counterculture: 311 have a very unique sound, fusing rap, rock and reggae with a very positive vibe. You don't seem to sound like anyone else out there.
Nick Hexum: Thank you. We definitely have strived for originality. The shitty things is, that no matter how original you are when you first come out, someone's going to say you sound like someone else. In the early 90s, all over the radio was Pearl Jam and Nirvana . . . some really good bands, but we needed some funk or some hip hop or some reggae and other elements that weren't just like classic rock. So at that time we really wanted to bring some new elements in.
Seeing Incubus do so well is great, because they've got it right on. They've hit the nail on the head: Great melodies, innovative grooves, cool lyrics, but still with interesting rhythms, and with hip hop elements that make it modern, and not just classic rock. But there's good and bad in the genre.
cc: Do you hear any of your own sound in Incubus?
NH: They would probably say that they used to listen to us quite a bit, and we've been touring with them for like, five years so I would say that I'm as influenced by them as they are by us. Just as the Stones and Beatles would check each other out. I've been a huge fan of their last two albums.
cc: They really seemed to have raised their game on the last two albums.
NH: Yeah, I think they've simplified their stuff. Some of it was really complex, like Primus-y early on, and they got more simple with just good tunes on the Make Yourself album, and they're continuing on with that. They're going to be huge for a long time, I'm sure of that.
cc: Amongst the current crop of rock and metal bands it seems only yourselves, Incubus and possibly P.O.D. have an upbeat positive outlook, as opposed to being wrapped up in teen angst.
NH: Other than Incubus, maybe the positive vibe hasn't really sold as well in the past year or two, but in the long run that was the message behind any really great artist. Like The Beatles is more a sense of unity, like All You Need Is Love or whatever.
I think the teen angst thing; people are going to kind of grow out of it. There's always going to be someone representing teen angst, but if you make a career out of teen angst, then when you get older you can't really legitimately claim it's the same frustration. I'm glad that we're not pigeon-holed as that, because that can't last.
cc: So what are you pigeon-holed as? As far as tours are concerned, you seem to skate between different genres . . . you're on with Incubus and Hoobastank today, you were at the Extreme 2001 punk tour last year . . .
NH: Yeah, and we've done tours with Cypress Hill and The Pharcyde. We've done the Horde tour which is like a hippy jam band tour with Blues Traveller and stuff like that, and we did the Warped tour in the States this past summer. That's something we really get off on; not sticking with one certain crew. There maybe a downside to that, because maybe we slip between the cracks, but it keeps it interesting for us to have so many different influences, and since we listen to a lot of different music and play a lot of different styles . . .
I'm sure when we're on the Warped tour some people may think a little bit of our music is too metal or heavy, but really like some of the more punk reggae stuff like Beautiful Disaster. There's going to be something for everybody, and something not for everybody.
cc: So with all this different music you're exposed to, what do you listen to when you're not playing with 311?
NH: When I'm up and I want energy I'll listen to something hard and fast like System Of A Down or NOFX, but then when I need some cheering up it'll be The Beatles or there's a guy in LA, real underground but real cool, called John Brion. He's more known as a producer. He did Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann, but he's a really cool songwriter.
cc: Back in the mid 90s when I first heard your stuff, particularly All Mixed Up, I was really hoping you were going to come over and tour, but it never happened. Now you've changed record labels, you've done Extreme 2001, you did a small headline tour, and now you're back here with Incubus . . .
NH: We're really trying to make a new effort to become known over here. A lot of it has to do with marketing and the labels and the radio. And it seems like the radio situation is fairly tight here. So we're really hoping that this tour will plant some seeds in people's heads. So we'll just have to put on the best shows that we can and sort of see what happens.
There was one tour that we cancelled because our guitarist had a hernia, in '97, and that was when we were apparently starting to pick up some momentum, and that was probably a fuck up. We probably should have rescheduled that, but the way things were at the time, we were burnt out and just needed some time off.
cc: So the tours that you have been doing, where maybe the kids are being exposed to you for the first time . . . how are you finding the response?
