Greetings from The Hive Studios...
Recently I've received a lot of questions regarding the new album. A lot of people have asked if it's going to sound like any of the old 311 records? The truth is that the new record definitely has some elements of all of our old records - but it is still something completely new.
As we finish up the recording of the new album "Soundsystem," I realize how much we have evolved. More than that, I realize how much 311 has always changed and evolved. I realize how much we ask our fans to grow with us, by extension.
We really appreciate those of you that have joined us for the long haul. We feel like 311 fans are the most loyal and open-minded fans out there and that means a lot to us. We hope that one of the main things people like about 311 is our explorational attitude rather than just a specific sonic element of our music.
In other words, with 311, you have to expect the unexpected, or at least something different - because we're not trying to retread old grooves.
The challenge, to me, is to be patient enough to develop new styles to their fullest, yet also to not linger too long on moments of success. Let's face it, we are the "short attention span generation." I'll sit around with the satellite tv on, while online, with music playing in the background and an open magazine in my lap. All the remotes, my guitar, and the mouse positioned for maximum information intake. Not to mention phone calls, video games and playing fetch with my dog, Emily.
This kind of restlessness is probably represented in our music somehow. Five albums in six years is a bit excessive. We realized this a while ago and have slowed down a bit. We want to take our time and make the best record possible.
This album will probably be twelve or so songs. We've just kept up with the songs that we are really stoked on, letting the others move to the back burner. Life's not a race.
Anyway, I hope people dig the new album. I think you will. I'm excited to tour again. It's been a long time. Can't wait to see you at the shows.

Peace,
Nick

Hello,
It seems my website info needs updating. Sorry for letting all that boring info sit around. I’m still truckin’ along. Just finishing up tracking the new record. It’s rockin’. I hope ya’ll like it as much as I do. I’m exited to get out and play the songs live. It’s been our longest break and we’re in need of that energy.
In the meantime, there have been many kick ass shows. John Scofield most recently. Phrases of pure soul just flow from Sco. Ideas seem to move from his mind straight out the speaker with no interference from physical body or guitar. Experiencing that level of guitar playing really inspires me. Funky. Another show I really enjoyed is Banyan (Stephen Perkins, Mike Watt, Nils Cline and others.) Drums, bass, guitar, three horns, sometimes keys, and a visual artist who jams along with the music on a huge light board canvas with some kind of watery paint. Sight and sound traveling together. many great shows.
Briefly, what I’ve been listening to lately. One of my new favs is Meshuggah. Scotch Ralston turned me on to them recently. That’s some heavy rock. Besides that I’ve been listening to Santana's "Supernatural", DJ Lofton’s eMix, Dancehall Supermix and Ragga Jungle Mix, the new Shootyz Groove, Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos (Marc Ribot kicks ass), Willie Nelson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Black Eyed Peas, Ozomatli, NOFX, Cesaria Evora, Pantera, Bob Marley, Phish, John Coltrane, "The Very Best Of Latin Jazz" CD, Bad Brains, and as always, many, many, guitar stylings- Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, Eric Clapton, Grant Green, Earnest Ranglin, Reverend Horton Heat and others I’m forgetting.
Currently reading "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot...interesting. It was a gift from SA. I highly recommend any Robert Anton Wilson books especially "Quantum Psychology" and the "Cosmic Trigger Trilogy."
Some films to enjoy- Touch of Evil, The Thin Red Line, 3 O’Clock High, Raging Bull, Buffalo 66, Female Trouble. Boob tube- Kids In The Hall, Mr. Show, Teletubbies.
I will attempt to attach some photos as they are more interesting than my writing. Thanks for checkin’ out the website. I hope your reading this finds you happy and healthy. See you soon.

Rock On!
miT

Greetings to All.
I have had many changes in my life since I last posted info on the website. In Jan. of 1998, I broke my wrist in a rugby ball accident in Australia. After that tour, the band took a long break from our hectic 5-year schedule. During the break I was able to do normal domestic living and worked on my house (remodeling, painting, and buying furniture) as well as landscaping. In June of '98, we leased a building for the purpose of building our own studio called The Hive. We have spent most of our time since then working on the record. As you may know, Scotch Ralston helped us with the project. He is like another member of the band. And we are thankful for his dedication. Hugh Padgham helped us by coming to the studio for about 6 weeks to oversee things and to get sounds. And our ever-faithful assistant Alex (handroll, spamroll, chanroll, foulex....etc.) put in many hours and became our slave. It is now 8/6/99 and we are officially done with the record! Soundsystem is the ultimate rock record. We are very pleased with the results and hope that you all love it as we do.
In June of '97 I bought a house in the Hollywood Hills. It has always been a dream of mine to reside in the Hills. I have a girlfriend and her name is Mary Nelson. She runs a clothing line called Wizdumb. We have been seeing each other for about a year. I also have 2 doggies, Josie and Zoe. Josie is a Boston Terrier and Zoe is a white French Bulldog. Both are girls and will be 1 year old this month (8/99).
Now that the record is finished, we are preparing our tour. I am so excited to get back to playing shows. The last show I played was, as I mentioned before, in Australia and unbeknownst to me, my last for a while because I broke my wrist the following day.
So this will be like a rebirth. A bookmark in my life timeline. I have some exciting articles coming up in Drum and in Modern Drummer. In the October issue of Drum I will be on the cover. And in the December issue of Modern Drummer I will be on the cover with Adrian Young of No Doubt. I am very happy and thankful to be able to have so many of my dreams come true. I wish everybody the best and hope that somehow our music can magically help balance out the negativity and pain that all humans experience sometime throughout life. Positivity Lives.

