Monday, December 15, 2003

311 Hitting The Road To Push New Material Down People's Throats

After spending last fall on the road with Jay-Z, N.E.R.D. and Nappy Roots, 311 are catering their next tour to the more rock side of their fanbase.

The hip-hop- and reggae-influenced quintet has lined up blues jammers G. Love & Special Sauce, piano punks Something Corporate and frat rockers O.A.R. as openers for a summer trek.

The outing kicks off July 15 in Bakersfield, California, and hits mostly amphitheaters, crisscrossing the country until wrapping up September 5 in Santa Barbara, California.

"We always want to make sure our fans know how grateful we are and what a blessing it is to be able to do this, because we have fans that will follow us through thick and thin, whether or not we happen to be on the radio at that time," singer Nick Hexum said. "We just want to give back through putting on as good a show as best we can."

While gathered in their Hive studios recently, 311 said they plan on playing every song from their upcoming Evolver on the summer tour.

"If we push it down people's throats I think people are gonna understand what we're feeling," bassist P-Nut said. "This is one of the most personal albums we've ever made, and I think we're only getting smarter and we're looking to our audience to do the same thing. I think there's a lull in music right now. Hopefully we can influence more bands to look toward being more diverse and breaking that [typical] songwriting mode and have fun and play it as hard as you can."

Evolver, due in late July, is 311's seventh studio album, while this summer marks the band's 10th year together.

"It's better to sell a little bit of records in 10 years than a lot of records in one year, because it's the excitement of the process that keeps us going more than any financial reward or anything," Hexum said. "It's just such a blessing."

311 tour dates, according to the band's management:

•7/15 - Bakersfield, CA @ The Dome (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/17 - Fresno, CA @ Rainbow Ballroom (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/18 - Costa Mesa, CA @ Pacific Amphitheatre (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/19 - Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/21 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Bricktown Event Center (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/24 - Columbus, OH @ PromoWest Pavillion (w/ Something Corporate)
•7/25 - Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate)
•7/26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz Field (Rolling Rock Town Fair IV)
•7/29 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•7/30 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Deltaplex (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•7/31 - Detroit, MI @ Meadowbrook (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/1 - Cleveland, OH @ Tower City Amphitheatre (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/2 - Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/4 - Omaha, NE @ Westfair (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/5 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/7 - Kansas City, KS @ Citimart (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/8 - St. Louis, MO @ Riverport (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/9 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/10 - Philadelphia, PA @ Penn's Landing (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/11 - Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook (w/ O.A.R., Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/13 - Boston, MA @ Fleet Boston Pavilion (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/15 - Waterloo, NJ @ Waterloo Village (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/16 - Washington, DC @ Meriweather Post (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/17 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Virginia Beach Amphitheatre (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/18 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/19 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom (w/ Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/21 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
•8/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/23 - New Orleans, LA @ UNO Pavilion (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/24 - Houston, TX @ TBA (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/26 - Austin, TX @ Backyard (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/27 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Next Stage (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, Something Corporate, DJ P)
•8/29 - Englewood, CO @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheater (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, DJ P)
•8/30 - Salt Lake, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, DJ P)
•9/1 - San Francisco, CA @ TBA (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, DJ P)
•9/3 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, DJ P)
•9/5 - Santa Barbara, CA @ County Bowl (w/ G. Love & Special Sauce, DJ P)

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