NH: It seems to go well. From show to show it's different. The Glasgow show was awesome - everyone was rocking out in the whole place. It's different to go from years and years out headlining shows that were packed with fans that were really excited, to playing for new people who don't know that much about you. You've got to get used to a different level of energy coming back out of the audience, but it makes it that much more fun when you do see that you're getting some people moving. And we're going to play some different songs tonight. It seems the crowd wants to jump if we give them the right tempo to do that.
cc: Are you playing Flowing tonight?
NH: Maybe we should. I think that's a good idea cause it's very English to me, y'know that sort of bouncing tempo. To me it sounds kinda like London Calling or something like that. I love that song. Definitely that kind of direction is something we're heading towards. Even though there was a fair amount of rapping on this current album, sometimes I do it and I just feel like . . . I'd much rather be singing. I think our next album . . . if there are raps, they'll be short raps.
cc: Now you've said this before at various stages in your career. What does SA [Martinez - co-vocalist] think when you say things like this?
NH: His vocal part in Champagne is singing, and he listens to as much melodic music as I do. He used to be the real rap guy, making all these rap mix tapes, but not lately. Lately he's going to steer an interview back towards his Smiths collection more often than any rap influences. So he's cool with that. Some people would say; so SA's the rapper and Nick's the singer, but that's not how it is. We've always both done both.
cc: Who were your influences when you were growing up?
NH: The first band that blew my mind were The Clash when I was 13. Every one of their albums I just wore out. After that it was Bad Brains and the next phase of American punk like the Descendents - stuff like that. Then there was alternative music like The Cure. Then when I heard the Chili Peppers, that kind of changed things - just to have that level of energy combined with funk was a cool revelation. When I first moved to LA in '88, that was the shit to me. I'd talk to people and go; are you into the Peppers, are you into Bad Brains, are you into Fishbone? They were the founding influences of the 311 sound, and it just kind of moved on from there. The first Cypress Hill album came out and it was like this stoney pot influence that was all the rage in LA. When the whole band moved there in '92, we were really into that, and A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. And still the rock, like Nirvana or whatever. And they'll always be revivals of the classics whether it's Led Zeppelin or old jazz singers like Billie Holiday or something like that.
cc: Your first time in LA must have been kinda Guns 'n' Roses, LA Guns era . . .
NH: It was exactly that. Just Guns 'n' Roses everywhere. I worked at Guitar Centre on Hollywood, which was like the centre of rock 'n' roll hair bands and all that shit . . . and it was pretty humorous really. The thing I was running up against is that I had more of a background of alternative music - which was really alternative at the time, y'know stuff you couldn't hear on the radio. R.E.M. at the time was very underground, and I grew up on The Clash and stuff like that. So coming out to LA, and all these ads in the papers said 'big hair a must, and looks and attitude' - it was all about phony things . . . so it was kinda disappointing.
cc: What's the most enjoyable tour you've been on?
NH: In 2000 we had a really great summer tour with Incubus supporting us, doing outdoor sheds. They were just blowing up, and we were doing real well too. I brought out my own bus, and we'd have huge parties in there every night - just pack the bus with like 30 people - mostly beautiful women - it was nuts!
cc: With 311's name coming from the police code for indecent exposure, there was something very karmic about you playing with The Vandals last year, with having Warren from The Vandals running around naked every night.
NH: Exactly. They're just a hilarious fucking band. Their songs are really funny, and it's cool to see English people getting into them cause they're just really underground in the the States. The Vandals and Pennywise and NOFX are the fathers of the situation, and then you've got the the younger bands, the ones that make all the money; like the Blink 182s and the Sum 41s. But I guess that's a parallel situation with what's going on with our band, with the second generation like the Linkin Parks just selling so many more albums. But that's alright; at the end of the day it's not going to be about money, it's about how you feel, what sort of mark you've left and your legacy. Helping to invent and break a genre is something that's more valuable than cash.
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