HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012
311 DAY 2012 ON SALE NOW
311 CRUISE 2012 ON SALE NOW
311 SPRING TOUR 2012 ON SALE Now

311 Day Info Page: http://www.311.com/311-day-2012
311 Spring Tour: http://www.311.com/shows
311 Cruise: http://www.311Cruise.com

311 MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS

* 311 DAY 2012
* 311 CARIBBEAN CRUISE 2012

311 loves seeing the 311 community coming together like you did at 311 Day 2010 and 311 Cruise 2011 and 311 Pow Wow Festival 2011! These events are the absolute highlights of our year… So, we’re going to take it up a notch in 2012 and we want you to know what we have planned so far!

311 DAY 2012

MARCH 9 – 11
MGM GRAND ARENA
LAS VEGAS, NV

Fri, March 9: Fan Party at The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel)
Sat, March 10: 311 Show 1 at MGM Grand Arena
Sun, March 11: 311 Show 2 at MGM Grand Arena
We got a weekend this time….so we’ll have unique shows on Saturday & Sunday!!
We’ll ring in 311 Day Saturday night and celebrate on Sunday!

Single Day and Two Day Tickets are available.
Concert Tickets & Fan Party Tickets now on sale at www.Ticketmaster.com

For lots more info and special 311 Day Hotel Discounts, visit www.311.com/311-day-2012 for details.

We’ll see you in Vegas for the ultimate 311 concert event, 311 DAY!!!

311 CARIBBEAN CRUISE 2012

MAY 10 – 14
MIAMI TO HALF MOON CAY – OUR OWN PRIVATE ISLAND IN THE BAHAMAS!

311 will again takeover an entire Carnival Cruise Line, this time headed to Half Moon Cay – a private island where we’ll have a tropical paradise all to ourselves! Be sure to get on the boat!

Thurs, May 10: Depart Miami at 5PM
Fri, May 11: Arrive Half Moon Cay (Bahamas)
Sat, May 12: Another beautiful day on the island
Sun, May 13: At sea
Mon, May 14: Arrive Miami at 8AM.
www.311Cruise.com has all the Cruise details, pricing and payment plans.

13 BANDS & 2 DJS;
311, The Dirty Heads, Shwayze & Cisco, Ballyhoo, 2 Skinnee J’s, Shootyz Groove, Passafire, Full Service, Outlaw Nation, DJ Soulman, DJ Trichrome, Trailer Park Ninjas, Exes of Evil, Moral Defect.
Be sure to get yourself on the boat for an amazing life adventure with 311 and friends!!

311 CELEBRATE 11-11-11 WITH FREE SHOW DOWNLOAD!

11-11-11 only happens once every hundred years; and being 3 x 11, platinum rock band 311 plan to celebrate the date (which is another kind of “311 Day”) with a free gift to their dedicated fans.

Starting 11-11-11, 311 are giving away a FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD OF “311 LIVE FROM RED ROCKS 2011.”

Recorded live on 8/16/11 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, CO), the show is available as a Free Mp3, courtesy of 311.

High-Quality FLAC and Apple Lossless files are also available for $14.95 (for those who want the show in true CD quality audio). Cover art is also available for free download. Click the banner here to now download MP3′s, or visit: http://www.livedownloads.com/live-music/0,6862/Free-311-MP3-Download-8-16-2011-Red-Rocks.html

Also, on 11-11-11, 311 fans can find a 11% discount on all items at www.The311Store.com as a 1 day special sale. Get your goods while you can! At checkout just enter the coupon code 11-11-11 to get the 11% discount.

311: NEW ALBUM, UNIVERSAL PULSE, OUT NOW!!

Universal Pulse is now available as digital, cd and vinyl. Be sure to get your copy for some great summer jams! Available at Best Buy, iTunes, Amazon, Target, Hot Topic and record stores far and wide! Thanks to everyone who has supported the band in picking up a copy of Universal Pulse!

Direct link at iTunes: http://www.itunes.apple.com/universal-pulse/

UNIVERSAL PULSE:

‎”Universal Pulse is a new classic for 311 and one of the best rock releases of 2011.” – ARTISTdirect.
“Classic 311: head-bobbing rhythm, heavily distorted guitars, funk bass, and a feel-good sing-along chorus” – Spin

311 VIDEOS:

Be sure to check out the new videos for Sunset In July, Weightless, Trouble, Wild Nights, Time Bomb, And A Ways To Go at 311′s You Tube Channel: www.youtube.com/311

SPRING TOUR DATES:

2/28 Anahiem, CA
2/29 Ventura, CA
3/03 Wendover, NV
3/4 Boise, ID
3/6 Lake Tahoe, NV
3/7 Sacramento, CA
3/9 311 Fan Party, Las Vegas
3/10 311 DAY show, Las Vegas
3/11 311 DAY show, Las Vegas

All show and ticket info at www.311.com/shows

MORE MUSIC. MORE SHOWS. MORE GOOD TIMES!

