Music / 311

From left to right: Tim, Nick, P-Nut, Chad, SA

"Investigate 311!"

— The Eric Andre Show

311 is an Alternative Rock band well-known for their eclectic blend of rock, reggae, rap and funk. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1988. The band's name is derived from Omaha police code for indecent exposure (former guitarist Jim Watson was arrested for skinny dipping). They first achieved mainstream success in 1995, with their self-titled album.

Current Members:

• Nick Hexum (vocals, rhythm guitar)
• Doug "SA" Martinez (vocals, turntables)
• Tim Mahoney (lead guitar)
• Aaron "P-Nut" Wills (bass)
• Chad Sexton (drums)

Former Members:

• Jim Watson (guitar)

Discography:

• Independent Releases
  • Dammit! (1989)
  • Unity (1990)
  • Hydroponic (1991)
• Studio Albums
  • Music (1993)
  • Grassroots (1994)
  • 311 (1995)
  • Transistor (1997)
  • Soundsystem (1999)
  • From Chaos (2001)
  • Evolver (2003)
  • Don't Tread On Me (2005)
  • Uplifter (2009)
  • Universal Pulse (2011)
  • Stereolithic (3/11/14) invoked
  • Mosaic (2017)
  • Voyager (2019)
• Compilation/Live
  • Live (1998)
  • Omaha Sessions (1998)
  • Greatest Hits '93-'03 (2004)
  • 311 With The Unity Orchestra (2014)
  • 311 Archive (2015)

Well-known singles include:

• "Homebrew"
• "Down"
• "All Mixed Up"
• "Don't Stay Home"
• "Transistor"
• "Prisoner"
• "Beautiful Disaster"
• "Come Original"
• "Flowing"
• "You Wouldn't Believe"
• "I'll Be Here Awhile"
• "Amber"
• "Creatures (For Awhile)"
• "Don't Tread on Me"
• "Hey You"
• "Sunset in July"
• "Five of Everything"

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Tropes associated with the band and their music:

• Album Title Drop:
  • From "Life's Not a Race" on Soundsystem: "It's the bubblin' spring and double in kings of this soundsystem."
  • Most of their albums have them, including the self-titled one (But then again, they blurt the band's name out on nearly every track). Special credit to "Transistor", which manages to Title Drop its own album, the three previous albums, and (whether intentionally or not is unclear) the next album, Soundsystem.
• Alternative Rock: The genre they are most associated with, despite touching upon many genres over the course of their career.
• Anti-Police Song: "Offbeat Bare Ass" gets into this a bit.
• B-Side: Their songs "My Stoney Baby & Hydroponic" were this to "Freak Out".
• Call-and-Response Song: How Hexum and SA do their usual Vocal Tag Team.
• The Cast Show Off: Each band member gets a chance to do an extended solo during concerts.
• Cluster F-Bomb: "Fat Chance", which is just a small track that hides the true one, "Fuck the Bullshit".
• Cover Version: Their cover of The Cure's "Love Song" (which appeared on the 50 First Dates soundtrack) is the most well-known. They have also covered Bad Brains' "Leaving Babylon" and "Who's Got the Herb?", The Clash's "Midnight in Hammersmith Palais", and Toots & the Maytals "Reggae Got Soul" (which appeared on the Surf's Up soundtrack).
• Department of Redundancy Department: "Nothing like the comfort of a silence that's comfortable."
• Doesn't Like Guns: "Guns (Are for Pussies)".
• Domestic Abuse: "DLMD" .
• Epic Instrumental Opener: The B-Side "Let the Cards Fall".
• Erudite Stoners
• Fade Out: Averted nearly 100% of the time. The one incidence of this was a cover song ("Leaving Babylon").
• Fading into the Next Song: "Starshines" —> "Strangers".
• Flyover Country: The guys are from Omaha, Nebraska. Naturally, they give it a shoutout in the form of song.
  "Omaha Stylee, did not think there was one
  Where you know the radio's weak and the shows are more fun
  But you know we fuck up the dancehall since 1988
  Many did not think when they hear we come from this state"
• Genre Mashup: Their style typically mashes up Punk Rock with Funk Rock, Rap Rock and Reggae Rock, most prominently on their first two albums, Music and Grassroots. Though, the Funk elements do still show up from time to time afterwards.
• Gratuitous French: "Salsa" lampshades this in the line "Je vais a la plage parce que le guignol est chouette! I kick nonsense in French, tasty like Crepe Suzette". This translates to "I go to the beach because the puppet show is cool!"
• Gratuitous Spanish : "Time Bomb".
• Greatest Hits Album: Two, Omaha Sessions and Greatest Hits '93-'03.
• Letters 2 Numbers: The cover of Stereolithic slips the digits from the band's name in this way, eg Ster3ol1th1c.
• Live Album: 311 have two: the first was in 1998 called "Live" and the other was "311 with the Unity Orchestra" in 2014
• Long-Runner Line-up: A type 2 example. The band originally consisted of Nick, P-Nut, Chad, and Jim Watson. In 1991, Jim left the band and Tim and SA were added. The line-up has been this since then.
• Melismatic Vocals: "Sever" has a pretty good one on the word "home".
• Mistaken for Racist: Due to their name being 311, and K being the 11th letter in the alphabet, it was rumored that 311 stood for "KKK", a rumor that didn't particularly make sense due to both the band having Hispanic members, and that their music fused Rap Rock with Reggae Rock, music styles created by black people.
• Nobody Loves the Bassist: Averted: "P-Nut, beat that thing!"
• Non-Appearing Title
• Ode to Intoxication: "Homebrew" and "Loco" are the most overt.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: SA and P-nut. Also applies to Nick (Nicholas) and Tim(othy).
• Performance Video: "Homebrew" and "Beautiful Disaster".
• Protest Song: "Solar Flare".
• Rap Rock: Since the first album they revel on this. Some albums (like Don't Tread on Me) try to tone it down or not even do it, but they go back and forth on this.
• Reggae: Another aspect of their music. Sometimes, this is dubbed as ''reggae rock," as their reggae songs still use rock instrumentation.
• Sampling: "Strangers" features a sample of "Hands On Experience" by The High & Mighty.
• Self-Titled Album: Their third album.
• Shout-Out: The second verse of "Come Original" opens with a series of them, with each artist coming from a different genre (alternative hip-hop, punk, drum'n'bass, and dancehall, respectively).
  "Black Eyed Peas, they comin' full range and
  NOFX, they comin' full range and
  Roni Size, he's comin' full range
  The one Mr. Vegas, you know it ain't easy
• Siamese Twin Songs: "Nix Hex" —> "Plain". However, unlike other examples, omitting the bridge between the two songs doesn't affect the quality.
• Singer Name Drop: Both the band and individual members.
• Song Style Shift:
  • "Get Down" is a good example, starting pretty calm and becoming quite frantic.
  • "Friday Afternoon" is an even better one, having one half of the song being almost a lullaby under Hexum's lyrics, and the other a fierce instrumental with guitar solo that can be considered one of the band's best instrumental pieces.
• Spelling Song: "J-U-A-N B-O-N-D!"
• Stage Names: SA (Doug Martinez) and P-Nut (Aaron Wills).
• Studio Chatter: The end of "Salsa".
  • There's quite a bit of it on Stereolithic.
• Take That!: "Misdirected Hostility", towards the angst of the Grunge era.
• Title Track: Grassroots, Transistor, From Chaos, Don't Tread On Me, and some of their independent releases.
• Tomato Surprise: The "constant companion" in "Hey You" is revealed to be not a person, but music.
• Vocal Tag Team: Nick and SA.
• Word Salad Lyrics

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