Chad Sexton

"Hymn to Her"
A Short Story by SA Martinez

Her outline shimmering, she unfolds in his dream of cotton fields where he's laying nude, between rows, unable to move. His mouth held tight. His tongue strangled.
She Hangs above him in half-silhouette, her astral body cloaked in a robe billowing slow, like the transparent gills of a lone widowed fish. He's looking at her and thinking she's the end of beauty, her head tipped as if listening as if he were willing a wish. And then a voice calling out to him saying, "what's wrong, what's wrong, " a voice stretched as sky.
He's thinking she's the end of beauty. Her robe slowly unveiling off her shoulders, dangling breasts. This creature of light with a finger to her lips as though this were their secret. The voice saying she is Venus, she is Venus.
* * *
Summertime, not yet noon he rises sleepy-eyed, half-undressed because of the heat, the curtains swaying out the window, the impression of his body on the bed, the mattress stained, the sheets still damp.
His face sore, bruises on his head, his back. The white boy with the broken teeth he got into it with on his mind, he stands, blinking in the steely light, feeling tired-sore, unlucky. The room stale. Him sticky with sweat.
He walks to the window, looking out and not a cloud in the sky. On the street things are sleepy, Angel by herself on the steps sitting half-turned away. Sounds rising up now and then from a story down, Gibson blowing his horn like he was Miles. Him leaning out the window, his head angled as if listening for the changes everything sounding so beautiful, wanting to stay there forever he was playing so pretty.
This is when he thinks of her. The one on the steps with the tattoo and skin white as cotton who won't look up because there is nowhere to go. The one he told he'd seen it all. The one who asked him what the sea smelled like.
He liked summers best, shirtless, sunning himself at noon walking the cholo way down South 24th. Cap turned back, chinos hanging long and loose, khaki-brown, wrinkle free. Summer's like this, the lobby door open and the outside blaring white. Heading downstairs a patch of sun slicing up the stairway wall highlighting the words Danny Delgado I Love You. The words proclaimed in huge bright blue underneath The South Valley Kings. The South Valley Kings the home-team in this barrio, Danny Delgado his name. Out the door he fishes his pocket for that last dollar in change. Just as hot and sticky as the quarters in his hand. Still on the steps, Angel turning asks if he's buying lunch, her face pocked and pimply, her voice tight as scissors rusted over the years. He looks off, steamed by the golden orb of July, her words something he has come to forget.
Angel scraggly, smoking whatever was free and available that day, a black eye fading yellow. Angel with her life of getting slapped around, never knowing what it felt like to get touched gently. Who gave up on love a long time ago when it became clear no one wanted her, and so much more that matters even less. Angel gazing over her shoulder at Danny, squinting in the glare of light that won't forgive her her harsh face.
Danny remembering her in the doorway, partly in shadow, partly in light and looking softer three months ago watching the rain outside while he sat with Alejandro, the pusher, in his Cadillac parked on the side street. Rolling and smoking J's. Santanna rising out the speakers. Danny, his less wondering self dozing in the stone-cloud of his mind, half-listening and half-dreaming, his window down and the April rain-breeze moving under his open Pendleton. Alejandro with the Virgen of Guadalupe tattooed on his shoulder and knowing so little of time and asking Danny what it was and Danny shrugging. Everyone asleep it seemed. A rainbow rising and sunlight on brick. Later the downpour ending and no reason to move, the smell of rain lingering, the copper glare of early evening after rain, the orange glazing the street. Santanna long done and the velvet voice of Sarah Vaughn washing down from Gibsons age-cracked shaded window. The Philco blaring "Don't Go to Strangers," and then, "Detour Ahead." Then Alejandro saying, "Over there," Alejandro pointing, "that one." And Angel on the sidewalk in a ragged summer dress holding flowers to her face. Angel so happy, sure they'd never fade, sure the bloom's to last through Spring. Whirling around and around in the tarnished, breathless air, her skirt flaring yellow to touch the world, the sky wheeling above. Gibson gold-tooth and swaying in the doorway holy-drunk. His outstretched arms reaching toward her, him yelling, "Marry me Angel, marry me!" Gibson greeting the world with wine on his breath, his words floating from