Nick Hexum – Vocals/Guitar
SA Martinez – Vocals/DJ
Tim Mahoney – Lead Guitar
P-Nut – Bass
Chad Sexton – Drums

There are not many ways to describe a band like 311 and the impact the group has left on fans and the music industry. Creating a sound that fuses everything from rock, reggae, hip-hop, punk to funk, 311 has never been a unit that is easily categorized. Since the band’s debut, MUSIC, there has been a rabid fan base following the guys; yet the commercial breakthrough came with 311’s self-titled album. The release produced songs, such as “Down,” “All Mixed Up,” and “Don’t Stay Home,” became rock radio and MTV staples.

311 has been a band for over twenty years and has carved a nitch in the alternative rock scene. The group has created the Unity Tour, which has been filling amphitheatres each summer for many years with acts like The Offspring, Snoop Dogg, Pepper, The English Beat and Ziggy Marley. In 2011, 311 hosted the Pow Wow Festival in Florida with musicians, such as Deftones, The Dirty Heads and Sublime with Rome.

In 2012, 311 will bring their tenth celebration of the date 03/11 to the MGM GRAND ARENA in Las Vegas, Nev., for two shows 03/10 and 03/11/12. There will also be a Fan Party at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel. In addition, 311 will do a Caribbean Cruise from 05/10 to 05/14/12. In 2011, 311 created UNIVERSAL PULSE, with just eight songs, it’s a wild ride in rock. They will have a busy 2012 in support of the release. I had the chance to get a few questions answered by guitarist and vocalist, Nick Hexum.

SoundsGood) UNIVERSAL PULSE is the shortest album 311 has released, in the recording process did it just feel right for it to have eight songs?

Hexum) We decided just to focus on the best of the best. Quality over quantity. We wanted people to want to listen again and again!

SG) 311 has been doing special shows each year for the date 03/11, for 2012 it’s a weekend in Las Vegas with shows on 03/10 and 03/11, as well as having a 311 Fan Party. What should fans expect from the shows and the party?

Hexum) Rock, sweat, funk, and love.

SG) The band has done the Unity Tour each summer. Is it something that will continue in 2012?

Hexum) Yes, 2012 will be our tenth consecutive summer to headline amphitheatres.

SG) 311 hosted the “Pow Wow” Festival last year in Florida-will there be another festival for 2012?

Hexum) Pow Wow was an amazing experience. When I watched the video trailer I got overwhelmed by what an amazing thing it was to be a part of. [watch it at:]
http://vimeo.com/30679802?iframe=true&width=80%&height=80%

Right now our focus is on 311 Day in March and the 311 Cruise in May. I really want to do Pow Wow again, but nothing is confirmed at this time.

SG) The band fuses so many different music styles and is a great example for smaller bands to do music that they love. What advice would you give to musicians just starting out?

Hexum) Learning to accept not getting your way is really important. When you’re in a band you have to surrender to democracy and have faith that the group as a whole will do the right thing even when it’s not to your liking. It always works out in the end!

311 will be performing at the Grove in Anaheim on Tuesday, 02/28/12. For tickets go to http://www.ticketmaster.com/311-tickets/artist/759806.

Article Source: http://www.soundsgoodca.com/Interviews.html

The Omaha native said he broke his bone cleanly, is in a cast and will have surgery.

He says he’ll be fine for 311 Day, the March 11 concert (3-11, get it?) the band puts on every other year or so. This year it’s a three-day event (fan event and two nights of 311 concerts) in Las Vegas.

Tickets to the event, $102 to $135, get you into both concerts and are still available.

“I’m going to make a full recovery and be burning up the fretboard in no time!” Hexum said in his post.

I know I have some 311 fans that hang around this blog. Are any of you headed to 311 Day this year? Let’s talk in the comments!

http://rockcandyomaha.blogspot.com/2012/01/311s-nick-hexum-broke-his-elbow-will.html

At Gibson.com, we simply can’t get enough of that cascading cannon-style drum sound, and little competes with a flawlessly executed, funky slap-and-pop bassline. It’s the rhythm section’s time to take the spotlight!

