Clemson Tiger
October 3, 2003

Band Praises Downloads And Online Support
by Marie Glenn


Next Wednesday, music lovers are in for a treat as the San Francisco-based band Ten Mile Tide (TMT) makes its way into town as part of their first national tour, made possible because of the often-criticized and scrutinized act of file sharing. Despite what other artists claim about the drawbacks of file sharing in the music industry, the independent band TMT has experienced nothing but positive outcomes in their work with it and have been avid proponents of it. In February they were on CNN to publicly address the issue and show their support of the file-sharing of Kazaa.

"What file sharing has done for independent bands is absolutely amazing," says bass player Jeff Clemetson. The band says that without file sharing they would not be able to get their music out for people to enjoy. Because of file sharing, the band has had over 8.6 million downloads on the Kazaa file-sharing service, allowing them to connect with their fans all over the country and the world. It was also through file-sharing that TMT found out where their fans were. They began receiving emails from all over the country from college students asking them to come and play at their school. Now, the band is taking those emails into account and making their way around the country to let their fans know exactly how much they appreciate them.

TMT has been on tour since August 25 and they plan to continue on with the fun for another month and a half. Their tour has taken them from the Midwest to the Northeast and soon to the Southeast, and then back out to the West. By the time they finish their tour, they will have visited 14 states and Washington, D.C.

Throughout their tour, the band will be promoting their latest album, "Flow." TMT also has their second album already in the works for December as well. The CD, set to be released around December, was produced in Providence, R.I. and will be titled "Midnight is Early."

TMT offers music to its listeners that combines elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, groove and harmonious lyrics. Although each member of the band differs in their taste in music, they work together to create rhythms and lyrics that are relaxing, fun and expressive. Some of their influences in the music world include such legendary greats as The Allman Brothers Band, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Dispatch and Neal Young. Because of their hard work in their art, Ten Mile Tide has been given the pleasure of opening for such bands as Dispatch, moe., MOFRO, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Strangefolk and Railroad Earth.

The group consists of six members. Justin Munning (acoustic guitar/vocals), his twin brother Jason Munning (lead electric guitar/backup vocals), Steve Kessler (violin/fiddle) and Mark Mazzoni (vocals/keyboard/organ) all went to Stanford together where Justin and Steve were roommates and Jason and Mark were roommates. Together they began writing and creating original songs that would later be incorporated into Ten Mile Tide's albums.

For more information on the Ten Mile Tide you can check out their web site at www.tenmiletide.com. Don't miss TMT next Wednesday night, October 8 at TD's for FREE! That's right, you pay no money to hear awesome music all night long. Who would want to pass up that kind of offer?