Whether you appreciate their feel-good stoner tunes or not, you gotta give 311 props for the longevity they’ve maintained.
For over two decades now, the five-piece rock/reggae hybrid from Omaha, Nebraska, have consistently dropped successful records and headlined tours year-round—all without ever losing a member or going on any substantial hiatuses. And then there’s the always sold-out, five-hour-plus concert they put on every other March 11th in honor of “311 Day,” which attracts thousands of fans from around the country.
The band just released their tenth studio album, Universal Pulse, last Tuesday and tomorrow they’ll be making their annual appearance at the Festival Pier for their Summer Unity Tour along with Sublime with Rome. MMM recently chatted with 311 bassist, Aaron “P-Nut” Wills about buying Lakers gear in the heart of 76ers country (say it with us: ASSSSSSSS-HOLE, ASSSSSSSSS-HOLE) and how the band manages to keep on truckin’. (Nicole Finkbiner)
For the fans that haven’t already copped your new album, what can they expect?
Umm…that it’s better than 3 Doors Down [laughs].
Well that’s a given. Anything else?
They can expect it to be what they’ve come to love, hopefully—an eclectic mish-mash of influences and sounds. We’re just loving this continued musical experiment and loving that people are still enjoying what they’re hearing.
Why only eight songs?
Those we’re just the best ones we had and we didn’t want to force anything on it. That’s just kinda how it turned out. We weren’t going to add something we didn’t want to add and we didn’t want to cut it down and make it like an EP or something like that.
Fair enough. So why come to Philly year after year as opposed to maybe some smaller city you’ve never been to?
The show and the set-up at the Festival Pier is just so much fun. And of course, we show up in the middle of the summer so it’s kinda tough. That’s also the reason why the shows are so good. People have a lot to let go of and we’re in the escapism profession. Philly always just gives us lots of love and lots of energy.
Do you have any favorite places in town?
Mitchell and Ness pops into my mind. It’s always nice to go there and buy some Laker gear in 76er country.
No comment. Let’s just move on. Since the band has been together for so long, do you guys feel like you’re tighter as a group or does it only get harder to keep things from getting stale?
It’s gotta be in the back of our minds. There were two batches of songs for Universal Pulse, but we threw away the first batch because they just weren’t up to our standards. I think we fight off that complacency by being kinda tough on ourselves.
Do you feel the pressure to keep fans interested as they get older and their musical tastes change?
There’s the people that are happy with what we put out and there’s the people that, even though they’re fans, they’ll never like anything new that we put out ever. It’s an interesting balance and all ingredients are necessary to keep us motivated.
Why has the band chosen to hold most of its “311 Day” concerts in New Orleans?
New Orleans was always just ideal because The [French] Quarter would shut down. On both sides of Bourbon Street, clubs we’re playing 311 on the day before and naming drinks after us and there were like ten thousand people wandering around screaming our lyrics.
Any chance you would ever hold it somewhere here in the Northeast?
It’s definitely considered. When we think about doing 311 Day, we think about it on the scale of the whole country. I like that it’s traveled around a little bit. It’s kinda something I never thought would happen. I think Philly would be wonderful. Of course it would be different to do it in the Northeast, but I think that’d be the fun in giving it a shot.
http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/2011/07/25/qa-with-311-bassist-aaron-p-nut-wills/
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