Below, check out our list of 10 of the greatest rhythm sections in rock and roll. Let us know in the comments section who you think we’ve snubbed. Happy grooving!

10. P-Nut and Sexton, 311

311 broke out of the ’90s alternative rock collective with their distinct fusion of reggae and rap-metal. Rhythm players P-Nut and Sexton had much to do with the band’s catchy grooves, as the duo evenly balance the band’s rap-metal power with cool reggae vibrations. “Beautiful Disaster” and their eternal cover of The Cure’s “Love Song” wouldn’t jam without P-Nut and Sexton in sync.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/rhythm-sections-0111-2012/

After 21 years together, and a long time since ‘Down,’ ‘Amber,’ or ‘Love Song’ permeated the airwaves regularly, 311 is working harder than ever because as they themselves sat, “The radio’s weak and the shows are more fun!”

HEAR headed to Louisville, Kentucky to catch up with one of the mosy heavily travelling groups in the biz on their fall tour. This stint had only ten stops; however, each venue recieved two sets from the band as they delved very deeply into their 10+ album catalouge. We found that portions of the crowd had been following them for the duration of this tour. 311 fans are a breed of all their own – putting time and money aside to make sure they never miss a special show if possible. The Grateful Dead had the “Dead Heads,” and 311 has the “Excitable Ones.”

The band has had an incredibily busy year doing what they love, which their fans appreciate the most; Rockin’ the masses.

In March, they sailed on their own first crew – a four-day excursion to the Bahamas where they had their annual summer Unity Tour. In August they hosted their own festival called Pow Wow in Flordia. They somehow managed to squeeze in the release of an album of new material, ‘Universal Pulse.’ Now this ‘Evening With’ tour to close it all out, and next year they’re bringing fans even more! March 9-11 of 2012 will be the 7th 311 Day celebration, which is held bi-annually in various locations.

Excitable Ones from around the globe will descend upon Las Vegas for this one, an incredibly appropriate place to gather masses of hysterical fans (including these very excitable writers). They set sail on another cruise in May, and we can’t forget about the summer “Unity Tour” that hits one of our ampitheaters here in Michigan along the way!

Road Weary? That’s not in the 311 volcabulary.

http://www.hearmag.com/2011/12/311-has-still-got-the-boom-yall/

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/61749/12_for_12_Sacramento_concerts_on_tap_for_the_new_year

The general public is invited to join the conversation online, as the event will be streamed live on the MI Facebook page. Online viewers are encouraged to submit questions for Nick in the chatroom or through MI’s social media pages. The staff will select several questions submitted online before the end of the student Q&A (time-permitting), and ask them of Nick before the close of the livestream.

In order to join the livestream and chat, visit http://www.facebook.com/MIHollywood and click the “MI Live!” tab in the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the Facebook page. Click “Play” in order to view the livestream and send questions in the chat room.

After shooting the 3 songs, I returned to my seat but I felt like I was stumbling all over the place…second hand smoke. The place was one giant hot box, but that is quite honestly expected at a 311 show! To my surprise no one was removed from the venue and they were not shy about where and what they were lighting up! For me, a $6 beer was good enough to enjoy the show.

We were on our feet damn near close to the entire show because of the set list. They kept mixing it up from old to new to older to newest. Once I finally calmed down and tried to take it all in I looked around the venue and noticed the crowd. It was a good mix of older and younger people. From my experience, I’ve noticed the older generation will generally be in the crowd. I did notice a couple father/son attendees which I thought was real cool! It made me happy to see that just because my generation can share what we went through in the 1990′s to the younger thundercats and keep great music and musicians going through the ages!

Recommendation, if you haven’t checked out a live 311 show, do so. You will not be disappointed and have a blast! They have such raw talent and all of them, Nick, S.A., Tim, P-Nut and Chad will keep you entertained for hours!!! Just wait until they all get on the percussions and P-Nut “beats that thang.”

http://www.littleratbastard.com/?p=15051

While he’s reached musical heights, SA is not the first professional musician in his family. His father Ernie Martinez and late paternal grandfather Jose Martinez preceded him. SA feels part of “a legacy” that extends to his musical siblings.

“We always loved music. We all did it, sang it, performed, whatever…just always had nothing but great times with music. It was just a constant,” says Martinez.

He has only “vague memories” of his grandfather, but he does have his old mandolin as a link to the man and the music.

