311 formed in the late 1980’s in Omaha, NE and played their first live show as a band back in 1990. The group secured a record deal shortly after moving to Los Angeles, and achieved mainstream success in the mid-90’s with the hits “Down” and “All Mixed Up” from their self-titled, triple-platinum album 311. Although they don’t receive as much mainstream media fanfare as other alternative rock bands from the same era, 311 continues to enjoy a highly successful career spanning a total of nine studio albums (most of which have been certified gold or platinum), a Greatest Hits album, a Live album, multiple DVDs, and a number of songs featured in major motion pictures. Additionally, the band continues to tour relentlessly, and have likely become best known for their intense live show. Even when they have no new material to promote, 311 consistently packs amphitheaters summer after summer across the U.S.
311 recently hit the road for their first fall tour since 2005, following up a successful Summer Unity Tour which focused heavily on promoting their highest-charting album to date and ninth studio record, Uplifter. The fall tour kicked off November 11 in Temecula, CA, and the format of the shows is already noticeably different in comparison to the Uplifter-heavy sets of the summer tour. Although the band is sticking to a similar setlist night to night, fans of Uplifter won’t hear quite as much from the album this time around; in fact, fall setlists seem to be focused on material from the band’s earlier releases. Singer and guitarist Nick Hexum said from Kansas City earlier this week:
“Well, honestly I think that the first couple shows are light on Uplifter, and we’re gonna add some back in, so that’s a work in progress. We keep adjusting our setlists to make a great show, and I think we’re gonna rotate a couple different setlists. But definitely, on the summer tour, our hardcore fans were so stoked to hear the new stuff — but then there’s also some people that want to hear more of the classics. You can’t please everybody, but I think we were pretty excited to dig in to the crate and get some more older songs in, and there’s a lot of early stuff on this tour just because we want it to be a really high energy show.”
The band has ventured out for small spring tours centered around 311 Day in 2006 and 2008, though the bulk of their shows over the past few years have taken place in large outdoor amphitheaters during the Summer Unity Tours. When asked if he prefers large or smaller venues, Hexum doesn’t seem to have a strong preference, as long as the house is full:
“It really just comes down to a percentage full…if we play an amphitheatre that’s meant to hold 15,000 people and there’s, you know, 12 or 13,000, it’s awesome. If it’s over 75% full, then I’m totally stoked. But if there’s a lot of dead space, then you just don’t have that intensity and energy. As long as the room is full of people rockin’, then I’m cool with whatever…I mean, I guess probably the more the merrier! More energy in the room, more bodies moving…but I love both [types of venues].”
The Detroit show at the Fillmore on November 19th was just what Hexum was looking for: high intensity and energy. The Fillmore was an excellent venue for 311, featuring a fairly small general admission floor area, with plenty of seating above in the ornate theatre. The vintage feel of the venue lent itself well to this show, as over half of the songs played were from the band’s first three studio albums.
After an opening set from Orange County natives Kottonmouth Kings, 311 began their action-packed set with the forceful rap-rock track “Sick Tight”, which had the entire floor of fans jumping, moshing and crowd surfing. Fan favorite and setlist rarity “Jackolantern’s Weather” kept the energy level high, followed by the popular classic “All Mixed Up.” Another rap-rock selection from the album From Chaos, titled “Wake Your Mind Up”, featured lively vocal delivery from Hexum and DJ/vocalist SA Martinez; Tim Mahoney contributed an electrifying guitar solo, making the crowd swell.
Next up was Evolver’s “Other Side of Things”, allowing Martinez to take the lead. On point as usual, Martinez worked the stage while the rest of the band carried the track strongly and with great precision.
From Chaos‘ title track pounded the airwaves next, with four songs from 311’s first few albums to follow. An extended intro led by Mahoney served as a creative and welcomed gateway for Music’s “Plain”. This jam was one of the highlights of the show, as it was impossible to ignore the passion and intensity in Hexum’s eyes, emanated also in his movements and demeanor. This performance was quite unique in Detroit, creating a very comforting vibe of an older era of 311 come back to life.
