The Nu-Look | Don Dixon & The Jump Rabbits

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DON DIXON | NEW ALBUM RELEASE
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After more than 20 years of performing together, Don Dixon and The Jump Rabbits will unleash 'The Nu-Look'; a spunky collection of club-friendly rock. Lancaster native Don Dixon's production credits include work with: REM, Counting Crows, astroPuppees, The Smithereens, Fetchin Bones, Let's Active, and dozens more. In our interview with Don, he takes a moment to discuss 'Three Hundred Pounds of Joy' and advises us to lay off the crack...
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Band members/ who does what:
JAMIE HOOVER: guitar, singing [of Spongetones fame]
JIM BROCK: drums, percussion [sessioned w/ Joan Baez]
DON DIXON: bass, singing, keyboards

How long have the Jump Rabbits been playing together? The three of us have been playing together as a unit for 20 years… hard to believe… JAMIE & JIM both came into the fold playing with my wife, MARTI JONES… I began to steal them away for the occasional show, but now that MARTI has retired, we decided to give ourselves a name & make a record together, like a real band…

Give us a rundown on The Nu-Look... What's the sound? We wanted “The Nu-Look” to reflect our live sound…I was thinking about trio albums from my youth like “Disraeli Gears”, “Taste”, “Are You Experienced”…I wanted to start with the blues, to pay homage to those days when all the young boys were discovering the blues, so I taught the guys “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy”, an old WILLIE DIXON song & we took it from there… simple but sophisticated, like the perfect black cocktail dress…

Were the tracks developed as a studio project, or have they been road-tested? We did the whole record in three tracking sessions during 2007…the first thing we did was record “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy” & we began playing that one immediately…the very next night, in fact…we were already playing a song I’d written called “The Night That Otis Died”…several others were familiar to us but for the most part, the record was learned & arranged in the studio…

Where can we purchase The Nu-Look? It will be available at all better record stores (if there are any left) both real & online as well as all the outlets like iTunes, eMusic, etc as a download…these days, it’s always a good bet we’ll have them at our live performances…

Is this the first album from Don Dixon & The Jump Rabbits? Technically, this is our first pure collective effort but JAMIE & JIM have been playing on my recordings for a long time…

Do we sense a bit of Hendrix in the album cover? (Are You Experienced?) You guys definitely have more style ;) More style than HENDRIX? You people must be on crack…on my best day I have about as much style as his little finger… he’s a hero of mine… any comparison makes me blush… I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy!!

Are the Jump Rabbits touring? and are there are Charlotte shows? We’re playing the East Coast in June, the rest of the country in August… June is solid, we’ll be in Greenville, SC on the 11th, Charlotte on the 12th, Raleigh on the 13th… you can check MySpace for a complete schedule…

Anything else we should know? I find it fascinating how many interesting people have come out of our little town & how many interesting people continue to break the mold… thanks for creating a place on the web that puts a spotlight on this fertile corner of the world: 29seven20!
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Author's Note: Aw, shucks... Don Dixon and The Jump Rabbits will be performing at The Evening Muse in Charlotte, NC on June 12, 2008. For other upcoming tour dates, check MySpace. Also see Lucky Stars and Notable Folk.