Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 260: Nick Hexum (311)

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

Floyd get his music hijacked by Andy to start us off. Nick approves! Speaking of Nick & Andy: find out what these two have up their sleeve with the upcoming World Saving Podcast Tour that kicks off real soon! Who's in the band? Who's the special guest? Does anybody have a smoke I can bum?? And on the Interview Hour, we got the legendary lead singer/rhythm guitarist of 311 on the show: Nick Hexum! Nick is forever hot. And does music outside of 311 you may not be aware of. REAL GOOD music at that. Don't you wanna impress your friends with your musical prowess? So listen to this episode now and then ask Ari Fink to give Nick Gerlach a 2-hour show on Jam On radio... And guess what... Watch the full episodes Exclusively on Volume.com now in color!  Psyched to partner up with our buddies at Volume.com! Check out their roster of upcoming live events and on-demand shows to enrich that sweet life of yours. Call, leave a message, and tell us if you think one can get addicted to mushrooms: [phone]  Check out our new album!, L'Optimist on all platforms Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out our good friends that help us unwind and sleep easy while on the road and at home: dialedingummies.com Produced by Andy Frasco, Joe Angelhow, & Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Floyd Kellogg Arno Bakker

Now, a message from the UN. Good Life Did you hear that song that Floyd just wrote? I didn't realize that was Floyd's song, but I definitely didn't like it at all. It sounded like something off the Tony Hawk soundtrack from the video game. Oh, hey, and we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. How you doing out there, people? I'm Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. How you doing out there, people? I'm Andy Frasco. How's our heads?

How's our minds? How's our, my little favorite little co-host, Nick Gerlach on the pod today. You're not that. Hello, everyone. Do you, no, you. You're a bigger guy. You think you're fat? I'm trying to lose weight right now.

I don't think you're fat. I'm built to last. Let's put it that way. I'm not fat. Definitely not fat when I go home to Indiana. I'm like, oh, hell yeah. I'm looking good. People are like, you look good. I'm like, yeah, okay. Denver's got a lot of hotties.

Bodies with bodies. I have that stomach bug. Lost some weight? I'm looking good right now. You are looking slim and trim. Let's fucking go. Meeting girls at square dances. I went on a real date.

You met a girl at a square dance? I met a girl at a square dance. She taught me how to pretzel. She has a job. She works HR. I love that. HR, be careful with them, though. They're like the hall monitors of the corporate world.

That was the first good date I've had in a long time. Chad, you don't know about them. That was the first good date I've had in a long time. Yeah, she probably can read and stuff. Shut the fuck up, Nick. Just kidding. You date well. I date well. I like, you know.

You like classy women. I like classy women. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I had a great time. Anyway, how you doing? I'm doing pretty good. We just interviewed one of the funnest local bands ever, Barbara. Dude, they were so nice and fun and just not trying to be cool the whole time.

Yeah, they were just being themselves. I think we should do smaller bands and release them on Fridays. And we'll call it Local Friday. Damn, I'm on Friday. They're like, fuck. Yeah, we got to frame it better so they don't feel bad. Yeah, it's like Peasant Friday. Yeah, it's like we're trying to help you here, you know?

People will listen. I'm sorry the podcast is popping off. We will get. I mean, if anything, it's still the same show. I don't know. Still helping them. I think so, too. I mean, when we were putting out those Fridays, we were still getting good numbers on the Friday pods.

Yeah, I don't think people are like, oh, it's on Friday. I'm not going to. Like, sweet, more content. Man, I am feeling great. What have you been up to I did trying to finish my record before I go on tour forever You had a rapper I had two rappers from Chicago

Prob Cause and Rick Wilson Rick Wilson is fucking sick too I'm good homies with Prob he was on some Cosby albums Really Yeah Prob is like He's like kind of like the EDM Fucking rapper Oh really I can't remember her name I'm sorry Yeah, Prob is like He's kind of like the EDM fucking rapper He has a new band

Oh, really? It's a girl from I can't remember her name I'm sorry She's the singer in Grizz's band And they have like a duo now I think they sold out Cervantes already For their first show ever

We'd love to see fucking homies winning Yeah And me and Carnes Chris Carnes We just produced a song for Prob You know, I'm just coming out Oh, sick Yeah

Chris Carnes is the DJ We got Nick Hexum from 311 on the show You know the song I like of theirs Amber is the color of your energy You wanted me to start the interview with asking You wanted me to start the interview with Can we ask the first question Is Amber the color of your energy

Is it? He probably hates that I doubt it. He's probably rich. He was very good looking. God damn, he's handsome, huh? Yeah, dude. How do older people stay hot?

Great hair. He had great hair. I think it helps when you have a lot of money and people are looking at you all the time, so you're just more aware. You're always on a camera. I do believe rock and roll keeps you young. 100%. Does he have kids?

Sean Eccles looks good. Yeah. And he's fucking rock and roll. Yeah, he's been Like, Sean Eccles looks good. And he's fucking rock and roll. Yeah, he's been rocking his ass off. He's like a fucking welder, you know, like a union guy. We had a coming to Jesus the band. When? This upcoming weekend.

No, Brian called all of us and said we need to slow it down or this thing will implode. Yeah, he's probably right. I don't really know all the details. I need to slow it down Or this thing will implode Yeah he's probably right I don't really know all the details I don't talk to you that Try not to I try to stay out of that

Yeah but I need It'll leak into this I don't want it to leak into this though I don't want it to You know what I mean Yeah I want your band to respect me So I don't want to be a little

Gossiping ass hoe You know what I mean But you're the only one I can really talk to Yeah you can I'm not like saying We don't ever talk about it That's not in the circle

I see both sides of it too You're not perfect I'm not perfect either, I drink my ass off Everybody's got their thing Except Barbara, they're all normal I know, what the fuck They're all just happy I'm becoming less sexist

Just kidding I wish I would. I just I have more girlfriends than guy friends. Yeah, I think I'm about I love like fucking hanging out on the couch and giggling and watching like trash television. Like I love that shit. There's something to be said for just

broing out though too. I'll bro out. Yeah. I can't fart in front of Barbara. No, you don't really fart. No. I don't fart either. I hold it in. Me too. I don't like fart. I don't really ever fart in front of barbara no you don't really fart no no i don't know i hold it in me too i don't like fart i don't really ever fart in front of julie even right yeah i just come on just like i respect for her you know when i was with jill i couldn't fart or take shit i'm kind of like that too i'm like that too yeah i had to like if she slept over i'd like run downstairs i'm like that kid like didn't shit at high school ever like yeah i didn't either yeah why you can't hold it for two more hours like come on that's not good

for you to hold it i know but i just don't want to poop at school yeah i didn't want not good for you to poop at school it's anxiety it's anxious i don't like an anxious yeah then like i'm pushing out really hard yeah it's just everything i don't like to be anxious like i don't want to get out like i can't i can't take a shit in a public place, like a bar. No way, dude. Like a one-seater bar. Unless it's like you're on the road and it's like, you know, there's very rare. Yeah.

