In Issue No. 9 of the LAUNCH CD-ROM, you can subject 311 to our own brand of interactive interview and view a live, exclusive video of the song "Do You Right," lensed on location at Red Rocks Amphitheater during one of the band's favorite gigs of 1996. Read on, and access additional audio quotes from DiMartino's conversation with 311's Nick Hexum, Chad Sexton and P-Nut.
LAUNCH:
Describe the music of 311 for me.
NICK:
To really accurately describe us you have to say five words:
Reggae, rock, hip-hop, jazz and funk, you know? And that still
might be leaving some out. We've had different little terms like,
a long time ago we called it New School Music, just like the
"new school of thought" being that you can put anything in
your music; we're not traditionalists, not strict. Whatever we
like will come out in our writing. Chad coined "rap style rock,"
which kind of applies.
P-NUT:
We're a rock band. If people would just liquidate all the extra
adjectives on our name and what we do. Just listen. It's a
rock-based thing. That's where it starts from. It goes in many
different directions. Don't call us an alternative band Call us
THE alternative band.
LAUNCH:
This record, 311, has been out for a pretty long time. Why do
you think it's just catching on now, finally?
CHAD:
No. 1, I think our new merger with Mercury is a good positive
thing; it's done a lot of good things for us. No. 2, we weren't
that commercial to begin with; you couldn't fit us easily into
any radio category. I don't want to say people--radio
programmers--finally caught up with us. But I think it was just a
different style of music that everyone had to get used to. I think
that had something to do with it.
NICK:
I really don't think that we have made any giant steps forward.
It's just a constant process. We've been making hard rock mixed
with dancehall, hip hop, reggae and jazz since 1991. Our
approach hasn't changed, but we had a feeling on "Down"
that--I mean we had good songs but we didn't just love them
and love to play them live like we did with "Down." That was
the first song that had a chance of getting on the radio, had a
hook, but was also really rocking and we loved to play. We had
a good feeling about that song. It was about time.
P-NUT:
Before, what was happening was just us. Now we're getting lots
of support from many different angles and it's helping us create
what we do better and bigger. We've proven ourselves out on
the road and that's why the support has come. With that solid
of a base, a fan base, we can pull a thousand people wherever
we go. Radio has to support that. The kids know, and then
radio, MTV and BLAMMO!
LAUNCH:
Tell me about breaking out of Omaha? It's not really known as a
music industry hub.
CHAD:
Well, when we left it was pretty, you know, your basic
alternative, like Hootie and the Blowfish. Omaha is a a real basic
city, very conservative. Probably about 600,000 people. It was a
good place to grow up but I don't miss it.
NICK:
Omaha is real divided in terms of their supporters and
detractors of 311. Some people are really proud that someone is
putting Omaha on the map. So there are those who are
supportive and then those--there's been so many incorrect
rumors, people love to spread nasty things. When we play
shows there's usually a good vibe there. But numbers-wise
even for a town of that size, it's not one of our top markets at all.
But we're all tight with our family and friends there.
LAUNCH:
Are you experimenting with new sounds for your next album?
How would ou describe the sound you'll be going for in the
future?
NICK:
When people ask me about the next album, I say "outer space
dub music." It will be similar to 311, but we're getting into more
trippy production, trying to change the vocabulary. There's still
gonna be songs, melodies, probably more melodies than in the
past. But the way we'll state it will be with different
arrangements--we'll expand on the instruments we use. There
will be more keyboards, samples, stuff like that.
CHAD:
For our next album, maybe "future space music." I would call it
that. As for the past, or what we're about, it's just a blending of
styles of music: Funk and rock. Advanced space music.
Something like that.
LAUNCH:
Have you chosen a producer for the next release? Or will you be
producing the album yourselves?
NICK:
We've just had a great experience working with our soundman
who engineered our last three records, and he runs our sound
live. He knows us inside and out. He's a young guy like
ourselves and he's really excited about producing a major
record. And so I think we're going to give him a shot. Scott
Roston will co-produce with us. We're not a band that uses a
lot of production anyway. In hip-hop, production means writing
the song. The rapper has the lyrics. And the producer will write
the music. We pretty much know exactly what we want to do,
and have the production ideas. The producer, in our case, just
oversees and makes suggestions. Some producers play
instruments, arrange vocals, etc. We have that done already.
LAUNCH:
Now, you guys are known for playing a ton of live gigs. Do you
favor playing before an audience or do you prefer going into
the studio where you have more control over the musical
output?
CHAD:
We are not to where I'd like to be represented on record yet. I
think there's just something about a live show, the energy--you
can just visually see it or something. It's way more appealing to
me. It's hard to make that on a recording, but we're getting
closer and closer definitely.
P-NUT:
The distinction between the two, as far as what I do in my job
as a musician--that being playing live and recording
albums--they are completely different. I like them both; it
rounds out the whole career. I'm more comfortable playing live
shows. . .we've done it 400 times. And we've only been in the
studio mabye 10 times. We have so much more practice doing
live shows that I feel that much more comfortable. Doing the
studio, each time, you learn that much more, and since it's rare,
you want to soak it all in. That's the difference. How's that?
LAUNCH:
What's the greatest gig 311 has played to date?
NICK:
I remember our debut gig opening for Fugazi in Omaha being
really triumphant. Just because I'd never played for a moshing
crowd before and we really wanted to come out strong. It was
such a great opportunity for a young band to open for a punk
rock hero. That was a great night. Also the Sandstone show in
Kansas City was just so perfect; it was a great experience from
start to finish. Just to see an ocean of people, way back, like
little specks, but you could still see them bouncing. With their
hands in the air. It was really cool.
P-NUT:
I would say the band's best gig would probably be a tie
between Sandstone Amphitheater in Kansas City, the Red
Rocks show in Denver and the Omni Show in Atlanta. Those
were all three of the biggest shows we'd done on our own and
the fans in all those cities were amazing and gave us great
support.
LAUNCH:
What's the worst, most hellish gig you've ever played?
P-NUT:
I kicked a girl once onstage and she was pretty mad. Nobobdy
caught her. That was probably the worst thing I ever did, and I
knew her, which makes it even worse. If it had been some
anonymous person, you know, you can just walk away, but she
was like: "Why'd you do that to me?" I felt really bad.
NICK:
The worst show? It was in England in some small town. I think
it was called Stoke On Trent. Just a little pub, barely anyone
there. Someone was heckling us. P-Nut walked off the stage,
and said, "Who said that? Fuck all o'you all." It was miserable,
but when it comes to a situation like that--like our European
tour, which wasn't real successful numbers-wise due to our
following--we just had to say, "Okay we're tourists now. Let's
just drink beer, and enjoy it."
CHAD:
Peanut throwing up. I'm not sure what show that was. It was
just over, he was getting overworked and he just had to get it
out in some other way besides jumping.
LAUNCH:
Being on the road all the time, you guys must get sick of each
other. How do you deal with it?
P-NUT:
It happens; it happens rarely, but it does happen. It happened a
lot more when we would got out on tour for seven months.
Living in a metal tube, going through the routine, sharing that
space. Doing it that long stresses out the relationship. We're
doing six weeks on, six weeks off, now, and that's good for the
head.
LAUNCH:
You spent a lot of time this summer playing the festival circuit.
How do you like that vibe?
P-NUT:
I really like festivals because you play with bands you
wouldn't-- not that you wouldn't chose to go on tour with, but
you just don't. Because they're doing this other thing. You just
hook up with them. Everybody's cool. I'd like to say that most
of the musicians we run into on those things are pretty nice.
There's not a lot of assholes being egomaniacs. We're all
musicians, we all get along.