“Freak Out” and “Down” took the crowd by storm, and the pit was on fire for about eight minutes straight. The band was feeding off the crowd as much as the crowd was from the band, and it didn’t stop when Hexum introduced Music’s “Applied Science”. More jumping and crowd surfing abounded, but the theater paused to marvel at Chad Sexton’s drum solo about halfway through the song. Sexton showed off his brilliant ability for a good few minutes, then welcomed the rest of the band on stage for a tribal group drum featurette.
The band pushed forward with “India Ink,” the first track of the night from the band’s latest release, Uplifter. The song is an interesting mix of heavy guitars and slight rapping mixed with a melodic chorus. “Prisoner” and “Daisy Cutter” lightened the mood, but it was back to vintage 311 with the angsty, moody verses of Music’s “Visit.” Similar to “Plain,” this was one of the best-performed songs of the evening with the entire band digging deep and taking us back in time to the rawness of the early 90’s.
Bassist P-Nut wowed the crowd with an authoritative yet thoughtful bass solo, doing two of the things he does best — displaying his enormous talent while interacting generously and sincerely with the fans.
Hexum dedicated the next song to “all the beautiful disasters in the house,” and Hexum and Mahoney quickly paired up to complement each other on guitar for the opening melody of Transistor’s “Beautiful Disaster”.
“Nutsymtom”, from the group’s second studio album Grassroots, was up next, which again created an air of early 90’s vulnerability and vitality. Both Martinez and Hexum delivered the pounding lyrics with maximum vigor, but the jam at the end is where the magic lies — check out the video below!
One of 311’s most successful singles to date, “Amber”, was performed without a hitch, and was accompanied by an impressive light show. 311 amped up the crowd with well-received Uplifter rocker “Jackpot”, and not a single body didn’t move in the Fillmore as the band cranked out “Lucky”, “Creatures (For A While)”, and “Unity”.
Everyone got a short break while the band prepared for the encore, a “mash-up” of the songs “Don’t Stay Home”, “Do You Right”, and “Hive”. The band played portions of each song, moving almost seamlessly from one to the next for a power-packed medley of great older gems. 311 closed out the show with Music’s “Feels So Good”, leaving the crowd satisfied, but ever-hungry for more. The band took extra time to bond with the first few rows of fans once the show ended – it was definitely a special night.
Since he has played thousands of live shows throughout his career, I was interested to know what the single best thing is about touring for Hexum, now — even after all these years. He said:
“The satisfaction of a show well done, and you know that you did your best and that everybody had a great time. I have a great feeling afterwards…it’s kind of a natural high that carries you through – it’s like a positive, natural hangover or something.”
This is the first tour that both Hexum and Martinez are leaving newborn children at home while they hit the road. I asked Hexum if he thought touring might slow down, now that he and Martinez have very young children. His response was touching:
“I would imagine there will be some adjustment, because I’ve never left so much at home. But I think we’ll definitely find a nice balance between home time and on the road time. My daughter was visiting and was at her first concert [in Omaha]…I basically looked over and saw her on the side of the stage and kinda got a little choked up and overwhelmed – something of that size is pretty hard to describe.”
While Hexum has a new daughter to dote on, he also remains very animated while talking about Uplifter, which he views as a great success. I asked him which song(s) he considers the most progressive on the album, or which song(s) he thinks pushed the band’s creativity the furthest. He sees the record as more of a collective progression for the band:
“I just really enjoy the diversity, I mean, take a song that’s kind of a bouncy power-pop like “Too Much Too Fast” — that to me was a new accomplishment in that direction. And then the combining of the heavy rock with the hip hop beats, and the kind of semi-rapping in “India Ink” and “Something Out of Nothing” — I think we accomplished new frontiers in both directions, with the hard and the melodic on this record. I’m really happy with it, and there’s more where that came from.”
