Last Word Features

Last Word Features
311 Feature By Alan Sculley

This summer marks a return to action for 311 after a hiatus that stretched for more than a year. But anyone who was concerned that the decision to take time off was a sign of discord within the group can rest easy.

Singer Nick Hexum says if anything, 311 is in a better place than ever.
"Everybody is getting along really well and there's a lot of, just a real vibe of gratitude that's going on that everyone's just like, this 311 thing that's going on around us is really an amazing, special thing to be part of," Hexum said in a recent phone interview. "We're kind of talking about that a lot, how cool it is that we get to do this." The band has plenty of reasons to appreciate its circumstances. Despite being off the radar for so long, 311 appears to have reached a new level of popularity. The summer dates (with Matisyahu opening) are at amphitheaters and this represents the group's biggest tour yet.

"It amazes us," Hexum said. "We would have been happy just to go out and play theaters because this tour is more intended just to get our chops up and get geared up to go right into the studio to make our next album."

The band went on hiatus after completing its tour in support of the 2005 CD "Don't Tread On Me" simply because of some burnout.

"I felt like we were a little bit on a treadmill of album tour, album tour, back and forth," Hexum said, noting that the band made "Don't Tread On Me" right after touring its 2003 CD, "Evolver," a CD that included the hit single "Love Song." "Because we felt like there was a good amount of momentum after that number one hit of 'Love Song' and stuff, we decided to go and knock out 'Don't Tread' as quickly as possible. So we didn't have that time to really reflect and appreciate, and you need to go get bored every once in awhile. So then you look forward to that excitement of touring. When it goes tour, album, tour, right without any down time, maybe there was a little sort of drop in the appreciation of the work side of it. Now since we've had this break, there is just a total excitement and rebirth of the energy among the band members."

During the time off, the band members didn't exactly go their separate ways. In fact, Hexum said there was plenty of contact and camaraderie as he and his bandmates – SA Martinez (vocals/deejay), Chad Sexton (drums), Tim Mahoney (guitar) and P-Nut (bass) -- settled back into life in their home base of Los Angeles, where the band has a studio called the Hive.

"I haven't gone a week without seeing the guys because we'll all just kind of gather out there (at the Hive), "Hexum said. "Even if I'm not really working on anything, I'll just stop out there and make some lunch or work out or shoot some hoops. So I run into the guys quite a bit. And Chad's been opening a drum store close to the studio, so he was in an out over there quite a bit. He's also opening a barbecue restaurant next door to the drum store. So he's been real busy. I've seen him a lot because of the location and stuff. Because of having our own studio, having the Hive, that we've really modified a lot to be like our dream place, it makes it so easy to run into each other and hang out quite a bit."
What didn't occur during the down time was much work on music, which was fine with Hexum.

And even though the summer tour is being viewed as a way to gear up for the making of a new studio album, Hexum said this tour will focus more on the entire 311 catalog, rather than road testing new material or focusing on any of the band's eight CDs.

"We don't have anything that's ready to be played as of today," Hexum said when asked how much songwriting has been done lately. "But I would say because of the real high morale that's going on between the band members, I wouldn't be surprised if we do put a completed song together and bust it out on the tour. But right now we've just been really getting into dusting off some old gems that haven't maybe been in the rotation. There are certain obscure songs that we had kind of neglected that we're bringing out.

"Me personally, I'm kind of waiting until we get together (after the summer tour) to make the stuff up on the spot because I want to have more of a collaborative, cooperative kind of sound," he said. "The tour will get us warmed up and polished up and get our chops up. And then we'll go in and just pretty much do it (write and create) in the studio…It (the Hive) is a really comfortable place where we can just hang out, order some food, drink some coffee and just hang together, and just make a day of it and be creative together."

The time off gave each band member time to decompress and focus on their own lives. For Hexum, he also emerged from the hiatus with a different outlook on how he should view songwriting and the creative process. The other band members, he said, have bought into this way of thinking as well.

"We've gotten into new philosophies of being a conduit for the energy that we're just sort of transmitting, rather than feeling we're that we're responsible for it," Hexum said. "(The artist) Michelangelo was talking about how did he create one of his most brilliant statues. He said the statue was already inside the piece of the stone. I just cut away the stuff that was blocking it. I feel like when I play the guitar I try to just channel the energy that comes from someplace else rather than thinking it's all about me and I have to be responsible for everything. I'm responsible for doing the legwork, and then I try to leave the results up to some other creative energy force. That may sound a little mystical and hokey, but it's just the easier way. If you think you're responsible for everything, then you can get into perfectionism and writer's block and things that aren't really helpful to the creative attitude."

Hexum said he also used the hiatus to focus on some personal, inner improvement. He developed a regimen of meditation and also spent time reading up on various forms of spiritualism.

"The great guitarist John McLaughlin of the Mahavishnu Orchestra was asked, because he's such an amazing guitarist, how do you become a better musician," Hexum said. "And he said become a better person. If you work on yourself and you're coming from a more peaceful, centered place, then it's going to be reflected in the music.

"Some bands like to express angst and more painful emotions. 311 has always been more about joy," the singer noted. "We've been trying to work on increasing that. I've been working on it myself, and I feel like the other guys have been, too. It feels like there are a lot of good vibes going around."