Loudside.com recently managed to get 10 Years Vocalist Jesse Hasek on the phone for a few minutes to talk about the new record and the things that shaped the direction and content of it, as well as the inspiration for their video for the track 'Beautiful', and what the band has planned for the duration of their upcoming touring cycle. Here's what Jesse had to say about all things 10 Years......

Loudside.com: So how do you guys feel about finally being finished with the new album?

Jesse: It's just like having a big weight lifted off of us, because of all the pressure we went through in creating it. And just I mean, it was very stressful at times and we were wondering if it would even get finished and get out there. So it's a big weight lifted off our shoulders.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now, also on that note, with the online leaks being really hard to avoid, and your album having leaked before the official release, how do you guys feel about that?

Jesse: Well, I mean you can look at it two ways....you can look at it as those being potential sales that you missed, or you can realize that if people are going out of their way to get it....and like me, if I like something I'll go out and buy the hard copy. So hopefully alot of those people that downloaded it went and got the real copy and the lyrics and stuff. But with this era of music in this day and age, you sort of have to embrace change, and you really can't stop it. I can't be a Lars Ulrich and say you're stealing out of my pockets. I think you have to take it as a positive thing.

Loudside.com: Yeah....I mean this in terms of you guys having to put the whole package together, with artwork and you kinda want people to have that.....

Jesse: Yeah, and even when you buy it on iTunes, you still get like the digital packaging and it's cool. And I think that the true fans, if they really like what they've gotten, even if they've pirated it, they'll wanna dig deeper and know the lyrics and see the artwork. That's what I do at least. But I think that's where you get your really serious fans from, is the ones that buy it.

Loudside.com: Yeah, and the ones that come out to the shows and buy the t-shirts....

Jesse: Yeah, the ones that are coming to the shows and getting t-shirts...yeah.

Loudside.com: Now in regards to the album cover, what was the influence or inspiration for that?

Jesse: Well actually, umm, the image that's on the cover was sort of just accidental. We had a very short notice and we found out that we were gonna do a photo shoot, pictures of us. And we didn't really have a concept for the art part of it. And Matt (guitars) and I came up with, or were trying to think of some way to represent "Division", so we wanted to almost have like the innocent form of a child, but this child would be cutting a string on a balloon, or letting go of a balloon, which is in the actual booklet itself. But the photographer saw this little, when we were going into this field, she had to pass through this fence that had a hole in it, and he just said stop. And he saw that picture and he took it, and that ended up beating out all the other ideas. The other ideas are in the artwork, but that actual photo for the cover was accidental.

Loudside.com: Right on. Now you guys are playing Rock on The Range soon....How do you guys feel about being a part of that?

Jesse: I mean, we love being a part of all the summer festival shows. You got like STP playing again, and stuff. And that's one thing as a band that we're really really excited about, is just to see those guys play again, because we're all huge fans and just to get out there and play in front of old fans and new crowds.

Loudside.com: Ok, and as far as being on the same line up, or rather playing the same day as them, is there any possibility of you guys maybe playing the song that you guys did with the DeLeo brothers?

Jesse: Umm, probably not because, I mean, it's so new and they're just now getting their stuff back, and we just now got out. And we haven't discussed it with them, but it might be something that could happen in the future. But usually, you do a little bit of prep, some pre-production before you do that, so I doubt it. It could be possible though, I don't know.

Loudside.com: Ok, I mean it's just because they're on the same stage, and the whole collaboration, I know sometimes it happens.....

Jesse: You know what, Dean, he's an amazing guitar player, he might do it. He's just one of those guys that just rolls with it. I mean we play it live, so it might be a matter of just one of those guys just standing in and just playing it. So it all depends on Dean. We'd gladly do it.

Loudside.com: Right on. Now also after that, you guys also have a quick headline run, and I believe after that you guys hop on Projekt Revolution....

