Tuesday, March 25, 2008

311 Bassist Dishes on Drugs (Spinner)

When Spinner caught up with the boys from 311, backstage at the Langerado Music Festival in South Florida, bassist P-Nut recalled going to his own mind-altering first festival -- the traveling version of Lollapalooza -- during his high school days.

"I did my mushrooms for the first time that night, at Sandstone in Kansas City," he said, proudly. The psychedelic experience coupled with the communal spirit of the festival changed the way he perceived music, and in some ways, the world at large. "It's an amazing thing. I don't think it could be for everybody. You have to have a certain amount of intelligence. I think more people should do it ... I really do."

While on the subject of mind-expanding substances -- a topic that goes hand-in-hand with music festivals, of course -- P-Nut reveals that he's a medical marijuana cardholder in California, and that, when the band first relocated to the Golden State, they weren't exactly opposed to taking psycho-actives during performances. "That was f---ing fun, but it was pretty difficult because you're processing things in a different way," P-Nut said. "It's just a beautiful thing." Not to turn music into numerology, but it sounds like it's either 420 or 5150 pretty much 24-7 in 311 land, dude.