Now in their tenth year as a band, alt rockers 311--guitarist/vocalist Nick Hexum, vocalist SA Martinez, guitarist Tim Mahoney, bassist P-Nut, and drummer Chad Sexton--recently released "Evolver" (Volcano), their seventh studio album.

Produced by Ron Saint Germain (Creed, Tool), "Evolver" sees the Omaha, NE, quintet continuing to mix rock, hip-hop, and reggae with the distinctive, thick sound that has won them gigs with everyone from No Doubt and Deftones to Jay-Z and N.E.R.D., and has helped them to sell more than seven million albums. "Evolver" is 311's second set for Volcano Records; in 2000, the group filed a breach-of-contract suit against its previous label, Capricorn.

33-year-old guitarist Nick Hexum spoke with liveDaily via telephone while on the road with Something Corporate and G. Love & Special Sauce. 311 opens a new round of tour dates in October.


liveDaily: How have things been the last few years? It seems like it's been pretty turbulent.

No complaints. We say there's ups and downs, but really, we've never been, like, totally frozen out of the radio. Some songs are more embraced than others, but we do all right. We never play to empty houses, almost always sold-out shows. We actually talk a lot amongst ourselves about how lucky we are to have been doing this for so long.

What was the story with Capricorn?

The Capricorn thing is ancient history. Let me just say that we really take a lot of pride in being loyal, and we've had a lot of very longstanding relationships with our manager and agents. We never wanted to sue anybody, but Capricorn kept f---ing up, so we sued them and said we wanted out of the deal. And we hit them right at a time when their distribution deal with Universal had run out, so nobody was going to make a new deal with them when they were in litigation with their star band. So we basically forced them to sell us to the label of our choice, which, Volcano called and said, "Do you want to be part of our team?" So we met with them, renegotiated our deal, and it's been a cool thing.

You brought back Ron Saint Germain for "Evolver," after self-producing "From Chaos," and working with Hugh Padgham (Police, Phil Collins) and Scott Ralston on 1999's "Soundsystem."

Yeah, Ron Saint Germain did "The Blue Album." He's the one that kind of broke us big. We give him credit for that. The experience that he brings is very, very valuable.

What's he like to work with?

He's... I say this lovingly: he's a spaz. He's so energetic and gets in there and he's jumping around the room and screaming. He's always so adamant about whatever he's saying. He's a really funny guy. He's from New York and wears leather pants every day--he's cool.

Stylistically there's a lot more stretching on "Evolver" than its predecessor, "From Chaos."

Well, briefly, on "From Chaos" we were like, our fans love the old stuff, they want rap-rock. We didn't want to expand too far on that particular album. But then on "Evolver" we said, "You know what, let's go crazy. Let's let our imaginations run wild. Let's try new things, do whatever comes naturally, from the heart."

Certainly "Beyond the Gray Sky" was from the heart.

Yeah, it's about my best friend in high school, who took his own life. As you can imagine, it just put me in a complete tailspin. You just don't know how to deal. You feel a lot of guilt, like "shouldn't I have been there for him?" "[Why] didn't I see the signs?" or whatever. It was a song about me dealing with those feelings, and also it's a message to people that feel depressed and might consider doing something like that. Hang in there, there's a blue sky beyond the gray sky. I believe it's one of the deepest lyrical songs we've ever had.

The song "Creatures (For a While)" shows a lot of resolve.

"Creatures" for me is just more of � blowing off steam from urban tension. It's about, just going a little bit crazy and being stripped down to your most basic self. I'm really proud of that song because it's so fun to play live.

Positivity is always mentioned with you guys. I spoke with Chad years ago and talked about how it seemed that there was just one depressing Top 10 rock song happening after another. Is there something in the Nebraska water that makes you guys so level?

I would like to propose that there's something in the water everywhere else besides Nebraska. Honestly, these people in these bands--they're privileged and blessed people to be able to do what they do, yet they always find something to bitch about. Me, personally, I would feel embarrassed to be complaining about my life, when so many people have it harder. I don't have a really good explanation, but [the positive attitude is] something that comes naturally for us.

It implies that you guys have been through more than most people know about, to have that kind of outlook.

One thing that kind of shaped our attitude was--and we were already positive people before this--but we had an RV fire on our first tour in '93. It was more of an explosion, because the gas tank caught on fire. We barely escaped with our lives, and lost all of our possessions. After that we were like, "At least we've got each other, we've got the music in our heads, we've still got our hands to be able to express ourselves." I suffered second-degree burns and my hair got all charred and burned up, so I shaved my head. It was one of those close calls that makes you appreciate life that much more.

Where do see yourselves five, 10 years from now? The same thing?

Basically, we don't see any end in sight. We want to want to keep changing musically. We're rocking harder than ever, but I can't believe that we're going to be jumping up and down, doing the things we're doing now, when we're 50. We definitely want to do stuff in between albums, side projects. I enjoy producing other people, I've been putting together a label deal for my brother who is a gifted singer-songwriter, I have a clothing company.

I'm not at all trying to say that 311 has become less of a priority. I want to do four tours on this album, alone. But as you grow older you get other interests. P-Nut's married and might have a kid in the next few years. I got engaged. But as long as our fans can learn to be a bit more patient, we're going to keep going for a long time. Let the good times roll.