Nine Days

The co-vocalist, guitarist and songwriter remembered Nine Days’ first gig outside its native Long Island to two people, he claimed, at the Bitter End in New York City. “Now, we sell out the clubs and there’s people that can’t even get in.”

Desveaux always felt his band had penned some potential hits over its five-year career, even though time and time again A&R reps at record labels told the guys their music was “missing something.” But when John Hampson, Nine Days’ other frontman, wrote “Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)” an upbeat guitar-pop song about putting up with shit from your girlfriend because you “absolutely love her” in August of ’98, it seemed unanimous. “John rang up and said, ‘I think I just wrote our home run,'” Desveaux said.

It had been a long time coming.

Desveaux and Hampson had played in other bands together since 1991, as guitarists and backing vocalists. In 1994, they took a year off and wrote separately. “We decided we were both writing a lot so we were both gonna sing our own songs. That’s how the two lead-singer thing happened,”explained Desveaux.

They made some eight-track demos then brought bassist Nick Dimichino and a drummer in to recut the songs. Not only did the band have a song called “Nine Days Of Rain,” but the first recording session also took nine days to complete, hence the group’s moniker.

When the drummer quit, Vincent Tattanelli came on board and keyboard player Jeremy Dean joined a week later.

That lineup recorded another six songs at Tattanelli’s house. The whole lot was released in 1996 as the independent CD, Something To Listen To. “That first CD, we concentrated on melodies and it was more folky and acoustic-oriented,” Desveaux said. While they didn’t have management or an agent at the time, they did pick up their attorney, Andy Tavel.

For the next two years, Nine Days played a Monday-night residency gig at Port Jefferson’s Village Pub, where the band sold the album for $5. “We did build up a good following that way,” Desveaux said. “It wasn’t about making money. It was about getting the music out there.”

During that time, Nine Days wrote more material and released another album, appropriately titled Monday Songs. Long Island radio station WLIR added the track “This Music” and became an avid supporter. “We started playing New York City around that time, too, because it’s hard to build up a following in NYC. Everyone said it’s going to take awhile,” Desveaux said.

“We played the Bitter End a lot. We were really good friends with the owners there and they loved us. We played one gig there and I swear it was to two people. The guy (Kenny Gorka) was like, ‘You guys are great. I want you to come back here.’ So we would play the Bitter End once a month and there were a few other clubs we’d play, like the Mercury Lounge and Brownies.”

By then, Andy Mendelsohn, a DJ from Long Island’s WRCN, came on board in a management capacity (Reel Deal Artist Management), but the guys suffered a setback through much of 1997 when they signed a production deal with the guitar player from Meatloaf at Avatar Studios (formerly Power Station). The recording, just four songs (including “Crazy” which is on The Madding Crowd), took a “ridiculous” nine months to complete and “totally stumped John and I creatively,” Desveaux said. The contract was voided when the terms weren’t met and Nine Days was back on its own again.

They put “the fiasco” behind them and in August of ’98, Hampson got into a spat with his girlfriend and wrote “Absolutely” in 10 minutes. The band cut the song, plus two others, and started shopping it. “All of a sudden, all this interest came,” Desveaux said.

Jon Cohen of Cornerstone Promotion made them an offer. “He started his pitch then stopped and said, ‘I’m not going to sit here and try and sell you guys on my company. You guys need a major record deal.'”

Wanting to be a part of the band’s team, Cohen joined Nine Days as manager number two. But it didn’t end there. In Cohen’s office was Peter Malkin of PMM (Fugees, Joan Osborne, Spacehog). “We actually have three managers now for the price of one,” boasted Desveaux.

Nine Days started showcasing again, and fielded several offers, eventually signing with Epic/550 Music in March ’99. The five-piece went into the studio from May to July with producer Nick DiDia and recorded all new material, written post “Absolutely.”

The band acquired its booking agents around the time of the album’s release, and has been touring America for the first time. Jonathan Levine at Monterey Peninsula Artists books the band for North America, and Mike Dewdney at ITB books Europe.

In addition to radio festivals, Nine Days did a two-week stint with Stroke 9 and was out for most of August with Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon. The guys will be in Europe September 6-19 for a promo tour, return to the U.S. to headline their own tour in October and hook back up with Vertical Horizon before the month ends.