I know exactly what you mean. You mean, it's like, I'm not going to go to Yacht Club and just rip a fat shit. I respect people that can, though. You do? There's people that can just don't give a fuck, dude. I know. I kind of respect the gangster there. It's like, it's more human.

They're like dogs. They're like dogs. Dogs would bite Denzel to take a shit, like, on Colorado Boulevard, dude. I kind of respect the gangster there. It's like more human. They're like dogs. Dogs like Denzel just take a shit like on Colorado Boulevard. Your dog? Yeah. They have no shame. They shit and everybody does it. Guys, it's podcast tour week. We're hitting the road tomorrow.

We're flying to Philly. We got some really cool press stuff. We're flying to Philly. Airplane. We got some really cool press stuff. We're flying to Philly early to do morning radio. Preston and Steve in Philadelphia. That's the biggest morning. It's like Howard Stern for Philly.

I love morning radio. It's my favorite. That's my dream to be on. It's such a dying thing, though. There's still markets. I would love a radio show. Anyone who drives still has a morning show. If you're driving hours to commute. My dream is to have

a two-hour show on Jam On. Really? It's not that big of a dream. My dreams are very reasonable. Hit up our thing. Hey, Ari, can I have a two-hour show on your channel? Just take calls, talk jam bands Guys podcast tour is here

It's going to be great We have a lot of great guests I guess we should announce our guests I don't even know all of them We have We don't know Philly yet Philly we're working on We got some big things in the works

We do have maybe And that's really close Hopefully he confirms It's to his manager And they're chewing it on I told him that's the pitch We said come jam with us That's awesome

Then we got Jeff Gordon too from Philly The NASCAR driver? No he's the head Jeff Gordon's not in music bro He's the head of Live Nation. Oh, shit. The head of Live Nation. No, but he's cool.

He'll talk shit. He books Peach Fest, and he was the first guy to book Dave Chappelle. Yeah. And then New York is popping. We have Captain Kirk from The Roots. Oh, yeah. That's the guitar player. We have Phil Hanley.

Great comedian. Comedian. Deadhead, too. Deadhead. And we're going to talk dead, and he's funny. guitar player. As one of the guests. We have Phil Hanley. Great comedian. Comedian. Deadhead, too. Amazing. Deadhead. And we're going to talk dead. And he's funny. His clips.

Do you ever watch his clips on Insta? Yeah. He's always wearing a deadhead. He's always wearing a Garcia shirt. Yeah. So that's at the City Winery. So the Fillmore. There's like 40 tickets left for the Fillmore.

There's 40 tickets left for New York at City Winery on the 10th. Then we're having a day off. Might be less by now, too, actually. So get them. Yeah. I think there might be less. And then we have a day off in New York on the 10th. Then we're having a day off. Might be less by now, too, actually. So get them. Yeah, I think there might be less. And then we have a day off in New York on the 11th, so if anybody wants to hang out, let's go out to dinner. Well, we might be doing a special interview that day.

No, that's the 12th. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. I guess we could say it because it's confirmed now. Well, oh, yeah. Fine. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be interviewing Goose

to talk about the new Everything They want us to come to the Goose Castle In Connecticut We will be on our A game There will be no holds bar We will talk and get the real answers Of what's going on

We want to squash the beef I want to hear what rumors are true Which probably all aren't true All the rumors on the internet Are fucking not true If I were betting I would take nothing's true If I was a betting man I would say none of the rumors are true

I'm going to go ahead and guess that it's just a very basic Band thing where they just didn't work out Rick and Peter I'm going to their house I'm excited to go see you Nick's going, too. They're like, only way we can do this interview is if both of you do it. I like that.

I like that, too. We're a team. They respect me. I like that people are starting to respect me. We're a team, baby. People are starting to respect me. Yeah, baby. Because they know if they don't, I'll ruin them.

You're welcome. I feel... A little bit, though. Thanks, yeah. Good to say thank you. I did. I just fucking said... No, say it louder.

Thank you, Andy. Thank you. But also thank me, because I do make the show better. Thank you, Nick. Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, though. Thanks. Yeah. Good to say thank you. I did. I just fucking said it louder. Thank you, Andy. Thank you. But also thank me because I do make the show better. Thank you, Nick. Yeah. Okay, cool. That's how these things work. They're supposed to help each other. That's a partnership. We're helping each other. This isn't a dictatorship. This is a partnership. I remember I used to listen to this podcast for a while. I should be on this. I'm not kidding. Really?

Yeah. I remember I used to hate you. Oh, yeah. And then from there, we're flying to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we have a really great. This one, I'm really excited for this lineup for Raleigh. We have MC Taylor from His Golden Messenger. And we have BJ Barham from American Aquarium. You know the merch guy? And he's just great.

Two great music guests. And then the 14th. Damn, I mean, we are, besides Philly, finding ailly, we'll find a guest there, but if not, we'll just have fun. We're locked. Philly doesn't care. They just want to have fun and get fucked up. I feel like we can do our thing a little there. And the house band for Philly is Lotus. What?

You didn't tell me that yet. I didn't tell you that? Those are my own fields. Oh, yeah. Mike's a good friend of mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Sean Eccles curated a band, a house band, for every city. They're all local. And we got some great ones. In New York, our drummer's John Bongiorno. That's our booking agent, by the way.

That's our booking agent. Who's the bass player in Philly? Caleb Hawley's bass player. And then what about Philly? And then Philly, we have Lotus, the bass player and drummer of Lotus. Oh, Jesse. I think so, yeah. Oh, my God.

Those guys rule. Yeah, dude. It's going to be killer. And then Raleigh, our house band, is a bunch of big something homies. Oh, sick. I think so, yeah. Oh, my God. Those guys rule. Yeah, dude. It's going to be killer. And then Raleigh, our house band, is a bunch of big something homies. Oh, sick. This is going to be so fucking fun. It's going to be sick, dude.

We might have Barb come through in December. Oh, no, they can't do it. No. Damn it. Barb can't do it. But the 14th, we're going comedians.

And also Todd Glass' opening. God damn. These guys are really good. Dude, they're stacked. Yeah. Come on out, guys. It's a variety show. I might not have to go, actually.

I'm just kidding. Yeah, you might not even have to do any bits. And then the 14th, we're ending the tour. Definitely not Denver. I'm not doing any fucking bits. Yeah, no. That's going to be amazing, dude. We have Josh Blue, the comedian.

Dude, we're going to have to do nothing. Sam Talent, the comedian. Two world-class comedians. Sam Talent was just on Rogan. Josh Blue is amazing. Just one American guy talent a few years ago. And... We're not going to do shit that night. Oh, yeah. We're just going to fucking live it up. I'm going to get a tank of nitrous and fucking let them cook.

I'll be like, oh, yeah, brother. And then we have to go to Estes Park. Oh, but the house band for the 14th is my band. Andy Frask from the UN. God damn. It's like we're stacked. We're stacked. We're holding. As I'm talking this through, I'm a little less scared. I think we're going to do it.

I'm not scared. You're not? What's the worst that can happen here? I don't know. It tanks. It tanks. We've tanked so many times. Yeah.

You know what I mean? It's fun. I don't think it's tanking. They're selling. It's not. Everything's selling out. Everything's going to be fun. And I think they're all going to sell out.

I just like sellouts. Okay. Who doesn't? Come on. Philly, New. Everything's going to be fun. I think they're all going to sell out. I just like sellouts. Who doesn't? Come on. Philly, New York, Raleigh, Denver. Let's sell these motherfuckers out. I'm putting my ass on the line. Jon Bonjorno booked this tour. He normally books it in a thousand rooms. I'm like, yeah, you can blame Trump for booking this tour.

He's excited. He used to be a fucking in a dope metal band. I love Jon Bonjorno. He's the fucking man. My favorite agent, I think. Oh, yeah. And then I'm flying to Charleston, South Carolina for a week to shoot a music video with Little Stranger where our new single comes out pretty soon. For their album or your album? For both our albums.

Oh, it's like a co-release. Co-release. But also, guys, next week I am releasing a new single. Oh, my God. What we used to be is not who we are. I'm really proud of this song. I'll release it. release. But also, guys, next week I am releasing a new single. What We Used To Be Is Not Who We Are. I'm really proud of this song. I'll release it. I'll post it on Tuesday

before the Friday release on March 15th. Did I play on that one? Pre-save it. Did you play on it? Is that the one we did the other day? Yeah, with the trumpet. You played it. Oh, that one. You and Ernie. And Gabe. And Gabriel. So, pre-save What We used to be is not who we are. I've been playing it a lot on tour, and people have been really digging it.

They're crying and stuff? They're fucking crying. I mean, that's my emo years. Yeah, you're so emo. I'm such a fucking emo. Shut the fuck up. I used to be the man. I don't know.

I don't know how to do this. I never got into that scene. I'm excited to go to Charleston for a week. I haven't been there for a while. Yeah, it's nice there. Yep. Then I'm flying to L.A. to finish this record I never got into that scene. I'm excited to go to Charleston for a week. I haven't been there for a while. It's nice there. Yep. Then I'm flying to LA to fix, trying to finish this record. Not a lot of gigs in March, so you're just getting stuff done?

Getting stuff done, but we start our fucking big tour. Of course. There's a little tour coming up. End of March with Kyle Gass from Tenacious D. And then Easter Sunday, I got to take photos with my family. Wait, you're Jewish. I know, but they love fucking the photo. Like, we're all like in the same outfit. White, like pastels

and like, that's for mommy. That's for mom. She loves that. I mean, you gotta do stuff for your mom. Yeah. I mean, we've been playing this for a year and a half. I just have to see my other sister who fucking sucks. Well, listen. My other sister sucks. Can you talk about that on the podcast? Yes. What's her deal? Because I love family shit.

She just sucks. Like, she's not a nice person. Is this the one with What's her deal? She just sucks. She's not a nice person. Is this the one with kids or no kids? They both have kids. Steph is cool. My older sister is cool. Which one is the doctor? Mel.

She sucks. She's just kind of a shitty person. And Steph is like a homerun? She thinks I'm patient zero. Because she's all into COVID and shit Like she like studies COVID She does cancer genetics Oh

I thought she was like anti-vax guy No No Okay She's super Like she won't leave her house Oh she's one of those And she studies

She's like thinks she knows everything She probably does know a lot To be fair Yeah she doesn't fuck with me Cause I tour the world And fucking play for thousands of people You gotta make a living I don't know It's, to be fair. Yeah, she doesn't fuck with me because I tour the world and fucking play for thousands of people. You got to make a living. I don't know.

It's my living. Like, why are you fucking going to ruin it? Still, she's mad about you doing it? She don't talk to me. Now? COVID's over, though. She won't let me see her kid. This shit's over.

Like, you know what I mean? I don't want to talk. We're done here. Well, I asked if you wanted to talk about that, and you said yes. Yeah, she fucking sucks. To be fair, I tried to get you out of that. She's just fucking mean and like... Man, my siblings rule

Yeah, I like my other sister, Steph She's cool Siblings are all normal and they all make like six figures My other sister, Steph, is kind of flaky But because of the Japan thing, I'm kind of over that Whatever, being flaky is one thing I mean, it's fine, whatever But she still calls me

She's a mom and shit You know, they got stuff going on we don't know about But she actually calls me and that's how I'm doing That's cool Who's older? I bought Girl Scout cookies for her. Oh, man. For my niece. Dude, I need girl... I can't... I'm just like so

disconnected from kids, I can't find Girl Scout cookies, which is kind of... Dude, I bought 20... Kind of a good sign. Should I send them to you? I bought 20 boxes. No, don't give me all. I don't want them because I'm on tour. I'm going to have their gummies stale. Speaking of awesome cookies, dialed in gummies. Awesome gummies. I love gummies. Speaking of Awesome cookies Dialed in gummies

Awesome gummies I love gummies Go grab yourself Some dialed in gummies This is a whole big ad I know Whatever We talked shit about your sister

Now we have to leave that in Yeah we're gonna leave that in And might as well While we're making this A fucking NASCAR NASCAR opening Volume.com baby Volume.com

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there's going to be a day when Instagram and all the Facebook social medias are just not going to be as powerful. Facebook's already dead. Yeah. As far as promoting anything, I think it's... All of them. Instagram, when you post, when you promote something, promoting something... They know how to...

They're so good at catching that. It just drops. It's not in the algorithm. Yeah, like you'll do a podcast post and it'll get like 12,000 views and then you'll just do like you hitting a nitrous tank and it's like 300,000. Yeah, exactly. God damn it. God damn it.

So, if you want to take the power back and when you post something it pops up on your fans phone not like you two not like that not it's not gonna you have to actually edge accept but like you know like you guys everyone gets excited when people announce tour dates or announce live streams this is just taking the power back so if you are an artist, go get yourself some volume.com love and let's take the power back. All right, Nick Hexum, 311. Do you want to talk a little bit before?

How's your heart? Good. I've been working really hard lately. It's good. Yeah. Been making this little EP. I feel good too. We've both been in the studio.

I love being, I just love making songs. Yeah, I love being in the studio. I haven't been able to do it in a long time. It's been just nice, and it's sounding good. I love going to Rocky Mountain Recorders and making a record. Your album sounds really good. It's fucking... I got that one tune

done, two more. I'm almost done with the second one. When are you trying to release it? Maybe May. I'm going to get it out as soon as possible. I don't like to fuck around with that. I want to maybe get a month when it's done to like kind of try to promote it somehow. So what if like, uh. I did a cover of Black Hole Sun. Chris Cornell family is like, this is such a disrespect to Chris Cornell.

I have the mechanical royalties for it. How much was that? It's like cheap on DistroKid. It's just like, I can't remember. It's like some bit a month that it's out for the year. No, that's not bad. Did they take a royalty too? Maybe like 80 some bucks.

Yeah, like 9%. But they wrote the goddamn song. Or like 12 or something. That's cool. I mean, they wrote the year. Did it take a royalty to? Maybe like 80 some bucks. Yeah, like 9%, but they wrote the goddamn 12 or something. That's cool. They wrote the song. If you sell physical copies, they get 9 cents a copy or something. Oh, really? But it's a dope cover. You heard it. It's going to sound awesome. I feel like they would

find it respectful, actually. I think I did the song justice. I'm finally... This is the first record I'm under budget. Really? Can't believe it. And I've been doing it kind of like... You've been kind of

whimsical with it? Whimsical. I haven't like just showed up every two hours I'll call you get in the studio. That's so funny.

I'll call you like 30 minutes before. Feels like the 70s in LA or something. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to make Denver that. I love doing that.

I fucking love this community here. I do too. I was always on the fence about it. I just get... I don't like how much drugs you have to take this community here. I do, too. I was always on the fence about it. I just get... I don't like how much drugs you have to take. You don't have to, Andy.

There's no rules. Well... It is very drucky here, though. It's kind of hard not to do drugs. It's hard not to do drugs. It's so fun to do drugs. And it feels so good. It feels so much better than, like, anything else.

You know what I mean? Like, I love drinking. I love, like, if I'm drinking, like, five or six vodka sodas, maybe a couple shots. Like, take a toot in a bathroom. Sounds fucking awesome. Over an open toilet. It's like roasting marshmallows over an open flame. At least in Denver, it's gentrified.

So at least all the toilets are clean. Yeah. It's not like you're at some like poop is different if the toilet's clean. Shut the fuck up. I mean, I've done it. I'm no, you know, I'm no saint. Yeah, you are. I'm more of a two to three vodka soda guy.

No shots. We're talking about cocaine. This guy's sober. Who is? Nick Hexum. Oh, yeah. Well, but, you know, whatever. He's a rock star.

That's him. This is us. Yeah, he's different than us guys. He talks about it in there. Nick Hexum is cool. I really love the interview. He was very down to earth. Yeah, I thought he'd be more rock star.

Yeah, because like sometimes those 90s sort of like not punk but you know like what they are they can be a little like stan diego-ish or something you know what i mean like that well i don't know he was like an adult oh speaking of drugs i love he came original he came original isn't nitrous awesome i have a friend in indiana that got like in a lot of trouble for he got caught stealing those from a dentist office really it's an indiana nitrous like everything else is very illegal oh everything sucks in I have a friend in Indiana that got in a lot of trouble He got caught stealing those from a dentist office Really? It's in Indiana, like everything else, it's very illegal Oh, fuck Everything sucks in Indiana, law-wise, it's the worst

Yeah, I've been realizing that And like, cops are always at the venues, it's kind of shady Indiana, they don't even have medical Really? No, it sucks there I'm barely getting an abortion, it sucks So do you want your mayor to be talking shit about Indianapolis? I want to make it better.

Or do you want to vote for Andy Frasco? What are you talking about? I'm the one addressing the problems. Andy Frasco. This is still going on, Nick. I know. I'm addressing the issues. No, you're talking shit about the issues.

I will. That's what you're supposed to do when you're running for mayor. Don't gaslight me. Fine. Guess what? I'll legalize weed. I'll legalize nitrous if I'm mayor within the city of Indianapolis where I have jurisdiction. Okay.

That's Texas tight. Yeah. I'll do everything I can to legalize every drug possible. Fuck it. It's already awards on there. Oh, man. You know what they call? Honestly, like the time that we're fucking.

Going to actually run for mayor in Indianapolis. Like we're going to be old and over drugs. Not me. I'll never be over drugs and I'll never be old. I never gonna age i'm slowly getting over drugs i guess i don't know i just want to like listen to folk music you know what they call the east side of indianapolis what in afghanistan it's getting so rough there murder wise a lot of crime i'm not gonna do anything about crime when i'm mayor i don't i. I just want to, like, when I get older, I just want to have, like, circle sunglasses. Circle reading glasses.

Yeah. A little turtleneck. A much older woman. An 80-year-old wife. 80-year-old wife. Who just makes me tea. Brian's calling you three times a day still. Yeah, Brian.

Brian will be, like, 70 then. Stop crowd surfing. You're 53 years old. Yeah. I'm going to have to still. Yeah, Brian. Brian will be like 70 then. Stop crowd surfing. You're 53 years old. Yeah. I'm going to have to stop crowd surfing, guys. People are suing people. You didn't say what man, but someone's getting sued. Someone's getting sued.

I'm not. But it sounds like the guy's lying. But also, I give them consent. I tell them, listen, I'm going to crowd surf right now. You do give them a minute to get out of the way. You might want to stop doing the wall of death, maybe. I think I might have to do that. It's kind of too much.

It's not a metal show. It's a friendly wall of death. I get it. Oh, that's right. It's like a twiddle concert. Maybe you should do a hug wall of death. A wall of hug. Everyone run and hug somebody.

Oh, man, that's kind of corny, but it's kind of cool. It feels like a Michael Franti concert. Maybe like a Papadozio show or something. I don't know. Stupid. Yes. Bring it on. All right, guys. Enjoy Nick Hexum. 311. Remember this band? Yeah, I have a friend from

college. One of the biggest. Their favorite band. They're not even reggae, are they? They're not reggae at all. I think it's more like... They started that rap rock. Well, he tried to... He tried to pass off... We asked him about that a little bit. They started that rap rock. That Linkin Park. We asked him about that a little bit. He tried to pass off credit, but I think they were way more influential than they're saying.

311 was one of the... What was that record with the fire on the CD? I don't know. They have Homegrown. They have Speak. I can't remember. That was one of the first records I ever had. That and Offspring. They have an album named after a cover. You got to come original. They're cool

And we wanted to release this Because 311 week is next week All the stoners in college Like We want to get you prepared For 311 week They always 311 day is like

They do that big festival They play like 300 songs Or something I can't remember He told me Yeah he's like Oh my god I wish I cared that much

He was cool He was so normal Yeah I mean that like In a good way Yeah He was so normal Yeah What do you mean that Like in a good way Yeah he was really normal Just nice Regulated

Genuine Like he could work at a real job You know Yeah That's why you gotta get sober Before you get too old guys Yeah dude I wanna be the 55 year old guy

Like ripping coke It's embarrassing Just like do it every now and then Like for fun At like big events You know a wedding Yeah go wedding Yeah

Oh man Last wedding I went to I was seeing old guys Just fucking rip Like really like Like for fun, like big events, you know, a wedding. Go wedding. Yeah. Oh, man. Last wedding I went to, I was seeing old guys just fucking rip like really like synthetic cocaine and like this. What? Like L.A. Like fancy. Like I'm like, damn, all these dads are just ripping coke and celebrating the kids fucking wedding.

It was awesome. That's fun. I mean, old guys do it more than people realize. Oh, yeah. But they pick their battles. They're not doing it every day. So, you know, battles. That's all we're saying. Or go sober. Fuck it. Who cares?

I don't care what you do, actually. Who cares? Do whatever the fuck you want. Just don't bother me about it. Alright, guys. Goodbye. What's up, Nick? How you doing, buddy? Really good. Thanks for having me. Dude, you do not age, bro. You are like the fountain of youth, dude. Look how hot this dude is. Yeah. I'm kind of gone.

I'm definitely the second hottest Nick in this interview. Yeah, definitely. You've been in a band for for a while how what is like what is the way to have good health while being in a band because i'm in a band too i've been a band for 15 years and i look like a piece of shit well i always thought um you know rock and roll is the great preservative i. I mean, I think if you had a regular job, you'd look older. That's my take on it. That's my perception. And I don't know.

I've always just felt that, like, working out helps my crazy. It helps me mentally. It's easier to work on your physical health to help your mental health. So, um, you know, I, from a long time ago, I noticed that if I would work out, then I would feel less restless and anxious and stuff like that. So I just always have had that as, um, something that I need to do. Totally. Did you ever get into like substance abuse early in your career?

Oh yeah. What'd you get into? What was, what was the thing that you had that you felt like you had to really stop? What didn't I get into? I got, I, I mean, it's,

I've, I've tried to be fairly honest about it and just, you know, I, I have an addictive personality and, um, I, I just realized that I'm better off sober because I will go to extremes with anything. And it's pretty remarkable that I can be sober now. And, uh, that's how I I that's how I need to live. Well, but yeah, I went freaking crazy with everything. And, you know, I think it was a, I needed to figure out how to have mental health skills, too. Because I think, you know know drugs work as a short-term solution until they become the problem

yeah um so i had to you know really do some work to develop mental health skills so i didn't need to be high yeah what was uh what was like uh the breaking point do you remember the day oh strung out on pills yeah yeah fuck were you an asshole to the band and stuff like what was going on um yeah i think i was uh it was really um distant from everybody. Emotions out of control and isolated. And so, yeah, I was just like in my own little miserable world and needed to come back and learn how to be back in the community again. Yeah, totally. And do you think it's because you guys got popping so young in your life?

Like you started doing this forever and you just didn't know anything, but you didn't know how to ground yourself because you've been there forever. I mean, you've been doing this since 88, bro. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, no, I feel like, I feel like I was gonna run, you know, get into trouble with booze and stuff, no, no matter what, but there was also a, you know, felt i felt a lot of pressure i think at first

i was so um driven to you know want to to make a name for myself and for our band that i was just like um this a pretty big, loud personality. And then at some point it kind of started to feel like pressure, like, okay, everybody's watching now. And what if I screw up and, you know, having anxiety and then, you know, first treating that with like chemical means. And now I've learned to find ways to just know how to deal deal with that stuff to deal with nerves and whatnot and now it's fortunately not not an issue for me i know like oh yeah we've got 311 day coming up we're gonna play like a ton of songs you have to and that type of thing in the past would cause me a lot of anxiety and now it's just like oh yeah I got this I know how to do it when I have the anxious thoughts I'll just go

I'll know what to do when I get there you know I I can do this and just this sort of reasoning through it rather than like going to a worst-case scenario right he's growing baby we like to see it. We like to see it, Nick. Let's go, baby. I'm pretty fascinated by how you guys have been a band for as long as you have, and you still pretty much have the same lineup. That seems impossible. Besides Peanut. Yeah, but he's pretty much back, right?

Is he back? I thought he was. He never actually left. He was considering it. It was just everything was really stressing him out. It was just a tweet. Yeah, it was a tweet and a retraction. So, but yeah, we've,

we are one of the longest running original lineup bands going today. U2 has us beat, Radiohead has us beat, but they're kind of on permanent hiatus. De La Soul had us beat, they're kind of on permanent hiatus de la soul had us beat and unfortunately true boy passed away so we're up there in like as far as alternative bands the original lineup some of the longest and it is uh people often ask like you know what's the secret and i say well you have to respect democracy meaning that you're ready to accept the group conscience that, you know, you're going to not get your way sometimes.

And then also just knowing that we have something special and we're better off together. So just like, right, this is this is our life together. We are, you know, at this stage stage we're permanently associated with each other i remember seeing like um uh on a 60 minutes when the eagles were like talking about their health freezes over and i think don henley was just like i just accepted i'm for better for worse i'm permanently stuck with these guys so like it's these guys. It's like a marriage. Except you can't really get divorced. My lead guy said that.

I'd be like, fuck you, Don. Fuck you for saying that. No, we want to be here. I'm from the San Fernando Valley. I moved to Denver. You guys lived in Van Nuys for a bit. What was the change from moving from Omahaaha to van nuys with the band so i had come out to la by myself when i was 17 i kind of can't believe my parents let me do that

but actually my dad tried to talk he was like let slow down i was like i'm going don't even so i graduated early from high school and came out here. So I already had been out in LA a couple of years. And then Chad, our drummer came out to join me for a little bit. And we had an earlier incarnation. It was called Unity. And that was kind of where we were doing the funk and, you know, being influenced by the music that was happening at that time was Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Jane's Addiction, you know,ary's danish

all these like la bands in the in the late 80s um so i already kind of knew my way around and then but i after you know trying to find a bunch of different lineups working through like musicians connection and the recycler and i worked at guitar center so i was trying to find the right people um and then i just realized like you know my homies from from omaha were really like the the best people i could be in a band with so we re um we i went back to omaha in 1990 we started 311 there on june 10th 1990 openedugazi, which was like such an incredible first gig. That was your first gig opening for Fugazi? Yeah.

Are you serious? That's the benefit of being an up-and-coming band in a smaller market. There's less openers to pick from. Yeah, Dan, you're very good. There's this punk rock network. They called in Omaha and and said we need local bands we were like yes for sure and uh but so chad and and peanut had started playing together before i got there and they were they had picked the name fish hippos so i was like i would love to be in

this band but we have to change this name and uh and peanut uh said well i did a talent show as 311 i was like i like it a number it's cool and he was like well it's the police code for indecent exposure and i was like even better i like it let's let's use that lore yeah and then um and then so yeah we played in omaha and made like three locally produced albums for two years and then we came to Van Nuys in the beginning of 1992 and we got a record deal um pretty quick after that moving to LA didn't actually wasn't crucial because we got signed off of our Omaha demos and we had the record company we went back to Omaha to do a showcase because we were like we want you know to our crowd going crazy for them to see us um doing that so but what LA did for us was to be immersed in like the hip-hop culture that was happening at the time it was like Cypress Hill

and House of Pain and um Dr. Dre and and all that so that we that we got really into wearing super baggy clothes and trying to grow our own marijuana really poorly. Hell yeah. We lived in a tiny house, all five of us, in Van Nuys. We just practiced

all day and played basketball. That was all we did. Oh, your big basketball heads yeah oh yeah they're from they're from uh midwest they're from nebraska i mean so wow that's so were you laker fans back then that was that a thing or no yeah uh well it's probably michael jordan and the bulls in the mid 90s yeah midwest bulls fans yeah that is kind of the closest one to Omaha almost. So what were the other guys like?