“I’ll look at the mandolin and wonder just exactly how he came into possession of it and what songs was he playing on this thing.”

Sure, SA’s, a rock star, but his elders made their marks on their own terms.

Jose Bonificia Martinez emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. in the early 1900s. He worked as a water boy on the railroad in Texas before migrating to Gary, Indiana, where he landed in the steel mills. In Sioux City, Iowa, he worked in a packing house and played music on weekends. Ernie marvels that his father learned to play the mandolin, fiddle, upright bass and guitar. Jose met his wife Helen, Ernie’s mother, in Sioux City.

After moving to Omaha in 1930, Jose worked the slaughter house kill floor and played in a band that performed South Omaha house parties.

“I remember him telling me they’d cross the river into Council Bluffs to play festivals in the Hispanic section,” recalls Ernie, who was born in Omaha.

Tired of the dirty, dangerous, backbreaking kill floor, Jose became a hired hand for a livestock producer in Gibbon, Neb., where Ernie and his siblings grew up. Jose found a measure of fame fronting his own band, The Kid and His Friends, on a live show broadcast by KGFW radio in Kearney, Neb. and sponsored by a feed store. The signal reached deep into the Platte Valley, bringing the band new gigs at festivals and fairs.

By the early 1950s Ernie began gravitating to music himself. “I listened to a radio broadcast out of New Orleans coming from the Roosevelt Hotel every Friday night — Tony Almerico and his (Original Dixieland Jamboree All Stars) band.”

Ernie learned to play “off the radio” — “I’d get the note from the first chord they played and I’d go from there. Somehow my dad had acquired an upright bass from a traveling salesman and he built me a little stool and I’d jump up on that stool and start messing around with my fingers, thumping away. Then he’d take me down, put the bass away and he’d show me a few chords on the guitar.”

Fast forward three decades later and Ernie, by then a journeyman jazz guitarist with local house bands, was schooling SA.

“We’d sit down on occasion and he’d try to teach me something, but he didn’t honestly have any patience when it came to instructing on an instrument,” says SA. “I remember setting his stuff up in the basement and kind of tooling around on it and just having fun.”

SA grew up steeped in his father’s sideman life.

“Come the weekend he was getting ready to go play somewhere. I just remember that whole era of the ‘70s — the polyester suits, the jewelry, the cologne. Before he’d go out he’d pat my face with some cologne.”

He came to respect his old man’s chops.

“My dad played bass growing up but he’s really a better guitarist and the style of guitar he plays is very wide actually. He can play like the Wes Montgomery, really dope jazz chords. cool and rich sounding, and then he can bust into some cool folk Mexican stuff. He definitely has a pretty deep memory.

“He had a couple buddies who’d come over from time to time. Johnny Vintore played keyboards. Another guy by the name of Charlie Davis played trombone. Just really cool dudes with loads of talent. They had their good times. It’s really cool thinking back on that whole scene.”

Ernie, who worked a regular job at a truck line, gigged at night spots when Omaha was still a hopping live music hub.

SA never saw his dad on stage, but often witnessed him practice or jam at home. He also absorbed the jazz tunes his pops spun, instilling an appreciation for the standards. Together, they “listened religiously” to KVNO radio’s Primetime Jazz hosted by Bill Watts

“Man, that was a killer show and he played like the bomb jazz,” recalls SA. “We loved listening to that show.”

Immersed in music at home and at school, where he played viola and trumpet and sang, SA was destined for a life in music. “It’s weird, I always kind of knew in the back of my mind something like that would surface for me, I just didn’t know when or how.” 311 took off in the ‘90s here at the Ranch Bowl and the Peony Park Ballroom. He ascribes the group’s unusual longevity to “chemistry” and “just hard work.”

“It really is an experience I’m blessed to be a part of. It’s a never ending rock ‘n’ roll fantasy.”

Last July, 311 had its first homecoming show in a long time when it played the Red Sky Music Festival at TD Ameritrade Park. SA says entertaining family and friends after a show like that is more draining then the concert itself. “But it’s a lot of fun.”

His parents return the favor by visiting him on the coast, where father and son always find time to play a few licks. SA invariably breaks out the old bass his dad owned.

SA’s daughter shows signs of continuing this unbroken line of Martinez music makers. “She loves it. She lights up,” SA says. Ernie’s proud it’s lasted four generations, saying, “It amazes me what my dad started.”

http://leoadambiga.wordpress.com/311s-sa-martinez-takes-a-music-tradition-laid-down-by-family-in-a-new-direction/

There are no questions about how spectacular a 311 performance truly is. Some fans go to concerts, but 311 puts on a show, and still remains one of the greatest live acts of our generation. On the final full show of their fall tour, Phoenix received bonus music from 311 with 2-full sets of songs, reaching 30 extended live tracks and interludes.

