Friday, October 25, 1996

The 411 on 311 (LA Times)

Here's the 411 on 311

For the Publicity-Shy, Multi-Genre Group, Too Much Exposure Would Be a 911 Situation

June 15, 1996 | STEVE APPLEFORD | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Nothing like the threat of airplay on MTV or radio to spoil a perfectly good music career. That's a real consideration these days for the band 311, whose high-energy hybrid of punk, hip-hop, jazz and reggae has found a growing national audience through relentless touring--despite little airplay and virtually no press attention.
"We see this as a really good place to be, and we don't want to mess it up by becoming overexposed," singer-guitarist Nicholas Hexum said. "We just want to be careful to keep an underground approach."
If that sounds strange coming from a band that remains little-known beyond its hard-core fan base, the five members of 311 have at least learned the rewards of self-sufficiency. Their success on the road has landed the Los Angeles-based quintet a slot on Saturday's KROQ Weenie Roast at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, followed by their own headlining gig June 22 at the Hollywood Palladium.
"It's really cool because we feel like we've done it without any favors," says Hexum, 26, during a phone interview from the road in Ohio. "We did it just through word of mouth."
The attraction is the charged, cross-cultural mix found on the band's three albums on Nashville-based Capricorn Records, including last year's "311," which weaves delicate shades of jazz and reggae into their high-impact groove. The new single "Down" is only now finding its way onto radio playlists.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the story is that Hexum, guitarist Timothy J. Mahoney, bassist P-Nut, singer SA Martinez and drummer Chad Sexton emerged from the minuscule alternative scene of Omaha, Neb., before migrating to Los Angeles in 1992.
"We probably picked the most difficult course to take as far as hip-hop coming out of Nebraska," says Hexum, who now shares a house in the Hollywood Hills with Mahoney and Sexton. "It's the most unlikely thing you would want to hear. You would think that it would suck just from that description.
"If we would have been making poppy alternative rock we would have had an easier time getting over, but that's boring to us. We're just naturally drawn to unusual music, hybrid stuff that's in between styles."
311's multi-genre blend has led to invitations this summer to play on both the punk-themed Warped Tour and H.O.R.D.E., the traveling festival epitomized by Blues Traveler's brand of groove rock. And this comes shortly after finishing a rap tour with Cypress Hill.

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