You're like, hey, guys, we're moving to L.A. So you've already been there. You already got the L.A. feel. Was it a hard transition for the other guys to move to L.A.? Or was it like, this is like their dream? Like, get me the fuck out of Omaha, you know? Yeah, I think they were, it was just really exciting for everybody um and unfortunately i mean i think things felt pretty lean because we didn't like have any

income so we were you know eating top ramen and stuff like that but like just in the nick of time before it felt like things might fall apart we got that signed that record deal and i got our first check and got it had enough to you know buy groceries and stuff and it just kind of all barely worked out what was what were those moments when you said things were were about to fall apart what was going what was going around um it's just just you know, money troubles, but I, I didn't, I knew we were, we were on the right path. And I, I didn't, nobody said like, I'm about to quit or anything, but, um, it just felt like we were, we were just so broke, but, um,

and then this producer, Eddie offered this English guy, old school dude who has like all these crazy stories, took us under his wing and used his American Express to like help us out. Oh, yeah. Buying instruments and stuff. He really believed in us. The work he did on our first album, things kind of fell apart. We worked with him again on our second album, Grassroots. But on the first album, it was just this incredible experience.

He did all this prog rock like Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. And he worked with John Lennon and all these cool... So he had just tons of stories about old school english rock and taught us about equipment and so that really became our focus was just like learning yeah and it was really cool shit if i was living in la in the early 90s i'd be addicted to pills too bro that's a fucking wild time to live in la it's just so interesting to think about all this going on then. And like, just with no social media and no internet. Yeah. Like how'd you promote shows and stuff during the nineties?

Like, how did you get labels interested? Were you just like on their ass in their law, in the lobbies of the labels? Like, what were you doing? Um, I would call up.

Lawyers and labels. And I would, um, fudge the facts about, Oh i'd read some you know name in in an article and be like yeah we're talking to uh doug morris over at atlantic like never met the guy never spoke to him but just just bsing my way into into rooms but really i think one of the big things i had read in one of these um you know guide to music business they suggested you know send your demo out to college radio stations along with a um a self-addressed postcard so and they could fill out a little form yes we played this

song and we liked it and i and it worked like from our omaha demos we got a lot of postcards back from college radio stations um that said they had actually played us so that impressed the pretty much the one label that we really got their attention um and then also the fact that in the local music charts in omaha we were selling up there like ahead of you two and michael jackson and the stuff that was really like we were selling like gangbusters just in omaha but they were like okay people are really reacting to this and the testimony so and then and then also eddie offered wanting to produce the record just made it so like, all right, we'll take a chance on this band. Fucking sick.

So did you realize the Blue Album was going to be that popping? Like, did you like or was it just like, did you know when you're writing those songs? Like, damn, this is we have something we have lightning in a bottle. Or was it kind of like, I don't know. I think we got to like around, you know, getting seven, 8,000 hours of work by that time, because on, we just took every gig we could take. And on our second album, the blue album is our third. So on our second album, we actually got rid of the house in Van Nuys, put our meager possessions in a storage unit and just lived on the road.

We just, we would go out sometimes once we did like 21 shows in a row with no days off, like just play, play, play. So then by the time the third album came around, we had really developed our chops and knew how to just whip a crowd into a frenzy. And then we had also heard rightfully so criticism of our second album that they didn't have the energy that our live show had they were cool songs and it was innovative and stuff but we recorded it in the house in in van nuys um so then we realized on our third album let's get into this a real studio record all the basic tracks at the same time and

just rock so there's definite energy on you know down and hive and right all the the the rock and songs don't stay home and the songs on the blue album yeah and we also we worked with ron saint germain the first time and that was a dream for us because he had made our favorite albums Bad Brains, I Can Die and Quickness and worked with Fishbone and Tool and stuff so he was

that was a dream and he taught us a lot about how to step up our game and the songs were concise and it was just everything was ready at that time when did the partying starting to happen was that album too or was it before i mean i think it was omaha it was a constant oh yeah it was a constant actually in omaha we were we would we were more of a mess.

We would do this thing where we would take a shot of beer a minute for like 40 minutes before we would go on stage. It doesn't seem like that much, but you will be fucked up in a half hour. And we would go out and just like destroy the place. half hour and we would go out and just like destroy the place and then after that we were like all right let's tighten it up and it kind of went to just like let's just smoke some weed and like really try and be more precise on the shows yeah so things actually in the mid 90s were um we would party after what was the show that you're like, oh, hey guys, we need to tone this shit down? Was it like you guys couldn't even, do you remember that show?

I mean, yeah, there were some close calls. I could tell it was affecting. Hell yeah. How long were like the sets? There was one show, we went to Detroit and we had this crazy bus driver named Donnie who was like this biker dude and always partying. I'm sure he was fucked up driving our bus.

And when we got to Detroit, he was like, come on, Peanut, we're going to the bar. And they proceeded to do like 10 shots of fucking Goldschlager or Jägermeister or something, whatever it was. And then the day of the show, and then at soundcheck he was like i'm so drunk i'm so drunk and we're like we get it you're drunk shut up and then like we're all drunk barely kept it together for the show so that was that was one that comes to mind but i i definitely had plenty where i was knew i needed to dial it back or you know people make comments or whatever so yeah does does criticism affect you are you type of guy who takes criticism wholeheartedly or do you let that slide um i mean i think i i i try to be just you know, to say thank you.

I'm sure I got bent out of shape at criticism times in the past. I've been called overly sensitive before, but, you know, we're coming on our 34-year anniversary, so things have changed a lot over the decades. And, you know, now we learn how to communicate with each other in a real positive way. How many years were you the manager of the band before you said,

I can't handle this anymore? Um, the first couple of years, you know, getting the record contract and stuff, I was like, and being, being the record contract and stuff, I was like, and being the label, I took a student loan to finance our very first demo. What? Really?

Kind of illegal, isn't it? No, fuck it. You're a rock star. No more illegal than what they're doing with your money. I was doing it all myself and just working the phones, calling people, just concocting a narrative. Yeah. Yeah. Your dad was a professor.

So was he pissed that you were taking the student loan money and putting it with your... Or did he even know? Or did he even know what was going on? I mean, no, I was just so headstrong that he just like... I was just so headstrong that he just, like, he believed in me. So he wouldn't, you know, put up a lot of resistance. He was really supportive. What was your family personal life like?

Like, were you close with your brother? Were you close with your mom? Like, what were the dynamics between your brother and your and your mom and dad um my big sister as was you know my best pal she's two years older than me so two grades above and she i was this loud mouth scrawny kid and she would have to like stick up for me and protect me sometimes um we you know we did a lot of classic you know midwestern fun like kickball games and making forts and hide and go seek so it's pretty good idyllic um omaha childhood and then my brother he's eight years younger so it was kind of a bigger age gap but we're super close now he lives nearby and we both have three kids and we hang out quite a bit. So it was a good, solid family.

Yeah. What was your dynamic like with your brother? Did he pass away? That was my half-brother who was eight years younger than my brother. my half-brother who was eight years younger than my brother and yes he uh he died of an overdose um in 2018 so you know i tried a lot to to reach out and nothing worked so it was really difficult yeah i bet and um you know because you dealt you't dealt with, did you deal with heroin or were you just on pills? I mean, I, yeah, opiates were part of the story. But yeah, I, I always, I always wanted to live. So it's like, when you, you know, have a feeling of despair combined with a drug addiction. That's when people die. I didn't have a feeling of despair, but I was kind of stuck in a, a loop.

Yeah. It's gotta be, man, it's tough, man. Depression is mixed with chemicals, mixed with chemicals is gotta be the hardest thing to see in a in a person or a friend or or a sibling like how do you approach how do you like looking back like do you how would you approach it now knowing what you know now versus what you knew then um i just have a sort of like a fatalistic view that it all kind of, my watch is talking to me, fatalistic view that it all kind of needed to happen, how it did. And that, that things turned out very beautifully. I mean, that, you know, we're, we're together. that, you know, were together.

I mean, when somebody, regarding my youngest brother, of course, everybody's like, what should I have done differently? And the song, Beyond the Gray Sky, was about my best friend from high school that took his own life, and this sort of feeling of recrimination, like, what should I have done differently? Or isn't there something that I should have tried it.

And I missed the signals and God, when he said this one thing, like, so, you know, there's always going to be regrets, but it just all kind of goes the way it's going to go. Yeah, man. It's tough. You're like your family. They were always supportive. They never were like, yo, what the fuck? Why are you moving to LA at 17?

Like your dad was always like, he always believed in you. Was it kind of like you got, you had to get popping first. And then he's like, okay, I see it. I mean, he did at one point just say, you know, I know you've got your goals, but can we set up some sort of like backup plan? You know, wait till you're done with actual like the normal high school at 18. And I was like, seriously, like, you know, I'm going to do it. I'm out of here, bro. Okay, I tried.

Peace, bro. I'm going to go invent a different style of music. What's the difference between you as a single man versus you with kids? Have you changed your perspective on things since you've had four kids? Do you have four kids or three? Three girls. Three girls, yeah. Yeah.

Damn, three girls? Is that karma? I heard that described as lead singer's curse to have daughters. It keeps happening. I'd be worried that there's going to be retribution

for how you behaved. It gave me such a wealth of feelings to pull from. You know, there's this one, have to become more responsible. And I'm glad because, you know, I, I don't ever have to wonder, did I sow my wild oats enough? Like I probably did that too much. There's time to grow up. I made a whole quilt.

I made a whole goddamn quilt. So I have a question about kids. Like, are you starting? So you have hardcore fans that have been with you since the beginning. Are they starting to bring their kids out to like 311 Day or your other concerts? Is that pretty cool to see? Yeah, we're seeing a ton of multi-generation family groups of fans, and I love that. That's awesome. I mean, it's got to feel good that your music is just generation after generation. It's standing the time.

Yeah. I mean, you'd see that with Grateful Dead and jam bands and stuff like that, parents and kids getting into the same music. You see that at a Blink-182 show. People in their 50s bringing their teenage kids that both are really into it so i think it's it's music is like this transcendent thing that you can find it's hard to find things that both generations like right so it's it's a nice bonding thing what they're the grateful dead of of like hip hop rock. Yeah. Yeah.

What is, what's like, you know, like, what have you learned about keeping a band together for so long that you've brought to your relationship and vice versa? Like now that you have kids, like, can you, are you like, are you approaching the band differently of how you've like keeping people together is and vice versa? Yeah. of how you've like keeping people together is and vice versa yeah i mean i think that to make a marriage whether a business musical romantic marriage work you have to be um ready to not get your way you know do things like, this isn't really what I want to do, but I'm going to do it for the, for the greater good of putting the, um, the entity before an individual's, um, personal interests and, um, you know, be ready to like, ask for help. Um, you know, you gotta, you gotta have a support network of people that you know kind of will advise

you and help you get perspective because i think everybody's perspective gets skewed if you're in a bubble so i try and you know communicate a lot with with with people like how do you how do i how should i feel about this you know what i mean it's like kind of group think but you know we mentioned the grateful dead real fast another thing i think is worth mentioning is that at some point around 2000 we realized like let's take a cue from the grateful dead that we're going to be a live band first. And I think that's one. And so we're going to tour every summer, no matter what. And other bands would do an album cycle.

So if there wasn't a new album, they might not go on tour. We're like, we're touring every summer, no matter what, we'll work the albums around that. And then it's, so it made it. So it didn't, it does didn't matter if we had a new album or not um and just put because like live performing that that's something that's existed for maybe 50 000 years of like one guy playing an instrument and other people dancing to it that the recording thing is not as important as as live performance so we put that first and that really was a good decision especially when the cd sales piracy killed everything and all we had was like live

touring because you know music sales completely dried up and it's come back somewhat um you know because it's true about that because you guys got poppin' before the piracy. They got in under it. So what was that like as a band? You're like, shit, dude, we're making money! We don't have to leave the house. Was that a mindfuck when people were just ripping your stuff?

Or did you gain more fans because of the piracy thing? Well, there was a lot of greed on the labels part labels part like i remember in 1998 there was a an article in rolling stone about look how expensive these albums are oh right yeah the new 311 album is 1899 you had to pay you had to pay 19 bucks plus tax to to get transistor um wow or sound system and then i was around sound system our fifth album that we started seeing it on these sharing sites

it was like right before napster and our our manager would go on there and be like hey guys this is not cool right these guys like what and they're like enough on there and be like, Hey guys, this is not cool. Right. These guys like what, and they're like enough of you and just like kick him off the chat group. Go away nerd. Go away nerd. We're the real nerds. Yeah. Like the nerds.

It's a nerd battle. Yeah. Damn. So, but I, I was like, man, now I can get all these remixes and like rare things. Like I just, you you know more music for the people and like i said our main thing was was live touring by that time so it it didn't kill us but it did it did change things like there was this huge shift where in the 90s the label would

pay to have you go on tour just so you could sell records. And now it's like you make records and don't make any money just so you can tour and make an income off touring. So it was a total shift. Yeah. And you know, now, now we all became clothing lines, you know, instead it was like, we're selling records to make money. Now we're clothing, t-shirts, t-shirts, the new album. Yeah. Lifestyle. Yeah. That's it's all, it's all part of it and you know we we were one of the early like having a message board on aol in like 1995 it was like super innovative yeah that was so we we were part of that but we didn't you know we were some ways slow to embrace it.

You have, like, people like Chance the Rapper that just were geniuses of just totally live streaming all the time, having a content guy filming him all the time. So we had to play catch up in some ways, and now we, like, you know, bring a guy with us to film our lives even if it seems boring to us people people want to see it they're like yeah nick drink that coffee in the morning brother drink that coffee usa today look at him drinking coffee look at how hot he looks wow he finished the friday crossword um that's was there any time in in the band's career that you guys almost broke up? Never?

No, I mean, I don't... Other than the thing that you mentioned earlier, it seemed a little touch and go for a while. But, you know, we've always been solid and just knew... We knew we had something really special. So, show must go on. See, this is what I'm talking about.

