311 played their first show in 1990 and have since released 13 studio albums, toured the world over and over again, launched a cruise and a convention (311 Day) and blessedly, are still making genre-blending music to this day. To sort through their setlist stats and hear stories from frontman Nick Hexum was a TREAT and I only wish we could've published the whole meandering interview in its entirety - but, you know, modern attention spans. Please enjoy this trip "Down" memory lane:
First show (with Fugazi)
"We do consult Setlist.fm. This is a good resource. June 10th, 1990 was our very first show. Chad and I had a band called Unity in the late '80s, and Tim was in one of the versions of it too. Chad said, "Well, I got a new bass player. "His name's P-Nut. He's 15, he's really, really good, and we've got an opening slot for Fugazi." And Chad wasn't like a huge punk rock guy, so I was like, 'Wait, opening for Fugazi?'"
"The very first show was billed as The Fish Hippos, which was the name that they came up with. And I said, "I will gladly be in this band, but we need to change that name." And Peanut said, "Well, I did a talent show as 311." I said, "I love it." Just a number. Gen X. It was we're not exactly saying what we're about. There is a sort of a mystery. And then he said, "Well, it's the police code for indecent exposure." And I was like, 'Great, I still love it. It's hilarious. Let's be that.'"
Stats!
"Let's get the stats. Wow, "Down" is first. "Applied Science" is in the second position. That's where we get out the big drums, and that's always kind of a highlight of the show. There's just a tribalness of everybody pounding on drums together. I'm surprised "Amber" is number five. Can't not play that song. We didn't play it live at all when that album came out until it started to get a lot of radio play and we were like, "We have to start playing this song." "Feels So Good" and "Fuck the Bullshit" were always our closers. But see, the song, "Fuck the Bullshit", it's hard to think back. In the early '90s, like swear words was like a huge controversial problem with like the Parents Music Resource Group or whatever it was called, and Tipper Gore. The compromise with the label, like you can put this song on the album, but we can't put the title, "Fuck the Bullshit", so it was like a hidden track. "Down" was another big closer. It's like a thank you to our fans and also to my bandmates, like, thank you for, you know, what we've accomplished together."
311 Day
"The original 311 Day came together by chance. It wasn't really planned. 311 is the police code for indecent exposure in Omaha. But we didn't tell people, we just thought it was funny and it was like an inside joke, and so there was a lot of speculation, and people were like, "March 11th must be some special date." So we had this show booked at the State Palace Theatre in New Orleans. We decided like we're basically gonna play all of our songs, which was around three hours and 11 minutes."
"I stage dove from a height of 30 feet. It was very cathartic to just jump into the crowd. Not safe at all. And then 311 Day just became a tradition after that. It's really turned into like a convention where people come from all over the world. That's where we really dig deep and find out what have we not played to make sure that it's like, the hardcore people are gonna be extremely satisfied with it."
