After scoring a number one radio hit with its "Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)" song, Nine Days has just completed work on a video for the band's new single, "If I Am," with German director Ulf Buddensieck.

The band shot the clip just prior to this week's launch of its headlining fall tour with supporting act Dexter Freebish, and Nine Days singer-guitarist Brian Desveaux recently chatted with MTV Radio about the story behind the "If I Am" single.

"[The song] is about having patience," Desveaux said. "It's about two people in a relationship and one person wants all these things, like marriage, commitment, the whole nine yards. And the other person is kind of saying, 'Just have some patience. It will all come, but I can't do this right now. Just wait for me,' you know."

he continued, "and the one person is saying, 'Just wait for me. I will be there and we will have all of this, but just have the patience." [RealVideo]

As for the "If I Am" video, Desveaux noted that the clip includes performance footage of the band mixed in with a scenario that features vocalist John Hampson chasing after a woman who is seen only fleetingly in the clip.

"There's a bit more of a storyline going in this video," Desveaux said. "John's following this girl, and he's kind of speaking the lyrics to her. He's singing it, but it's kind of a conversation they're having [as] she's walking away."

he added. "You never really see her. You only see her hair or maybe half of her face. She's kind of right [next to] the camera. You never really see what she looks like. You see her body here or there." [RealVideo]

Nine Days plans to release the video for "If I Am" in the next few weeks, as the clip is currently being edited.

After wrapping its own tour on October 21 in Jacksonville, Florida, Nine Days will hook up with Vertical Horizon for a series of dates through mid-November.

Here's how Nine Days' tour itinerary is shaping up through the fall:

• 9/27 - Marshall, MN @ Southwest State University
• 9/28 - Cedar Falls, IA @ University Of Northern Iowa
• 9/29 - Dallas, TX @ TBA
• 9/30 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Neptune Festival
• 10/1 - Boalsburg, PA @ Tussey Mountain Amphitheater (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/2 - Charlottesville, VA @ Trax (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/3 - Winston-Salem, NC @ Ziggy's (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/4 - Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/6 - Mobile, AL @ Mobile Bayfest (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/7 - Atlanta, GA @ Cotton Club
• 10/9 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/10 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/11 - Greenville, NC @ The Attic (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/12 - Morehead, KY @ Morehead St. University (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/14 - Charleston, SC @ Joe Riley Stadium (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/15 - Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theater (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/16 - Thibodaux, LA @ Thibodaux Civic Center (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/18 - Nacogdoches, TX @ Stephen F. Austin University (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/19 - New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina's Uptown (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/20 - Tallahassee, FL @ Floyd's Music Store (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/21 - Jacksonville, FL @ Metropolitan Park (w/ Dexter Freebish)
• 10/25 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 10/27 - Utica, NY @ Utica Memorial Auditorium (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 10/30 - Harrisonburg, VA @ James Madison University (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 11/5 - Austin, TX @ Waterloo Park (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 11/7 - Pueblo, CO @ State Fair Events Center (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 11/8 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium (w/ Vertical Horizon)
• 11/10 - Salt Lake City, UT @ SaltAir Pavilion (w/ Vertical Horizon)

For a full-length interview with the band, check out the MTV News Online feature "Nine Days: Long Island Sound."

• Nine Days

Nine Days is currently sitting at number one on the "R&R" Contemporary Hit Radio-Pop chart with "Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)," the first single off the Long Island, New York, band's new album, "The Madding Crowd."

Prior to embarking on the group's current road trip with Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon, Nine Days singer-guitarist John Hampson chatted with MTV Radio about coming up with the song, which he said was the product of instinct rather than a long, drawn-out songwriting process.

"Some artists talk about songwriting as a craft and stuff, and I know I can craft a song, because Brian [Desveaux, vocalist-guitarist] and I have done it, but you have almost this instinct. [When we wrote 'Absolutely'], I just couldn't stop singing it in my head. I had finished up some of the lyrics and stuff and just brought it in to rehearsal one day.

"I said, 'You know, I think I got something pretty cool.' And we figured it out, we all learned it, and a couple of months later we were signing a record deal and it was great. [RealAudio] [Sometimes] you sort of get out of the way of the song and just let it happen."

The band is scheduled to roll into Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 11 with Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon for a show at the Blockbuster Pavilion.

You can check out more from our interview with Nine Days in an MTV News Online feature debuting Friday at MTV.com.

• Nine Days

• Nine Days

Long Island newcomers Nine Days are getting ready to head out on the road for a summer tour in support of their major-label debut, "The Madding Crowd," and its lead single, "Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)," which is currently climbing the pop radio charts.

The video for "Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)" is currently in heavy rotation on both MTV and MTV2, and Nine Days frontman John Hampson and guitarist-vocalist Brian Desveaux recently dropped by the MTV Radio Network and talked about the song's jealous origins.

"It's actually kind of funny," Hampson said."[We were] doing a show on Long Island. It was an outdoor show, and there was a big deck that we were playing on, and we got there really early for sound check. I was there with my girlfriend, and as typical, we were annoying each other.

"She's just aggravating me, so she walked [away] and started talking to somebody on the side of the club. So I'm just sitting there, and I was literally thinking to myself, 'Man, she drives me nuts. She totally drives me crazy.' But as I was thinking this, I was watching her, just looking at her, and she was having a conversation with someone and just started laughing.

"And I swear I thought to myself, 'Y'know, she totally drives me crazy, but I absolutely love her when she's happy, when she's smiling," Hampson continued. "I don't know what happened, but it just came out of my head. I started singing that chorus, and I kind of picked up the guitar, and the song kind of wrote itself. Pretty much ten minutes later, it was done. It was one of those things."

"Which is the best kind," Desveaux interjected.

"It was a welcome thing to happen," Hampson said, "but it's pretty funny how the slightest thing can just influence you and set you down some road. That's what came out of [that incident]: a three-minute song." [RealAudio]

After wrapping up its own stint of dates, Nine Days have signed on to open several separate shows for Savage Garden and Sister Hazel, and on June 22 Hampson and Desveaux will serve as celebrity judges for "Say What Karaoke," live from the MTV Beach House in San Diego.

Nine Days have also signed on to appear at this year's edition of the Hard Rock Rockfest, slated for July 22 at the Chicago Motor Speedway, featuring Metallica, Kid Rock, Stone Temple Pilots, and Third Eye Blind, among others (see "Metallica, Kid Rock, 3EB Rev Up For Rockfest 2000.")

Dates where you can catch Nine Days in the next few weeks:

• 6/16 - Vancouver, BC @ Richard's On Richards
• 6/19 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
• 6/21 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
• 6/22 - Santa Ana, CA @ Galaxy Theatre
• 6/23 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Cajun House
• 6/24 - Albuquerque, NM @ Anodyne
• 6/27 - Plainview, NY @ The Vanderbilt
• 6/28 - Camden, NJ @ Blockbuster - Sony Center
• 7/2 - St. Louis, MO @ LaClede's Landing (w/ Sister Hazel)
• 7/4 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
• 7/7 - Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall (w/ Sister Hazel)
• 7/8 - Birmingham, AL @ Five Points Music Hall (w/ Sister Hazel)
• 7/9 - Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theatre (w/ Sister Hazel)
• 7/14 - Augusta, GA @ Fort Gordon (w/ Savage Garden)
• 7/15 - Jacksonville, NC @ Camp Le Jeune (w/ Savage Garden)
• 7/22 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Motor Speedway - Hard Rock Rockfest
• 7/27 - Columbus, OH @ Easton Town Center

• Nine Days