The show must always go on. The grass is not greener on the other side, people. Stay where you are when you're successful. Yeah, exactly. If it's like, it ain't broke, don't fix it. Fuck it. Why everyone thinks... Everybody likes you. It's ADD culture, dude. Everyone gets bored now

It's like they're not And that's another podcast in itself I'll save you for that Nick So you talk about lifestyle 311 day Like whose idea was this How important was this to you And when you finally got it

How cool was that feeling? Like, give me 311 day in your retrospect. So in the early days of 311, we didn't tell people the backstory behind the name. And so people would be like, it's a date. It's March 11th, isn't it? And then we had a gig scheduled for March 11th in't it oh and then we we had a um a gig scheduled for march 11th in um to the year 2000 um in new orleans and we're like okay let's make this let's make this a thing let's play three hours and 11 minutes call it 3 11 day um and it was just oh yeah let's do that and we played basically every song that we knew

at that point and then um and then after that it just grew and grew um where we would play longer and longer until it got to be like six hours show and then and then we would expanded it to we we did it every other year so we are even number of years and then on odd number. We did it every other year, so it's on an even number of years. And then on an odd number of years we do a cruise. So we rotate every spring we've got an event. And then at one point

311 Day expanded to two days and then even made it to three days at one point where we played a hundred songs over the three day period thank god you have so many albums fucking legendary dude yeah it's a lot of homework um and you know to get ready for all that stuff but it's it helps us really dig deep it's kind of like running a marathon it's it's a lot of about the preparation and feeling of satisfaction afterwards is is really cool and

and it's also a convention where people come from all over the world we've got australians and europeans and filipinos south americans that always come oh interesting um so it's uh it's just this really cool thing that just sort of evolved basically out of stumbling on having our name be a date. Yeah, it's so funny. It's like a coincidence. You guys know that this isn't a date. Right, right. This is a different thing.

What about when you're working on, when you're doing 311 weekend, any songs, because you kind of go back into your memory and saying, oh, any songs you forgot that you truly loved, and then you re-love them again? Yeah, it's brushing off some, dusting off some of those songs we haven't played in a really long time. And also we'll do some surprise covers um like last 311 day i thought we were the world really needed imagine you know imagine all the people yeah you know living as one um and and and the previous 311 day we did um pink floyd's wish you Were Here and did a sort of in memoriam where we had, you know, a lot of people that we lost.

We had just lost Chester and Chris Cornell and my brother and some people in the fan base that were, you know, I had two different women that had been murdered. So it was a very tear jerking thing for the fans. Oh my God. Of all these, these people, it was, it was really intense. So we try and have really poignant emotional moments. And, but then the cruise is just more of just like a party so do you think

we were talking about this earlier you think you guys without you guys new metal wouldn't exist or get as popular like Lincoln Parks the world, Korns you guys built that

you guys built a fucking genre bro i mean who did it before you i think we definitely we helped um hybrid music because when we first started there had been a couple examples there had been um faith no more's epic oh yeah what's the first like rap rock hit. Anthrax did, you know, Bring the Noise. And then Chili Peppers had some, you know, breakthroughs. But there was a lot of resistance that when we, in like 93, 94, it was all about grunge. in like 93 94 it was all about grunge yeah it was all about they wanted to play like pearl jam and then the sort of offsprings of of pearl jam like candle box and stone double pilots and all these different that that was what they were looking for so we didn't get any widespread

radio support for the first two albums so it was just on the like real fringe kind of k-rock kind of supported us but um it wasn't till it wasn't till sorry did i just go it wasn't till um the third album when things really went crazy yeah i give her like text Chester from Lincoln Park like yo fuck you for ripping me off bro Limp Bizkit Fred meet me outside of this festival lot right now bro right like those other bands those other bands did do the rap rock thing

but I feel like your guitar sound and the way your bass player plays is way closer to new metal than those other bands you know what I'm saying I mean I think we there was a time there where we were completely like eclipsed by some of that new metal um and i was kind of felt like kind of out of step because i you know if you watch the um there's two different documentaries about the the bad woodstock and all that, like grabbing females and there's like this white rage of like,

they're really angry about what, I don't know. It was like this misplaced sort of male macho rage. And I was like, see, that's what I was making fun of. Yeah. Misdirected hostility like all these privileged people that are so angry about what i don't i don't get it so um but yeah like those some of those bands were just like selling way gobs more cds than us and stuff like that but yeah we just we just stick to what we do And the culture kind of comes out You ever get envious

When that was happening or no? I mean I think I had twinges of it But We didn't play follow the leader You know what I mean Because you're the OG's That's what you do Nobody puts baby in the god damn corner Nick

Nobody You are the OGs Damn, you gotta go, I know it's been an hour But Nick, this has been fantastic, you're the man I've been a huge fan One of my first records I ever bought was Blue Record It became original Dude, I loved it

And you're just the shit I'm so thankful you guys are still doing it And you're really I have a lot of friends in Omaha who are really proud that 311 is from Omaha. For that, too, I just want to say thank you for keeping Omaha on the map because I do like Omaha.

Omaha fucks. Omaha's a great arts town, actually. Yeah, it's a great town. Kearney, Nebraska's bullshit. It's an oasis. Kearney, I didn't like Kearney, Nebraska. That was a little weird. It's an oasis in Nebraska, Omaha. There's towns like that. It's nice to hear Omaha crowds do completely go off.

They go off. Waiting room. Slow down. I don't play the waiting room. I play Creighton's Arena. I play the stadiums. I got one last question. I'll let you go.

When it's all said and done, Nick, what do you want to be remembered by? I think that spreading a positive message and giving people hope and going against the negativity and all the finger-pointing and anger

and judgment that it's so prevalent in our society of, of trying to kind of turn that around into a more like, Hey, let's, let's appreciate what we have here. Let's appreciate each other. Let's be a little bit more reasonable and, you know, have some love in our, in our daily actions. That would be wonderful if that's my legacy. Jesus. 35 years

and still nice and sweet. I'd be fucking angry. I am. I'm just kidding. Still happy. Well, if I had a hair like that, I'd probably be happy. Yeah, I gotta start. Look at that smile. I'd be in a good mood too. I gotta stop doing nitrous. This guy's just cleaned up.

Alright, Nick. Thanks for being on the show, bro. Enjoy your day. Enjoy your life. And hopefully I'll see you around in these festivals. We play all the festivals you do too. So hopefully I'll catch a hello with you in person. I look forward to that. This was really fun. Keep saving the world. Thanks, bud. Later, Nick. Thanks, bud.

That was great. You tuned in to the World Sailing Podcast with Andy Fresco. Thank you for listening to this episode. but that was great. iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're picking this shit up. Follow us on Instagram at world saving podcast for more info and updates. Prescott's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfrescott.com. And check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, that crazy shit show, or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. And after a year of keeping clean and playing safe, the band is back on tour. We thank our brand new talent booker, Mara Davis.

We thank this week's guest, our co-host, and all the fringy frenzies that help make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we will be back next week. No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast. As far as we know, any similarity, instructional knowledge, facts, or fake is purely coincidental.