311 released a new album, “Mosaic,” last summer that has the veteran rap-reggae-rock outfit excited.
The group would have toured this year even if it didn’t have a fairly new batch of music to bring to the fans. They stop in Springfield at the Illinois State Fair this week.
This story from the State Journal-Register, written by L. Kent Wolgamott of Last Word Features.
“I would say it’s a big step forward as far as modernizing our sound,” Singer Nick Hexum said of the new album. “We wanted to pursue ideas and sounds that felt fresh and new, but there’s classic elements in there with hip-hop and reggae and rockin’ riffs.”
Those elements will allow the “Mosaic” songs to easily fit into the 311 live show.
311 was formed in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1988, taking its name from the police code for indecent exposure.
“We’ve always felt we stumbled into a special chemistry with the five of us and we’ve stayed together,” Hexum said. “We take good care of that band we have…The fact that the five us in 1992 loaded up in a Volkswagon van and Buick Monte Carlo and drove out to a little house in Van Nuys, Calif that right there was all-for-one, one-for-all. It’s always been the five guys in 311 and, hopefully, it always will be.”
311 brought its signature mix of reggae, rap and rock with it from Nebraska to California, honing the sound on its 1993 debut album “Music” and 1994’s “Grassroots” before making its popular breakthrough with 1995’s triple-platinum self-titled third album that yielded the hit singles “Down” and “All Mixed Up.”
Along with bringing the new musical mixture, 311 has also preaching the pro-pot gospel for decades and are now seeing that effort pay off with marijuana legalization in states across the country.
“I would say it’s a big step forward as far as modernizing our sound,” Hexum said. “We wanted to pursue ideas and sounds that felt fresh and new, but there’s classic elements in there with hip-hop and reggae and rockin’ riffs.”
Those elements will allow the “Mosaic” songs to easily fit into the 311 live show, even though Hexum said it’s hard to say which of those songs, or any other from the band’s quarter-century long catalog will be played on any given night.
“We custom make the set each night,” he said. “After doing this for so long, you kind of have a vibe for each town — there will be a lot of new people here or it will be filled with old fans, that kind of thing. After sound check, we have a set list meeting where we get on one bus and talk it out.
“I think it would become stale if we had the same set every night,” Hexum said. “If it’s new to us, it’s new to them and it keeps it fresh for everybody. On our very first tour, we just had the one album, so that was kind of set. But we’ve been doing it since then. For awhile, I wrote out the set list every night and then we made changes to it. Now we have 150 songs to choose from and we’ve been doing the full band set list meeting for seven, eight years.”
311 was formed in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1988, taking its name from the police code for indecent exposure. When Doug “SA” Martinez joined in 1992 to sing and work the turntables, the band’s lineup of Hexum, guitarist Tim Mahoney, bassist Aaron “P-Nut” Wills and drummer Chad Sexton was set, seemingly for good.
“We’ve always felt we stumbled into a special chemistry with the five of us and we’ve stayed together,” Hexum said. “We take good care of that band we have…The fact that the five us in 1992 loaded up in a Volkswagon van and Buick Monte Carlo and drove out to a little house in Van Nuys, Calif that right there was all-for-one, one-for-all. It’s always been the five guys in 311 and, hopefully, it always will be.”
311 brought its signature mix of reggae, rap and rock with it from Nebraska to California, honing the sound on its 1993 debut album “Music” and 1994’s “Grassroots” before making its popular breakthrough with 1995’s triple-platinum self-titled third album that yielded the hit singles “Down” and “All Mixed Up.”
Along with bringing the new musical mixture, 311 has also preaching the pro-pot gospel for decades and are now seeing that effort pay off with marijuana legalization in states across the country.
311 and The Offspring with Gym Class Heroes Wednesday at the Fair. WTAX News anchor Len Rideout is a fan of alternative music and will be attending.
For tickets go to Ticketmaster.com.
This story from the State Journal-Register, written by L. Kent Wolgamott of Last Word Features.