I was excited to hear Hexum touch on the track “Too Much Too Fast”, as I consider it easily the most progressive, new sound from the band in many years. I asked Hexum about the inspiration behind the music, and he was eager to discuss:
“I think the original way, the genesis of it, was that me and Chad were talking about music we liked, and the song “I’m Only Sleeping” by the Beatles had such a nice sort of lilting shuffle mount to it. And we were like, ‘let’s do something like that.’ And that was kind of just kicking around in the back of my mind for 6 or 8 months, and we came up with that opening melody and it just grew from there. But it was a combination of a bunch of influences – I also started getting in to the band 10CC, like rare 70’s pop and stuff, and also some cool early Bee Gees records which kind of pick up where the Beatles left off. So…being influenced by stuff that people might not expect….there’s always more stuff to go and dig through and find new influences. That’s what’s great about music — the infinite journey.”
Uplifter was released as a standard edition with 12 studio tracks, and also as a deluxe edition with two bonus tracks. Two additional tracks, “How Long Has It Been?” and “Sun Come Through” were also released as exclusives on iTunes and Amazon.com, respectively. I asked Hexum if there were any remaining songs from the Uplifter sessions that may become available, and he said:
“There are definitely two [that no one has heard] — and we haven’t talked about it lately. I’m sure they’ll see the light of day somehow — but we’re looking forward to being able to do whatever we want now that we’ve finished out our record deal with Jive.”
Hexum sounds excited about the opportunity to release music and operate independently from a record label:
“We’ve been thinking strongly about it, and it’s exciting — there are so many opportunities there. We’ve always felt frustrated — basically, once you deliver an album to a label, they can do whatever they want. There is no guarantee what they’re going to do promotion-wise, or how many singles they’re going to do. So with a band like ours, that has a built-in following, we think we might be able to do a better job of it.”
The prospect of going independent could provide 311 with more creative freedom and control, and foster a closer relationship with the fans:
“Basically, we could go in a million different directions as far as having a direct relationship with our fans. I mean, everybody’s got a computer now, so we can distribute our music that way. We’ve been brainstorming, and taking meetings, and trying to figure out exactly what that’s gonna look like. But we’re looking forward to, rather than being tied in to the whole 14 songs at a time thing, now that we’re free, we could go spend six weeks recording six songs and then just put them out. You could hear what we’re into more immediately, having quicker cycles or smaller batches, like an EP, for example — I think that’ll help our creativity and let our fans hear what we’re into sooner. So it’s gonna be interesting.”
Hexum mentioned recently via Twitter that the band was already beginning to write new material, and he promised the next album wouldn’t take nearly as long to create (there were four years between the release of 2005’s Don’t Tread On Me and 2009’s Uplifter). I asked Hexum when he expected the next album to come together, and I must say I was pleased but quite surprised by his response: “Our goal would be to have something out within a year of when Uplifter came out. I would say there’s a strong possibility that you’ll hear new 311 music by summer.”
So what else is next for 311? The band will most likely construct a brief spring tour around 311 Day 2010, which will be held in Las Vegas for the first time next year. Logistical difficulties made 311 Day’s home city of New Orleans unavailable for 2010, but Hexum is optimistic about holding 311 Day in Vegas:
“My attitude, and the same thing that I ask of our fans, is let’s just go and be as open-minded and positive as possible about it; there’s a chance that it could be the greatest 311 Day ever. The facilities are definitely set up for having everybody in a centralized area with the fan parties, and the three hotels that are all connected in the Mandalay Bay area. It could be a really amazing experience. Our management went and checked out the venue and said it’s going to be an amazing show, so, who knows, it could be the best yet!”
311 and their management have indeed done a superb job of ensuring fans will have a spectacular time at 311 Day 2010, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas strip. In addition to the special extended show on March 11th (which sold out in a matter of hours to fans from all 50 states and 9 countries), a 311 Fan Party will be held the night of March 10th at JET nightclub at the Mirage hotel. Also, the day after the show, the Wailers will play a special show/private party at Mandalay Bay’s beach and wave pool. For more information on 311 Day 2010, please visit 311.com/311day2010.
All in all, 311 remains remarkably successful with a large following of extremely dedicated and loyal fans. The band is constantly growing, evolving, and offering something new and different for the fans, making them top priority and treating them with the utmost respect. They have managed to stay true to themselves and the music as they celebrate their 20th anniversary next summer, which is a feat not many bands have the honor of acknowledging. 311 works hard and attains their success with style, creativity, and most importantly, gratuity. They deserve all they have accomplished, and all they dream of for the future.
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