ALBUM PRODUCED BY JIM SCOTT (WILCO, TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND) INCLUDES ‘SWEET 16’ VERSION OF HUGE HIT SONG “ABSOLUTELY (STORY OF A GIRL)”
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (May 11, 2016)
Some say, if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. Maybe that adage is true if you haven’t already left an indelible mark on the culture. Matter of fact, several big names stepped away from the music scene, only to return for a successful “second act”. Sleater-Kinney did it. Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy took breaks and returned with solid comeback albums and tours. Now, after ten years of classroom teaching and Nashville songwriting, it’s time for singer-songwriter friends John Hampson and Brian Desveaux along with original members Nick Dimichino and Jeremy Dean of NINE DAYS to do the same. Re-formed after a decade long break, NINE DAYS began writing and recording a new album, Snapshots, including a reimagined Sweet 16 Edition of their wildly successful hit, “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)”.
When it came time to enter the studio, the band sought out eight time Grammy-award-winning producer Jim Scott (Wilco, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Grace Potter & The Nocternals). “I’ve been a huge fan of Jim Scott for years,” Hampson says. “He’s one of those producers who lets the band sound like the band.”
The group’s newest release is now available for pre-order on iTunes. When fans order the full length, Snapshots, they will immediately receive two bonus tracks; the album’s first single, “Greenlight” as well as the updated version of “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” Sweet 16 Edition. “Greenlight”, is a big, anthem-style rock tune with pop-country flourishes; “We totally went for it with this one,” Desveaux says. “John and I wrote that with Phil Barton, a good friend and great writer here in Nashville. He knows how to write a catchy song.” As for the latter, the remade “Absolutely…” takes Gen Xers back to another time when the single hit the top of the charts in 2000 and propelled the band’s major label debut, The Madding Crowd, to go gold.
Along with those classic alt-songs comes a new list of future favorites. Following Hampson’s path of rocker to husband/father and high school English teacher, “So Called Perfect Life” nails the metamorphosis from carefree single to responsible husband and father. “There go my 4 a.m.’s with all my friends and the sun rising/ there go my guitar dreams, my fast machines/Maybe I was wishing for the wrong things/maybe I was seeing things the wrong way/ Maybe you were everything I wanted/There goes my so-called perfect life.” Hampson says, “It’s all about all of those fun things you happily give up for that one person. The ironic twist is I happily ended up giving up all of that for a particular person.”
What happened in the decade long break for the band? Well, singer John Hampson ended up marrying the inspiration behind “Absolutely”, went back to school for an English Lit degree, and chose the suburban path to the American Dream. The band’s other co-founder, Brian Desveaux, left New York for Nashville in ’07 to embark on a career as a songwriter. “I moved here because I wanted to write country music,” Desveaux said. “It was what I needed to do.” As long as they were apart, however, NINE DAYS never officially ended. In 2014, Hampson and Desveaux, who have been in bands together since they were 18 years old, reconnected. Desveaux, having previously worked worked with ace tunesmiths such as Joe West (Toby Keith, Keith Urban), Bruce Wallace (Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins), Phil Barton (Lee Brice), Zac Maloy (Carrie Underwood, Daughtry) and Jeremy Bussey (Thompson Square, Lone Star, Jason Aldean), brought them all onboard to collectively write songs for Snapshots. Keyboardist Jeremy Dean, said, “I was really excited to dig in to the songs John and Brian wrote this time around.” Bassist Nick Dimichino declares that Snapshots “feels like a natural follow up to The Madding Crowd, it has that big guitar sound with a more mature, lyrical perspective. It feels like the perfect time for us to be creating music again, and for this record.”