Jesse: Yeah, right before that we're doing a run with Filter, and that's gonna be really cool. That's in June, before the Projekt Rev tour. But both of those tours, we're really excited about. The Projekt Revolution tour is just something that we're sorta of pinching ourselves, can't even believe we've gotten it. Because it's just like the biggest summer tour out there. I mean, we've been on Family Values, and it was great! We got to play with Deftones and Korn, which we grew up listening to and it was a honor. But Linkin Park is just so enormous right now, that it's like, it's amazing to be a part of it. So we're excited about that.

Loudside.com: For sure. I was gonna ask if there were any bands in particular that you guys are the most excited about seeing as well.

Jesse: Umm, we did a festival show or two in Japan with Linkin Park, and I'm just excited to see the masses that come out to see them. It's just overwhelming how big of a crowd they bring. I like sneaking out into the crowd and watching from the crowd's perspective. I mean, just like getting up at the highest point where you can just see down, and see everything and just see how massive this is. And I'm excited to see that, and I'm a big Chris Cornell fan, and there's a few bands I haven't seen, like Atreyu. So we're looking forward to collaborating with bands that we haven't played with before.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now I've heard the song and watched the video for "Beautiful", and for me personally, my interpretation anyhow, it kind of reminds me of Stone Sour's "Through Glass".....

Jesse: Yeah.....that's a good one. It's definitely....it's almost Tinseltown, it's that two dimensional.....that's cool that you say that. It's because visually it doesn't matter how beautiful you are, if you're just shallow on the inside and pitiful. And there's alot of people out there in this industry that you run into like that. But the original inspiration came from the drummer (Brian) watching television, and watching one of these ridiculous love reality shows. And seeing how hot all these girls are, cause that's what you stop and watch it for initially, and how just pitifully stupid they are, and how everybody's chasing 15 minutes of fame. So that's where it came from.

Loudside.com: Ok....yeah, cause that song was kinda similar, at least to me....it's just funny that both bands would...be influenced enough, because there is so much of that, those shows on tv right now.....you can't help but to see it.

Jesse: Yeah, it's pretty much just being influenced with what's going on current right now, and it's pitiful to see someone....the whole tabloid thing is what we used for the videos. Because it's pitiful to see how enormously popular people get over their trainwrecks and their mistakes instead of their successes. And that's, in my eyes, I think that's really pathetic, because we're wanting to watch these people fail and self-destruct for our own amusement. And I mean, the video was going to be alot more elaborate. I was going to have her jumping off a cliff and stuff, but we just couldn't afford it yet. It was a very movie oriented budget, and then we had to cut it short.....but long story short, with the video it was just like, at any point, any of these celebrities can just, if they feel like they're being consumed by the paparrazi and the rest of the world, just walk away. As long as you got your life, you can still start over.

Loudside.com: Yeah, that's for sure. Now for you specifically, the haircut....what was the reason for that?

Jesse: Well, honestly it was just having dreads for seven years, and just.....just growing out of it, you know. And halfway through the touring cycle with 'The Autumn Effect', I was already frustrated with them. You don't get to shower everyday, and these things were just halfway down my back...and I mean, they were great for the stage, but the rest of the time I had my hair up in like this Erykah Badu wrap thing, so.....I planned on, and the reason I saved it and it made it a little bit more of a shock is because I was like, you know what if I were to decide in my mind that I wanted to cut my hair, I'm gonna wait until we do the new album cycle so people will be even more shocked, instead of cutting it in the middle of the last one.

Loudside.com: Yeah (laughing). Now, as far as the overall lyrical content, obviously being inspired by current events.....do you guys cover the gamut of subjects?

Jesse: Umm, yeah, I mean a couple of songs in there are about very......almost Napolean syndrome. With the invincible mentality of people, there's a couple of songs like that. But I was actually writing about people in particular that I knew, that were just so brazen in their actions and stuff. But people ask me if it was about Bush, and like when you go back and listen to it, and put him in context to it, it fits him like a glove. So that might have been subconscious, I didn't even know I was doing it. Because once again, you're influenced by what's currently going on in the world, and there's a handful of songs in there that are about someone that will prosper at anyone's cost, ya know. They don't care. And that's very Bush oriented. I mean, I'll be the first to say, I didn't intend it to be that, but after I go back and listen, it fits him like a glove.

Loudside.com: (laughing) Yeah, I ask because I haven't had a chance to hear the new album, so I haven't had the chance to see what all you're talkin about or interpret it in my own perspective I guess....

Jesse: And that's always fine. I love listening to how people interpret it, that's a plus.

Loudside.com: Yeah, like I said with the comparison to Stone Sour.......

Jesse: Yeah, you're the first one that threw that one out. I hadn't heard that one yet, but that's great! That actually fits it more than alot of comparisons people give it.

Loudside.com: Right on. Now as far as "All Your Lies" and the changing of it....was there a specific reason for that?

Jesse: Well, it was originally.....what had happened and what had taken this writing process so long is we started off with a different producer, and things just weren't going the way that we'd planned for them to. So we hit pause, and just kept writing, and then went with another producer. And the first "All Your Lies" was the demo on the Myspace page, was from the first producer. And the funny thing is the reason the record's called 'Division' is because we're very divided as a band and the way we want things to sound, and I personally liked the demo version better, and you hear a couple of fans saying that too. But in the grand scheme of things, the way we went with the record, it wasn't cohesive to the record. It stuck out like it was recorded at a different studio with a different producer and a different vibe. So it was re-written to really fit the record, and to be more cohesive with the record.

Loudside.com: Ok, and is there a possibility of releasing the demo as a download or something?

Jesse: Umm, I'm definitely gonna try and encourage that, because we've got tons of demos that are great quality, because of the two producer thing in the middle of the process. We've got probably about half a dozen to maybe even a dozen songs that could be released as b-sides, and maybe do a DVD. That's down the road, but I hope to plan to do that with all that left over material.

Loudside.com: Cool, I was actually gonna ask about a DVD too.....maybe during this touring cycle?

Jesse: Well, I think we're gonna go ahead and start shooting, so it will definitely be.....this touring cycle just started, so that will last a year or two. So it will be within this touring cycle. It's just a matter of starting the shooting early, and getting all the stuff together.

Loudside.com: Cool. And I know that all the bands that are doing dvd's these days, which is pretty much everyone.......everybody wants to make it a little different than your typical release. Would there be any specifics that you guys would shoot.....

Jesse: You know it's really just in talks, so we really haven't gotten in depth with what we would do. Of course it would have the typical.....you'd have the live performances. We'd take the best of those, and then we would definitely....I'm pretty sure we would put a full separate audio disc in there with stuff that's been unreleased, or demos. That would probably encourage people to get it, because it would be a two discer, instead of just the DVD. We've never done a DVD, so we're gonna have to sit down and get creative.

Loudside.com: Maybe put both of the promo videos on there as well?

Jesse: Yeah, we've even got demo videos. Believe it or not, people don't even know, there are three different videos to 'Wasteland'. So that's something else we could maybe throw into that.

Loudside.com: For sure, throw the alternate versions out there.....

Jesse: Yeah.....

Loudside.com: Ok. And what else can the fans look forward to for the remainder of this year, and the rest of this touring cycle?

Jesse: Hopefully they can look forward to a great performance and great energy every ngiht. We feel it's our goal to get up there and just do the best that we can, to win over new fans and to please the fans we already have. We've changed a little bit more from last time. Last time we were younger and we hadn't toured yet, and it was a little more punk rock and chaotic. We've sort of polished ourselves a little bit...a little more of a....Once you tour for a while, you start to get a little more solid as a band, so that's something I think they'll see.

Loudside.com: You guys have gelled as a band basically....

Jesse: Yeah.

Loudside.com: Is there anything else you want to add?

Jesse: Umm, I think that's good. Go check the record out for everone that hasn't.....