In the post-Maxwell's Hoboken, you take live music where you can get it. And on Thursday, February 20, one of those places will be DC's Tavern, where Southern Rock jesters Nipsey will be celebrating the release of their new EP, "As Seen On TV."

"Nothing in Hoboken says 'rock 'n' roll' quite like DC's," enthused singer/guitarist Bill "Beel" Hamilton. "We thought long and hard about where we wanted to do this, and we decided we should take over DC's for a night and do two sets and really do it up right."

Hamilton and his bandmates, bassist Dave Calamoneri and drummer Frank Dave Maggio, have been knocking around the Hoboken music scene for years, both together and in other projects like Calamoneri's Davey & The Trainwreck, although "As Seen On TV" represents Nipsey's first official release.

One song from the 6-track collection, "Too Much Snow," couldn't have been timed better, and has been getting some airplay on WFMU-FM, Jersey City's flagship independent radio station. But the entire EP features Nipsey's signature brand of chooglin' Southern Rock, delivered with such broad strokes that, as Hamilton noted, "it's sometimes hard to tell whether we're kidding or not." Think "Sweet Home Alabama" as written by Shel Silverstein and performed by ZZ Top, after a few bottles of bourbon, and you begin to get the idea.

"I think, in the past and especially with the live show, we could get so crazy that people weren't sure what to think," Hamilton said. "Today, I think we're a little less like that. We've learned when to pull it back and keep it more about the song. And in all honesty, we're just a better band now than we were in our early days."

Hamilton credits much of Nipsey's newfound maturity on the group's stint as house band on The Big Quiz Thing, on New York City public television. "That experience really tightened us up," he explained. "It's 30 seconds of music and you're out, so you really have to be able to deliver and make a statement. Plus whenever there was a technical glitch or a time out, we'd play to entertain the audience, so we got a lot of playing time in. It's been a really great experience for us."

Nipsey was always funny, though, and that's something that hasn't changed. "I think when you're a band with a sense of humor, you just try and have a good time everytime we get in front of people," Hamilton said. "And I think there's still that element of fun and keeping things a little tongue in cheek. But I also think the songwriting's gotten a lot better and we're just a whole lot tighter as a band. We still get pretty wacky and jump around but I think the music itself has had a chance to catch up."

While songs like "Busstation" and "Gimme Back My Money" reference Nipsey's Southern Rock roots and sense of humor, the surfy "John Oliver" shows another side of the band. "That song was written as the theme song for (comedian) John Oliver's standup show," Hamilton said. "We wanted it to sound like the theme music you might hear on The Colbert Report or a show like that. They liked the song but they decided to use another one on the show, but I liked the track enough that I wanted to get it recorded and out there."

Hamilton, who works in video and sound engineering as his day job, also found another opportunity when he edited the pilot for a cable series about amateur sports car racing. "We were finishing up the pilot and one of the producers asked me if I had any music, and I was like, well, yeah," he said. "So right now that's being shopped around and hopefully it'll get picked up by one of the cable networks, but it has some of our music on the soundtrack."

"As Seen On TV" is available through iTunes, GooglePlay, Rhapsody, and other digital outlets. "But when you search for us, make sure you type in 'Nipsey band' or you'll get a hundred links to Nipsey Hussell Records (a Los Angeles rapper,") Hamilton noted. [Not to mention Nipsey Russell for us old-timers.] "That's probably something we should have thought of when we came up with the name."

For anyone who can't make it to DC's on February 20, Nipsey will also be appearing at Otto's Shrunken Head in the East Village on Sunday, February 23. 'It's a Sunday night but it's free and we're on really early at 7 pm, so you can come see us and still get home in time to see the news before you go to bed," Hamilton said.

But the DC's Tavern show is the one Hamilton's hoping will turn out to be a special event. "It's kind of a small space and it's not really made for live bands, but we've played there before and we're going to make it work," he said. "We'll have CD's for people and new t-shirts, and maybe a few surprises."

And, of course, plenty of laughter.

Nipsey will be appearing at DC's Tavern (505 8th Street, Hoboken) on Thursday, February 20 at 8 p.m. Admission is free.