The Nixons

The Nixons (formed in 1990) are an American alternative rock band, finding commercial success in the mid-1990s.

Band history

The Nixons were founded in Oklahoma City by singer/guitarist Zac Maloy, guitarist Jesse Davis, bassist Ricky Brooks, and drummer Tye Robison. The group released their debut EP Six in 1992 (after a self-titled album, released in 1990) on Dragon Street Records and replaced Robison with John Humphrey, before releasing Halo in 1994 on Dallas-based Rainmaker Records. This album features several songs also included on Foma, their official debut LP, released in 1995 on MCA Records. Foma included the radio hits "Sister", " Happy Song", "Wire", and "Passion". The group capitalized on their success with big tours (about 300 shows a year), including dates with KISS, Sevendust, Slash's Snakepit, Brother Cane, Soul Asylum, Radiohead, and Toadies. Foma eventually peaked at No. 77 on the Billboard 200.

The group replaced Ricky Brooks with Ricky Wolking and released the self-titled album, "The Nixons" in 1997 with MCA/Universal, which featured three singles: "The Fall", "Miss U.S.A." and "Baton Rouge". The album eventually peaked at No. 188 on the Billboard 200. Their consistent gigging ensured a strong cult audience for 1999's Scrapbook EP (featuring b-sides, live and acoustic performances, including covers of Elton John's "Rocket Man" and Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight"), which saw the band return to Rainmaker.

Their third full-length album Latest Thing, was released by Koch in early 2000. It featured songs co-written by Marti Frederiksen and Jack Blades of Night Ranger fame. Davis and Humphrey left the band after the album release. The band continued touring, replacing them with Scott Bush and Ray Luzier (of Korn and Army of Anyone fame), respectively. However, when the tour supporting the album concluded, The Nixons quietly disbanded.

Break-Up

Davis, Brooks, and Humphrey reformed in early 2001 as Huver, with a new lead singer, Garin Murdock. The band gigged heavily and reportedly signed a recording contract with Epic Records, but broke up in the summer of 2002 after independently releasing one EP. John Humphrey has gone on to play drums in the band Seether. Zac Maloy released two albums and an EP as a solo artist, and has since become a songwriter (Warner/Chappell) and producer, and relocated to Nashville working with such acts as Carrie Underwood, Skillet, Our Lady Peace, Halestorm, Blake Shelton, Hanson, Chris Daughtry, David Cook and Bowling for Soup. Jesse Davis formed roots-rock band 4 Points West in 2002, which released EP, "Lonesome Demise..." and full-length album, "Insomnia Suite". Davis now plays in Anchor The Girl and released music produced by Grammy nominated Wes Sharon. Ricky Wolking went on to play bass for the rock band Edgewater and has recorded a solo album as Honky Mofo. Original drummer Robison is a co-owner of January Sound Studio in Dallas, and has worked as a producer/engineer with Drowning Pool, Cas Haley, and Dennis DeYoung.

Reunion

In 2017, they announced a couple of reunion shows with the band's classic Foma line-up (Maloy, Davis, Brooks and Humphrey) which will play in their native Oklahoma and also as a part of the KDGE "THE EDGE" Edgefest 25th Anniversary line-up in Frisco, Texas. Additionally, The Nixons Official Facebook page was created, where the 4 members are constantly uploading rare videos as well as unreleased pictures and memories.

A brand new song called "Song of the Year" was released on iTunes and Spotify in early June. They also played additional reunion shows in Tulsa, OK and Dallas, TX.

Discography

Independent albums

• 1990 – The Nixons (self-released, on cassette only)

Studio albums

• 1994 – Halo
• 1995 – Foma – No. 77 US
• 1997 – The Nixons (MCA) – No. 188 US
• 2000 – Latest Thing

Extended plays

• 1992 – Six
• 1998 – Scrapbook

Singles

Band members

Current members

• Zac Maloy – vocals, guitar (1990–2000, 2017–Present)
• Jesse Davis – guitar, backing vocals (1990–2000, 2017–Present)
• Ricky Brooks – bass, backing vocals (1990–1997, 2017–Present)
• John Humphrey – drums (1992–2000, 2017–Present)

Former members

• Tye Robison – drums, backing vocals, programming (1990–1992)
• Ricky Wolking – bass, backing vocals (1997–2000)
• Ray Luzier – drums (2000)
• Scott "Scooby" Bush – guitar, backing vocals (2000)

External links

• The Nixons on Myspace.com
• Zac Maloy on MySpace.com (contains Nixons songs)
• Nixons' AllMusic page
• Tye Robison's studio in Dallas