amy Kelly that after everything he and his bandmates have been through since they formed in late 1999, he certainly won’t ever take his success (or more importantly the fans) for granted.
UG: I’ve read in several places that recording the album Division was "an intense creative process." How do you feel it differed from other studio experiences?
Matt: I don’t know. I haven’t worked with other bands, but it’s one of those situations where we’ve always had time to write stuff. When we tried to get it done quickly, it just didn’t work. In the long run we just ended up recording everything all the way through until we ended up in the same spot. We would take things as far as we could take it, and let it be what it was.
Do you come in with several guitar parts already in place before you work the songs out with the other members?
Every song is kind of different. A lot of times Brian actually does a lot of the songwriting, pretty much the foundation of stuff. We’ll come through and I’ll put all kinds of crazy guitar parts or solos over it or whatever you want to call it. Then we’ll just sit in a room and hash it out, and we all make it what it should be.
The song "11 a.m. (Day Dreamer)" features an incredible acoustic outro. How far along in the songwriting process did that come into the picture?
We were going to put that as the intro to "Dying Youth," but we put it at the end of "11 a.m." That is actually something me and Brian wrote on the classical guitar. I want to say that me and him had a version of that little piece probably the last 7 or 8 years. We just decided to put it in there because it works really well with the "Dying Youth." Instead of playing my part on the guitar, I ended up doing it on the piano. It was tricky for me because I don’t play the piano!
Do you usually write most of your parts on the acoustic?
We write pretty much everything on the acoustic. It always starts there. I think that might be what gives us a little more of the melodic edge over some of the bands doing stuff now. There’s no way to hide anything with the acoustic guitar. It all translates into a very organic, natural kind of sound.
Are you someone who enjoys listening to classical guitarists or do most of your influences come from the rock world?
I’ll still put on old Beatles records, Zeppelin records, and Doors records. I probably listen to more pop than I do rock.
How old were you when you first picked up the guitar?
I was 12 years old, I think.
Who was your main influence at that age?
I want to say Jimi Hendrix and probably The Beatles. When I was 8 or 9, my mom gave me all of her old records. I remember the first song that stuck out was "Let It Be" by The Beatles. She also gave me Are You Experienced?, and it pretty much took over from there! Then there was Nirvana. It was pretty much a combination of those 3 artists.
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| "I don't get into much of the very metal stuff. I'm more into the classic artists." |
Are there any contemporary artists that impress you as much as those early bands?
The only one I can probably think of is Dean DeLeo. I don’t get into much of the very metal stuff. I’m more into the classic artists. I love Gilmour. He’s probably one of my favorite guitar players all around. That’s kind of my thing.
Speaking of Dean DeLeo, I understand that he co-wrote the track "Focus."
Yes, he did. We had a mutual friend named Ryan Williams, who did the engineering for Velvet Revolver. He worked with Brendan O’Brien for a few years, who did all the Stone Temple Pilots’ records. We asked Ryan about it, and Dean ended up giving Ryan a call. He ended up going out to L.A. and writing a couple songs and that’s what came out. I wish I had more to say on it, but I didn’t get to go!
That must have been disappointing.
Yeah, it kind of was. I think we had just got done with our first record and we were having a tough time writing our second one. Money was a little tight there, so I stayed.
Are there any songs on Division that were primarily shaped by you?
That’s hard. We got so immersed in it and so much time was spent with it, that it’s almost hard to see the forest for the trees. Does that make any sense? It’s hard for me to even put my finger on stuff like that. I know probably one of my favorite songs on the whole record is "So Long, Goodbye."
Did you have a consistent setup for your equipment on Division?
Honestly I think we just used an old Marshall 800 and an AC30. I’m pretty sure I used my Les Paul Custom on everything.
On "All Your Lies," there is almost a sonic-sounding effect. Did you use any unique effects on that one?
Honestly we just ran the Marshall through the AC30. It gives the Marshall a bit more of a low end and more of a crunch. We would just dial in what we needed. It’s one of those things that you can overthink a lot. It was really just plugging the Marshall in, turning it on, and playing it. That’s kind of what we did.
You worked with producer Rick Parasher, who has a pretty impressive list of bands on his resume. Was Rick a hands-on type of producer or did he let you take the lead?
Rick was great. I think Rick’s biggest asset was that he wouldn’t let you just settle. I may have been playing a lead the same way all 4 times, and he would make me come up with 4 more different ones. He would push you never to settle. Earlier on I was talking about taking things as far as they could. There was this one thing that I was trying to write, and I started and I thought I had it. He goes, "No, that’s not it." I start playing and I don’t think he’s paying attention, so I go back and play the first one that I did. Rick says, "Yeah, that’s it." I said, "Rick, that’s the thing I played first of all." He says, "Yeah, but we had to go through and see if we could get something better." So when you’re going all the way down the road, you don’t know if you’re on the right path or the wrong one.
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| "If you're not good to your fans, then I don't know what you're doing." |
That’s an interesting approach he had to recording. Was that something that worked well with everyone’s personalities?
That’s another reason why the name of the album is Division. A lot of people could deal with that and a lot of people couldn’t. Jesse, I know, had a real problem with him changing words and stuff. He had taken a lot time by himself to write his words. He doesn’t necessarily change it that much, but it was still very hard for Jesse. I felt a little bit of that, too, but I think it was probably for the best. I think I did some of the best playing that I’ve ever done. So I guess I can’t be too mad about it.
It does seem that bands usually rave about producers who let them have free rein, so it’s interesting to hear a new perspective. I can imagine that it would be hard to take criticism about songs that you poured your heart into for such a long time.
It was definitely different. It was definitely harder for me and Jesse. Tater had a little bit of a problem with it. We’re just not a band who has ever had to deal with that. It just kind of caught us out of our comfort zone a little bit.
This next question goes back a few years. I understand that there was a time when you actually had to build your own stage and rigs.
That was probably April of 1999. It was the first show we ever played. It was a situation where we started this band when we were in high school. I think it was my last year or senior year, and we didn’t have money for demos or recording things. We ended up renting out a ballroom in a hotel. We just set it up and made this little stage, and we promoted it for like a month, fliering and getting all of our friends. It ended up being like 200-some people there for our first show. We wanted to make it happen and it ended up happening.
After that first show, did you immediately see your fan base grow?
It’s a lot of work, and we didn’t sign our record deal until the end of 2004. I think it was kind of nice that they all shut us out at first because then we learned the work ethic. A lot of bands don’t want to do that. A lot of bands just want to hang out with their girlfriends and do whatever they’re doing. You can’t do that. If you really want to do it, you’ve got to get out there and put a little muscle into it.
I’m sure that your fans appreciate the fact that you’ve worked hard to get where you are today.
It’s so easy to bypass everything with MySpace things, where they automatically send you a response. It’s just like any other time – people want honesty. If you don’t go about it like that, you’re not going to get any respect. If you’re not good to your fans, then I don’t know what you’re doing.
Interview by Amy Kelly
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