Nine Days

Nine Days came together on Long Island through the efforts of singer/songwriter/guitarists John Hampson and Brian Desveaux. The duo had already performed both jointly and separately within several area bands before assembling the full group. Keyboard player Jeremy Dean, bass player Nick Dimichino, and drummer Vincent Tattanelli completed the roster. Hampson and Desveaux centered their efforts on songwriting and shared lead vocals while retreating to the former’s Deer Park apartment for intensive rehearsal and development. They next issued an independent debut album and started performing live. Victories in WBAB’s Homegrown Talent Search and WLIR’s Best Unsigned Band competition followed, after which the band produced a second CD on its own. A deal with Epic/550 Music was eventually secured, leading to the May 2000 release of the group’s first major-label album, The Madding Crowd. The title nods to Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd.