Multi-platinum rockers 311 have been hard at work in their own North Hollywood studio, The Hive, with legendary producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith) for their ninth studio album Uplifter. The band’s first album in close to four years – and their first with producer Bob Rock finally arrives in June at the same time as when the band also hits the road in support of the new album with a Summer trek across the U.S.
Formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1990, 311 is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Nick Hexum, vocalist/DJ SA Martinez, lead guitarist Tim Mahoney, drummer Chad Sexton and bassist P-Nut and to date have sold more than eight million albums in the U.S alone. The band's celebratory live shows and incessant touring schedule have also earned them a massive and dedicated grassroots following. On the eve of the release of Uplifter, Joe Matera spoke to Tim Mahoney about the new album, working with Bob Rock and how they’re happy to still be making records in 2009.
UG: Uplifter was produced by Bob Rock, aside from production duties, what other ways did Bob contribute to the songwriting and recording process?
Tim Mahoney: It was great working with Bob and we have nothing but nice things to say about him. He’s the greatest guy. It helps that he is also a guitar player too and can also play many other instruments too. And though he’s about 15 years older than me, he’s a little bit ahead of us as far as influences go. Yet he’s more into modern music than I am and he’s more aware of it. And whether it is Led zeppelin or Jeff Beck or anybody in that classic era, he’s into it just as much as I am. And his influence and knowledge of music, when it comes to making records and the whole process of making records, was something that we really enjoyed when it came to making this record. And it was the first time we worked with a producer on a record, who actually came in with us and helped with arrangements from the outset. It was as much fun as we’ve had making a record. I think our fans will hopefully see a growth with us musically. After all, it has been four years since our last record.
When it came to the songwriting process, did you approach it differently to previous albums?
This record was more of a collaborative effort in many ways. Everybody in the band writes music and usually when we get together after having taken a break to write music, we will get together and will all bring our ideas to the table. On this particular record, with the help of Bob Rock, he really got us into a place where communication and collaboration was really very easy and flowed naturally. He was the catalyst for all of that. Though we’ve always been pretty good with communication and putting song ideas together, having him there with us to help and in the capacity of not being a member of the band and being an outsider, where he was able to tell us honestly how it was, really helped immensely. Everyone became more relaxed at putting ideas together and everything just gelled a lot easier. And as I mentioned earlier, this was extremely important especially after it has been four years since our last record. So it made a big difference indeed.
Upon listening to the first single ‘Hey You’, it seems that Bob has successfully managed to merge the band’s heavier elements with its funkier reggae side.
I’m glad you said that because when we first met Bob he told us that what was important to him was to not make an album that sounded like a Bob Rock record. He wanted to take our sound and make it into the best record we could make, to have the most potential sounding record that we could have and to bring that element out more. And I think he tried to make it as palatable as possible especially for people who may have never heard of us before. But for our hard core fans it is no big deal to find us playing reggae and rock and all these other influences. So Bob really did help bring it all together successfully.
Another thing I noticed is that this recording was done all digitally?
Yes that is because Bob prefers using digital technology now and this is the first record that we’ve done completely digitally. We own a studio space in Los Angeles where we work from and we have two tape machines in there. And in the past we did all our albums with analog equipment and only used digital stuff for maybe the vocals where we’d edit vocals and then put them onto tape. And then we’d mix it on tape and everything. So with this new record we were kind of hesitant at first. But the deal with Bob was for us to let go and let somebody else take control and steer the ship so everyone could be more free and focused on just the music. So when we listened back to some of our initial recordings we did with Bob in the beginning, we could hear what Bob was able to do so we gave our total trust to him. We knew he wasn’t going to make a bad sounding record. In the past, we haven’t been able to let go and just focus on the music so to do this time, was great. So it turned out really well and it was interesting to see how Bob worked and how it all turned out with his Pro Tools and stuff. He even mixed the record on his SSL out in Maui at his studio. Since we have a Neve in our studio, this is the first record of ours also that was mixed on a SSL desk.
What guitars did you use for the album?
