The genre-mangling indie-R’n’B-jazz-punk-zoot-suited nutjobs The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band like to do things their own way, and have in the past released a wax cylinder and played venues from Ronnie Scott’s to the Royal Albert Hall to Oxford’s Port Mahon.

As a precursor to their third album – a follow-up to 2011’s Year Of The Rabbit – due out in May this year, the band have thrown a typical curveball. Rather than trailing the album with a single release or two, they’ve instead teamed up with local company The Cotswold Cider Company to create their own brand of cider, the fittingly-named Rabbit Foot Spasm Band Cider.

As band frontman Stuart Macbeth puts it: “We’ve seen artists like Jay-Z and Flavor Flav branch out into everything from fashion to fried chicken. What could be more fitting than for The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band to launch our own cider?” Quite. As Cotswold Cider Company spokesman Rory Souter says: “The band felt that cider drinkers in their audience were being short-changed and asked us to create an elegant, organic cider which compliments the party atmosphere of their live shows and new numbers”.

The 4.8% abv. drink will be available in half-litre bottles, and it’s to be launched officially with a gig at The Big Bang restaurant at Oxford Castle on 9 February, where the band will be supported by Swindlestock.

More about Cotswold Cider Company here, and The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band here.