sky to sky to who knew where mingling with old music, a flickering light in his eyes. Good-time Gibson. Angel laughing, Angel young and unafraid once more, the rain falling again. Gibson steadying himself, getting on one knee and trying to sing. His voice uncertain and quivering. But as sweetly as he could sing, he sang: "Smooth road, clear day, why am I the only one travelling this way? I want to look back on all my troubles, smooth road, smooth road no detour ahead." Angel clapping and slender in a dress too big, swirling again. Gibson, feeling light himself, bowing to her as if she were the queen of all this, as if whe were supreme among all the others who aged in that hotel. And then blowing a kiss at her, to the one dressed for summer and dancing in rain.
Now the day so hot and heat rising off pavement, heat wiggling in waves off bright car tips. Danny staring into the yellow and empty eyes of Angel. A cheap tattoo he never noticed before on her shoulder. The words La Llorona in a green etching. The Weeper. "Whatsa matter," she says, "you gonna ask me on a date?" Danny smiling now, his teeth still got that shine, says he would but it's too early. "Never too early," she says, "for a good time." Her hair matted down in grease clumps. Danny knows her dying's been worse. Her face hardened from knowing just how far we are from our dreams. Then her back turning on him as if to say he was just as useless, as if he didn't know shit about nothing, didn't know a thing. Standing in the swelter of sun, in the murderous smog , Danny felt like a victim burning in flames, a victim no one had rushed to save.
The sky all sundown, the evening blush of neon blooming, Danny makes his way to Grace Street just east of South 24th. Grace Street dissheveled, the houses stripped with paint and gray with rotting wood. The tilted broken walks cracked by the roots of elms. The sidewalk glittering with broken glass, flattened cans and the cellophane wrappers of cigarette packs. Grace Street. His shadow stretching down the walk, the crunch of trash beneath his feet. The breeze softened, yawning through the barrio, seems from another place and time. Walking with his hands in his pockets to the cantina, stepping on dandelions in violent bloom in the sidewalk cracks, the sky the color of watered down tea, the hint of night coming the sunlight bleeding away.
In the cantina of broken survivors, battered bandannaed men drink in the dim light. Most of the stools takin Danny finds a table in the corner by the old black upright left from the days when the cantina was known as the Half-Note and tonight Gibson Parks will move his fingers across the chipped keys. This once a week jazz night is a haven for the old-time black southside-cool, languid and beautiful, apple-capped and caned, who lost themselves in the serious hustle and jive of the Half-Note when they were wing-tipped and wild, young and unafraid.
Hector at his usual stool in his usual position, talking to the photo of his first wife and drunk to the point to where he doesn't know who she is. A cantina full of the hardcore. And then Angel in heels and a stained red dress and for once in her life, raising eyebrows and turning heads when she walked in. Taking a seat and trying to be noticed, her legs crossed and pumping. Gibson grinning like the devil just plays. Angel smiling and sipping her drink, leaning close to listen and fingering her ear lobe. Then Hector rising, turning and opening his arms, cracking a stained grin, enfolds the imaginary body of a woman in his careful mute waltz. Two stepping with spirits.
But weed is what Danny wants, and he'll pay the usual price. Turning round and looking out he can see fenders brimming with shine, and he knows there must be a moon. And there is. As he walks out the door it hangs low and aged, yellowed like old porcelain. In the back of the cantina the humid alley air is sweet with flowering vetch and wild chrysanthemum. The smell of chiva drifting through the air. A back-alley opera. Danny unneeded, a dreamer among warriors. The foxtail fence high and whispering at his thighs. Then the sound of stick rattling fence and flesh pounding flesh. Danny crying out like a child feeling a terrible thing. The mad war finding him again, but no one going to know this late.
Around his shaky sky Angel loomed large, Danny, his eyes shuddering in the shelter of foxtail, as if once more the world had spared him, had left him only dazed and bruised, was struck by how peaceful it was to let the pain take hold, to lie in the shade of Angel. The morning sun a shifting brightness behing her. She so beautiful, bending now, the sun softened through his tearied black-lashed gaze floating above her like a halo.

