SA Martinez, vocalist for 311, said his band knew the new album "Uplifter" had to be good, because the band's last studio album, "Don't Tread on Me" was released nearly five years ago.
"All of us (band members) have a life away from 311," Martinez said during a phone call from the tour bus near Bakersfield, Calif. "And we do tour each summer, but we've got an ever-growing fan base who is hungry for new music. So we knew we had to make this album as good, if not better, than our last."
To do so, the band recruited producer Bob Rock, who has brought bands such as Metallica and Bon Jovi into the multimillion-dollar spotlight.
"We wanted to get a high-caliber producer to get us to where we needed to be," Martinez said. "Bob brought his experience to the table. He brought out a lot of dynamics to our sound and raised the bar."
The album's first single (and opening track) "Hey You" has already hit the charts. And the video, which premiered on Yahoo! Music has been added to MTV2 and Fuse.
"We want this album to stand up to the old and classic 311 albums," Martinez said.
Since its debut "Music" was released in 1995, 311 — Martinez, drummer Chad Sexton, vocalist/guitarist Nick Hexum and bassist P-Nut (known as Aaron Willis to his family) — have released nine studio albums and one live album.
"The challenge is still the same as it was in the beginning," Martinez said with a laugh. "We try to make good albums that people will notice and we try to tour each summer, regardless if we have new music or not."
The reason for the tour is the fans, he said.
"We have fans who actually schedule their summers around our tours. And they get disappointed when they can't see us."
Also, the band feels like it needs to tour annually to make sure people still know it's active.
"If we miss a summer, we miss a chance to reach out to people," Martinez said.
Since 2004, 311 has called its summer tour the "Unity Tour." And in keeping with that moniker, the band has made sure to tour with eclectic opening acts that complement 311's blend of rock, reggae and funk. The Roots, the Wailers, Matisyahu and Snoop Dogg have all been a part of one 311 "Summer Unity Tour" or another.
This year Ziggy Marley will be hitting the road with 311.
"We've always been lucky in finding killer opening bands," he said. "And it opens up more opportunities to find new audiences."
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