The bulk of it, honestly, is a 1976 Gibson Explorer which did 90% of the work. Every song has that Explorer on it but some of the overdubs were done with the Paul Reed Smith which I had ever since the first record. It is a Paul Reed Smith Standard 24 fret, custom blue, all mahogany bodied one. I also used a Stratocaster for some of the clean stuff. What is interesting to mention is that while we were recording the album, the David Gilmour Strat had just come out and Bob being a huge David Gilmour fan as am I too, we each went out and bought one and it arrived right before we began doing the overdubs. So I used that Gilmour Strat on some of the stuff too.
And what about the amps you used?
When it came to amps, I used my main amp which is a Diamond Phantom along with a Diamond Spitfire 2. And I blended the two together. I used the high gain channels and blended those together to get the dirty tone.
Is this similar to your live set-up?
Yeah, basically my rig is setup so I can A/B between a clean head and a dirty head. So with the clean tone, I just use the clean channel of the Diamond. That is my main set-up live. For the recording though, I used a 1964 Vox AC-30 and a Roland Jazz Chorus that belonged to Bob and which we used on some overdubs. In fact I recognized it as the same amp that was used on Metallica’s ‘Black’ album as far as getting those chorus-ey clean tones. And there was this other amazing sounding amp of Bob’s too, which I can’t recall the exact model now but I think it was a 50 watt head that went into a 2 X 12” cab. And again we blended that in with the dirty and the clean tones.
So blending amp tones was order of the day?
Yes, any time we were recording guitars, we had at least two amps going and it didn’t matter whether they were dirty or clean. We also had this old Marshall that had been mod-ded by the late Jose Arredondo who used to modify amps for Eddie Van Halen.
The music industry has changed considerably since the band first appeared on the scene. So does it feel good to still be signed to a label and releasing albums?
Absolutely, that’s one of the things we’re definitely really happy about. We kind of trip out a little bit because we’ve been a band 19 years now and here we are today, releasing our ninth studio album. And the fact that we’re still able to play music and to put out records makes us feel really blessed. I think everyone in the band is happier than ever playing together and as time goes on, we really grow and grow and are more inspired than we’ve ever been. So we’re very thankful for that.
The band has adapted well to the ever changing musical climate too.
We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve been able to fit in throughout all the changes. Within six months of our first record there was Rage Against The Machine, Tool’s first record and Grunge was going. And since then, it has changed quite a lot. And to have seen all the bands that have come and gone in that period and to still see us here going out and playing, well, we’re just happy that we can still do it. Especially since, we came from Omaha, Nebraska which is right in the middle of the country. When we moved to Los Angeles, hip hop was just getting really big and so there was that big influence going on too. Then you had Jane’s Addiction and again, Rage Against The Machine and all that cool rock stuff also influencing us at the same time too, so it was all very exciting. And being big fans of music ourselves, we’ve enjoyed everything along the way too.
Since 2000, 311 have celebrated their very own bi-annual holiday on 3/11.
Yeah, we’ve been doing it for every other year for the past ten years now. So with this next one that will be happening in 2010, we’re trying to plan how we can out do all our previous ones. Last time, we had the drum riser rise up like 12 feet into the air; it was very old school KISS style (laughs) and heaps of lasers too. So we’re just trying to figure out ways to top that last one now. And the reason we’ve always done it in New Orleans is because it is a place that is open 24 hours and is a nice destination for culture whether that be music, art, food or whatever and it’s a good place that really works for us on all levels.
You’re about to embark on a summer tour, what can fans expect on this latest undertaking. Are there any surprises in the set list?
We’re currently working on the new songs as on this last small tour that we just did, we only played the new single because since people record the shows, we didn’t want to put too much of our music out there before people could have had a chance to hear the new record. We typically play around 23 songs per night so on this tour, a third of the set list will be comprised of all new songs. So we’ll do eight new ones and the rest of it will be some singles from over the years. The remainder of the set will be devoted to just album tracks that we will mix up every night. I would say about half the set list will change each night and every night.
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