Hello 311 fans from around the world...
We are soon coming to the end of this recording and can't wait to play all the new songs for you fans. With as much time as we have used to get this project done, I think everyone will be happy with what comes out. Every idea that we have had about the music has been explored. 311 is ready for you.
This touring season is going to be fabulous. It has been very strange being home this long, I know that we needed it. We have been waiting just as long as you guys. We look forward to getting in some faces and leaving no question as to who is rocking the house! There will be sweat and screaming. Everyone should stretch before a show so they don't get a sprain, because I promise a contact game with no fouls called.
I have been exploring a new passion of mine. I have been taking my Landcruiser off-road quite a bit in the last few months. California has many fantastic offroad destinations, almost one in every direction from where I live. Big Bear (which is about an hour and a half from me) is a favorite, mostly known for skiing/boarding, but also has hundreds of miles for off-highway vehicles. I took Chad out one day, after a little coaxing, and showed him the tree cemetery that was created by a fire some years ago. I think he waited about four days to take his truck out there and see how he would fare. Also, a place called Gorman is very fun, not as pretty as Big Bear, but more for the crazy off-roader. Gorman is mostly for dirt bikes so the trails aren't always fitting for a full size 4x4 like mine. I have gotten in and out of some very close calls. I almost rolled it trying to go up this hill and because I stalled half way up, I had to back down, that sucked, but I keep going back.
I have a doggy now. It was only a matter of time, since I saw how happy everybody was with theirs. Her name is Five and she is a Weimeraner. She is just about five months old and knows no end to her energy. House training her has been an experience, not too bad, but definitely trying. I have learned patience with her, not one of my best traits. Sometimes I wonder who I am training, her or me. She has to always be around me or my girlfriend. I love both of them to no end. I couldn't have gotten a puppy if we didn't have so much time off, so I am thankful to have taken advantage. Because who knows how long it will be until we take a break again?
I want to replace my top ten with some favorites. My tastes change slightly all the time so to have a top ten is living a lie. I will just tell you what I have been watching, listening to and reading of late.
I was watching the playoffs hoping to see the Lakers take it all the way but...whoever beats Utah is the team for me. hehehe
Frank Black and the Catholics new album "Pistolero" is amazing--track number three runs continuously in my brain.
Tom Waits' new album is great, but you have to be a fan. If you just go out and buy "Mule Variations" you might wonder why I led you in that direction---buyer beware, I am a freak and my tastes reflect that. I love that Tom still makes the music that he feels, he isn't looking to be a hit, just a musician.
I have been reading one of the books of my youth. "Up the Line" by Robert Silverberg is about an average kid who loses his cushy job in New York to become a time courier. The book is set in the future where people can book trips to the past and watch the events in real time, with their own eyes. It's wonderful and I think all would enjoy this book, I someday (in my forties) would love to make a movie out of this book. Me and my girlfriend read this book to each other, which made it extra special.
We can't wait to see you out on the road.

p-nut

Soundsystem

01. Freeze Time
02. Come Original
03. Large In The Margin
04. Flowing
05. Can't Fade Me
06. Life's Not A Race
07. Strong All Along
08. Sever
09. Eons
10. Evolution
11. Leaving Babylon
12. Mindspin
13. Livin' & Rockin'

311

01. Down
02. Random
03. Jackolantern’s Weather
04. All Mixed Up
05. Hive
06. Guns (are for pussies)
07. Misdirected Hostility
08. Purpose
09. Loco
10. Brodels
11. Don’t Stay Home
12. DLMD
13. Sweet
14. T & P Combo

Grassroots

01. Homebrew
02. Lucky
03. Nutsymtom
04. 8:16 A.M.
05. Omaha Stylee
06. Applied Science
07. Taiyed
08. Silver
09. Grassroots
10. Salsa
11. Lose
12. Six 13. Offbeat Bare Ass
14. 1, 2, 3

Live

01. Down
02. Homebrew
03. Beautiful Disaster
04. Misdirected Hostility
05. Freak Out
06. Nix Hex
07. Applied Science
08. Omaha Stylee
09. Tribute
10. Galaxy
11. Light Years
12. Hydroponic
13. Who’s Got The Herb?
14. Feels So Good

Music

01. Welcome
02. Freak Out
03. Visit
04. Paradise
05. Unity
06. Hydroponic
07. My Stoney Baby
08. Nix Hex
09. Plain
10. Feels So Good
11. Do You Right
12. Fat Chance

Transistor

01. Transistor
02. Prisoner
03. Galaxy
04. Beautiful Disaster
05. Inner Light Spectrum
06. Electricity
07. What Was I Thinking
08. Jupiter
09. Use Of Time
10. The Continuous Life
11. No Control
12. Running
13. Color
14. Light Years
15. Creature Feature
16. Tune In
17. Rub A Dub
18. Starshines
19. Strangers
20. Borders
21. Stealing Happy Hours