Artist description Ten Dark Years is a melodic metal band based out of Mankato and Minneapolis, MN. Our music blends a massive amount of styles and influences that melds together into a brooding, seething, melodic form of heavy metal that encompasses all aspects of the human emotion into song: love, hate, pain, suffering, happiness, joy, and every ounce that the human soul can bleed and seethe in its lifetime. Our music ranges stylistically from mellow and light to dark pounding metal. We do not constrict ourselves to a style when we create, we only strive to grasp an emotion and let it grow from there. Ten Dark Years. Heavy music that passion that will move you.

Music Style Melodic Alternative/Nu Metal

Musical Influences deftones. tool. incubus. a perfect circle. chevelle. incubus. sevendust. buddy rich. entire grunge era. nin. korn. pain. heartache. misery. sorrow. happiness. anger. misery. emotion. spirit. the human heart.

Similar Artists Deftones, Tool, Sevendust, Incubus, Chevelle, A Perfect Circle.

Artist History Ten Dark Years.... ...probably the most irony filled name for a band that has gone through nearly half a decade of format and lineup changes, and had every possibly slap in the face that a band could possibly endure. But its the next 5 years that long standing members Jeremy Heath (drums) and Jacob Nelson (vocals/guitar) are looking forward to. I dont think you could possibly go through as many lineup changes and transitions as we have, and still keep the level of renewed excitement we have now for this band states vocalist Jacob Nelson. This is definitely another turning point for us, but all the issues, all the downfalls, all the shortcomings we've had in the past two years, we can fill those voids with something stronger. The band initially started as an acoustic duo by Anthony Ticknor back in 1998. Over some time, it morphed into a punk/industrial/european metal/rock band where Ticknor was the lead vocalist. At that time, Nelson was singing for local Mankato hard rock band Travesty, which was a weird mix of Slaughter, Godsmack, and Creed’ as Nelson describes it. Towards the end of Travesty's existance, TDY bassist Jeff Bostic actually left Ten Dark Years to join Travesty in the late winter of 2001. This basically had sent TDY into turmoil with the added departure of their guitarist Andrew Luers (now in Mankato thrash punk band Olsen Twin Suicide. At that point, Ticknor, guitarist Steve Price, and Heath on drums, decided to regroup, recruiting Wyoming transplant Jerad Reimers to play bass. They worked on a few songs, and were slowly rebuilding. late that spring of 2001, Travesty just broke up amicably. My bassist and guitarist had other bands, and my drummer had a kid on the way. It took Ticknor about 5 minutes after hearing the news to ask Nelson on board to sing for the band, and moved to the full time guitarist position. The group, with Nelson on vocals, Ticknor and Price on guitar, Reimers on bass, and J on drums, worked through the summer with a new sense of vitality and excitement. That fall, they started playing out with a bang. Their first show was for 250 people at local Mankato brethren Diskord's CD release party. Their next show was opening for Skywind at the Quest Club in Minneapolis. That october, they played 8 shows, and hit the studio for the first time to record "A Perfekt Ten". We worked our asses off. Played a ton of shows from then until February, and took some time off to record. TDY hit Two Fish Studios in mid-February to record 5 songs. They would approach the mixing themselves, which ended up being a painful and drawn out process that wouldn't show the results for over 1 year. In March, Ticknor, with doubts and mixed feelings about the future of the band, and doubts of what he wanted, departed the band. This took the band aback as their key songwriter had left. Not willing to lose any ground, Nelson moved quickly, plastering ads on local music websites and webzines, and passing the word around. That's when Joey called me. Thats when everything we knew of our music, music in general, and playing music was flipped upside down. Joey Tichenor came from the Twin Cities to jam with the band. With a show in Iowa looming, he learned the set in under 2 weeks, added improvements, and that was the beginning of us as a band improving. We wrote some great songs, planned a move to Minneapolis, and were about as excited for our future as a band can be. But that wasn't to be. First, Steve quit. In October, original guitarist Steve Price departed the band. He had just graduated college, had an amazing new job, and could not find a middle point for both. Steve did the right thing. He couldn't let that job go. The hardest part was losing a brother.. We can move on, but Steve was the glue of the band personally. No matter what arguments we had, he always had a way of bringing us back to reality with some goofy situation. Not long after Prices departure, and after Nelson and Heath's move to the Twin Cities, Jerad Reimers departed the band. He wasn't on the same page anymore. He didn't want to move to Minneapolis, and he just wasn't happy with where the band was at and where it was going. No bad blood whatsover. We're definitely lucky with all of our departures since I joined the band. Everything has been amicable and we're all still really good friends. From that point, Ten Dark Years struggled. Creatively, and memberwise. Carl Smith filled in on bass for the band from April until late August of 2003. Carl was in Joey's other project, Devium. Phenomenal bassist. One of the best I've ever seen. But he was always temporary, and we understood that. With growing frustrations, and differences in opinion on where the band should go, the hardest hit came in September of 2003. The stronghold of TDY, Joey Tichenor, who had brought the band to a new level of writing and playing, departed the band. The boy just wasn't in it anymore. Mind or heart. He was gone from where Jeremy and I were at. So where does that leave a drummer and a singer? With a new sense of excitement. With Nelson's plethora of material that has never been used for Ten Dark Years, and a potential guitarist that could refill Tichenor's shoes fully, Ten Dark Years finds themselves at a new point. A new beginning. With a new found sense of hope and excitement. This is NOT the end for us...simply the beginning......

Group Members Jacob Nelson (Lead Vocals/guitar), Chris Rowe (Guitar/vocals/misc.), Jeremy Heath (Drums/Programming), BASS - ?? COULD BE YOU!! ?? We are currently seeking an able bassist. Email jacobn@tendarkyears.net for more information.

Instruments guitar, bass, drums, voice, keys, cpu, soul, heart, passion......

Albums Skin Deep e.p. (2003)

Press Reviews "This song kicks ass! The tempo falls off every once in a while, however, it is compensated by the outstanding vocals. They (tdy) project themselves on the screen in a wild display of reckless abandon. The cool thing is that not many bands can get away with that." :: :: -Gods of Music (www.godsofmusic.com) review of "A Perfekt Ten", Nov. 2001. '9.10' out of '10'.

Location Mankato, MN - USA

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