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Bro' rock

The party passion of 311

by Mark Woodlief

Nearly two years after its release, I still crank up the volume when I hear 311's "Down" crackle over the FM dial. The song's immediacy (guitars set to a funk-rock-stun setting, noisy DJ scratches in the mix, huge rhythms in your face) and lyrical graciousness ("You know that we have always been down/And if I ever didn't thank you/Then just let me do it now") signifies a kind of youthful confidence (and youth culture) too infectious to be denied.

For me, it's not just a guilty pleasure. Back in the day (as the kidz like to slang) I watched 311 abruptly turn a room of 800 or more seemingly bored, cynical Angelenos into a frenetic mass of party-mongers. While I may be in the critical minority, I genuinely like 311. They're a pop band, pop as in popular, or in 311's case, populist. And if, as so much pop music is, 311 prove to be disposable, guitarist/vocalist Nick Hexum's okay with that: "One thing I've got to say before sales dive," he sings on "Jupiter," from 311's new Transistor, "Be positive and love your life."

The quintet's relentless optimism, along with their stalwart grassroots touring approach and self-confidence, has carried them far. The band's breakthrough homonymous third album -- with radio-embraced cuts like "Down," "All Mixed Up," and "Don't Stay Home" -- passed the two million sales mark; the new album is a passel of potential hits; and the "Transis-Tour" that brings 311 to Great Woods this Wednesday is the largest they've ever undertaken.

Don't worry, be happy? Not exactly. S.A. Martinez, 311's co-vocalist/record scratcher, explains to me over the phone from the road that he simply "never really felt angst. I never really had that pent-up aggression and rebellion in that way." The band aren't so much a reaction to the angst of early-'90s guitar rock -- though Hexum did sing "I cannot handle all the negative vibe merchants" on 311's "Misdirected Hostility" -- as a joyous celebration of music and its diversity.

Transistor continues 311's masterful melding of disparate musical influences. Blending styles that range from Grateful Dead-flavored psychedelic blues, metal, funk, and hip-hop to prog, punk, and (especially) reggae/dub is part of the 311 project, or mystique. With interests so diverse, and chops to match, it's no wonder the band played on the Warped and H.O.R.D.E. tours last summer.

Martinez says 311's sonic evolution was natural. "We came about our sound just from being music lovers. We wanted to incorporate different styles and make something unique and fresh-sounding. But we didn't want to take any form or style and mock it or anything like that."

In one sense, 311 are the apotheosis of bro' rock (akin to frat rock, but with more appeal to tattoo'd skate rats, neo-hippies and other teens, and twentysomethings than to party-hearty collegians). The band's blitz of musical styles and trippy, loosely spiritual lyrical content is more likely to elicit "Whoa, dude!" than attract serious critical discourse. But it's not fair simply to dismiss the sincere expressiveness of Hexum and Martinez -- even at their most simplistic, 311's collective heart is in the right place.

A little defensive when it's suggested the group's lyrics might be a bit "stoney" (311 are an active supporter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), Martinez maintains an easygoing attitude. "I think it's gonna touch people in different ways," he replies, adding that it's more important to the band to raise questions and raise consciousness. "That's the new revolution -- it's gonna be a conscious one. I mean, wars just don't work and are dumb. Really, it's a matter of people just realizing it, and making it happen. That's it. It's a matter of realizing what's not working and what works, and implementing it, and that's just becoming more aware."

So maybe Martinez won't ever be appointed Secretary of State. But, good intentions aside, world peace isn't the provenance of pop music. For Martinez and the rest of 311, it's a way to build a community or effect an attitude adjustment. As Hexum puts it on Transistor's "Electricity": "A call out for Unity/In every province and city/What do you think we've been saying/Since we first started playing?"

For now, 311 are guided by their potent, assured expressiveness and their righteous naïveté. "Just having fun gives us confidence," Martinez enthuses. "We just love performing. It ignites us and gets us going. Even in the early days, we felt this is what we're meant to be doing. It's destiny or something. It's always felt right."

311 headline Great Woods this Wednesday, August 20, with De La Soul opening; call 423-NEXT.