They may have given up being nudists, but 311’s music making abilities have stayed on track through their 21-year career and they’re bringing their latest tour to St. Louis July 9.
311 bassist P-Nut talks about how technology influenced the band, where they got their name, touring with Sublime and much more.
InsideSTL: How would you describe your style of music to someone who has never heard of 311?
P-Nut: I’d tell them to get out more often, and I’d say that we are like a hybrid. We were all born in the ’70s and grew up in the ’80s. We saw computers go from too expensive to own to everyone having one in their home. I think in that way, information has always been closer to us, and even closer to kids grew up in ’90s and 2000s.
We were the first generation of kids to have had computers in our home and access in our home…Growing up when we did allowed us to listen to all kinds of music…the British invasion, and when Americans turned blues and country into rock n’ roll and then this tiny little island out in the Caribbean, known mostly as Jamaica, that changed our worlds. We took all the sounds [and] influences and turned them into the music we create. And we don’t really think about it anymore. Of course we’ll put his rock riff next to this reggae line.
InsideSTL: How did the band come up with the name 311?
PN: 311 came from an experience a friend of mine had. He got arrested in a neighborhood pool. The pool was surrounded by the neighborhood. [It was during] the off seasons…[he] stripped off his clothes and was [charged with]…indecent exposure. We thought it was the funniest thing in the world and just ran with it. And, where we used to be nudists, we kind of gave that up. We’ve accepted that clothes are OK.
InsideSTL: What has had the most influence on your music since you started?
PN: The band itself, the lives that we live touring and outside of touring with our families. Three of us are married. Three of us are dads. That’s a huge influence now. Our oldest kids are only 2 years old, SA and Nick’s kids are about to turn two. That’ll be the new biggest influence on us. Our kids, simplicity, the way that time kind of slows down when you watch kids…it’s kind of profound. Simply living life. There are two sides [of life, the touring life and life with our families]…and the way those kind of intersect is what we write about.
But it’s not the easies thing to come up with new ideas. We’ve been in the band for 21 years. We got to live life to talk about it so that’s what it’s all about.
InsideSTL: What can fans expect from the new album, Universal Pulse?
PN: We put a lot of positive, aggressive energy into it. We always think about how songs will feel on stage, since we’re most likely going to play them on stage. We kind of take the fans’ perspective into account. We don’t let it drive the whole inspiration, but we like thanking the fans for coming out and seeing us…They’ll expect to hear songs saying thank you for listening and coming out to shows.
InsideSTL: What are you thoughts on touring with Sublime with Rome?
PN: I think it’s been a long time coming. Of course, it would’ve been great to do a tour this big with Bradley if he hadn’t passed the week after their biggest album came out. That adds a certain legend to bands, where they’re not going to be able to make music like that ever again…There’s a sad, somber kind of coolness in that. Their songs are so great it really deserves a 2.0 version of the band, even without their writer and leader and stuff. It’ll be really cool to see them.
InsideSTL: What should fans expect from your live show?
PN: People come far and wide to see our live show. It would be a little out of my area to say how good we are because that’s not really up for me [to decide]. But I’d be really impressed to see the band that works as hard as we do on being able to play our instruments and being ourselves while we play our instruments…I like to think of us, we’re on the soulful side of that. We’re good at what we do. We love our instruments, we love our craft. But it’s still us…We didn’t go to music school to learn our craft…It’s kind of like a fun mastership of the instruments.
It think anyone who, if you love seeing live music, then you’ve gotta come see our show. Supposedly, we put one of the better rock shows out there…[people are] going to be surrounded by people with similar mindsets. They’re there to enjoy themselves, but they’re not there to fuck shit up or be a jackass. It’s like celebrate, let’s celebrate this life.
InsideSTL: How does playing an outdoor venue differ from playing indoor venues? Do you perform differently?
PN: If feels totally different. You can have really special, unique moments in both atmospheres. There’s something great about an outdoor stage when it starts raining on people….and there’s something about being packed in tiny club where the energy in there is sealed in an envelope and there’s no escaping it…It’s like a drug. You can do that inside and out.
InsideSTL: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
PN: I’ve been donating my time here and there to tell teenagers about how great it is to be a musician, and more to the point and less specific…to be an artist is really my point. If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a dancer, dance…Anything you can do in your life, to be passionate about [it]. Cooking is an art. Conversation, I think, is an art. It’s tough to make money being a conversationalist, but that’s not even really the point… I really want to get in teens ears about falling in love with something in life outside of video games because that doesn’t make you any different…that’s not my passion in life. It’s a diversion. And it’s good to recognize the difference between the two. I can build on my musicianship way more than I can my [gaming]…I just think that’s so important. I don’t want to see a lost generation where there’s media and all these distractions…You can watch your life be a thousand time richer than you could possibly imagine.
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