Next year will be a big one for rock/reggae/rap group 311. The band — which plays Nashville on Thursday, Oct. 14 — already has a concert cruise planned to celebrate “3/11” (March 2011). But 2010 brought reason to celebrate too, as it marks 311’s 20-year anniversary.
“It’s one of those things that you don’t even realize it’s been that long until you think about it,” says vocalist and DJ SA Martinez. “I can’t say it seems as if it were yesterday that we were starting to rehearse. … Going back to the mid-’90s, it doesn’t seem like that long ago, but it’s getting some age on it.”
The mid-’90s was 311’s commercial heyday, yielding massive rap-rock hits including “Down” and “All Mixed Up.” These days, they keep a devoted audience with a reggae-influenced sound that’s smoother than the riffs-and-rhymes approach that earned them heavy rotation on MTV.
“I think we’ve mellowed some over the years,” Martinez says with a laugh. “I think you have to — you have no choice. But at the same time, you get on stage and you kind of feel 19 again when you get into that moment, that environment, and everything is firing on all cylinders.”
Martinez and his band play War Memorial Auditorium (301 Sixth Ave. N.) at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $40 through the TPAC Box Office or by phone at 615–782-4040.
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