Comerica Theatre in Downtown Phoenix was buzzing prior to doors opening, and even when DJ Soulman from Phoenix manned the turntables inside the venue, the crowd was in a frenzy. It was simple for the crowd to raise their level of excitement as Soulman played classic rock ballads and new-school alternative rock hits ranging from Ozzy Osborne, Led Zeppelin to Rage Against The Machine and plenty of others.

Once the arena was filled to the brim, 311 quickly transformed the club atmosphere into a large-scale festival that would have been ideal for Lallapalooza or Woodstock. The lighting for Phoenix’s showcase was unparalleled. The sound system was top-tier and 311 wouldn’t have it any other way for their double set of live music.

As Nick Hexum (vocals and guitar) led out the other four members of 311 the noise was deafening, with nearly unending cheers and chants of “3-11, 3-3-11…!” For a moment it appeared P-Nut (bass), Tim Mahoney (guitar) and SA Martinez (vocals and DJ) would gaze out into the crowd while absorbing the unending outpour of gratitude. But, it wasn’t long before Chad Sexton (drums) laid down the first beat for “Do You Right”.

There is one thing about 311’s extensive catalog, as a fan, one never knows what to expect from 311’s set list. Friday night followed suit in a similar style. Old Grassroots songs were featured, as well as 1993’s Music had more than a handful featured. With their constantly growing fan base, 311 tapped into every fans soul as they ran through their extensive musical collection, while not leaving out their latest highly acclaimed hit “Sunset in July”.

After releasing their accompanying video for that song over the summer, 311 could have recorded their live performance from Phoenix, and the sound would have been eerily similar. With all of 311’s touring and evolution in the studio, they are no longer performers of music; they are Doctors of the musical sound, at this stage of their careers.

As they unleashed “Come Original” on Downtown Phoenix, that sentiment was apparent throughout the theatre. The crowd was bouncing in rhythm with SA Martinez and Hexum, as nearly every lyric was echoing off the walls. It was an unblemished 311 party as “Freeze Time” and the soulful “8:16 AM” bellowed through the speakers.

For every 311 appearance, something new and unheard of always stands out from their show. On such an occasion, a double set with all the bells and whistles of the highly anticipated 311 Day were present. Bass solos by P-Nut that typically last around one minute were extended to upwards of three minutes, perhaps even three minutes and eleven seconds, but who’s counting?

Along with P-Nut reminding us of the fact that he is one of the premier bass players in the music industry today, his rhythm partner Chad Sexton nearly brought the house down with his drum solo in the second set. But before 311 highlighted their mystifying drumming, a ten-foot-tall bass drum and assorted Latin percussion sets were wheeled out to the front of the stage. The electrical instruments were put aside for a moment as 311’s range and complete mastery of their musical sound flourished. It would be easy to say the crowd cheered on end, but fans in attendance were simply exuberant, maybe even at a loss for words other than, “Oh, my god!”

311 brings a sense of comfort over the crowd, yet still manages to amplify and encourage the most rowdy of fans to bounce and mosh throughout every song. Once the fans caught their breath from the drum circus on stage, 311 seamlessly transitioned into an extended version of another old ditty, “Applied Science”. It was a blast from the past as “All Mixed Up” rang through the crowd, and everyone strapped on their dancing shoes for the timeless hit, but the excitement wasn’t even close to concluding.

After all, “Beautiful Disaster” was yet to be unleashed, and then it happened. The rugged guitar licks of the intro turned the crowd up another notch, something that appeared impossible before the song. It was the height of 311’s set as “Beautiful Disaster” led into perhaps 311’s most infamous song, “Down”.

With over 25 songs already under their belt, 311 exited the stage as pandemonium broke out in the crowd. The lights were dim for only a second, as the Omaha natives returned for another twenty minutes. For some touring acts, it might be difficult to fill three hours of music into one performance, but 311 could have played for another three hours with ease. And no one in the crowd would have left.

It was only appropriate for the last song of the night to be “Creatures (For A While)”. The atmosphere was rambunctious, yet still controlled by the sound coming from the stage. The 5,000-seat capacity theatre remained full, even after the last note was played. For a brief moment, it appeared 311 was going to return for another handful of songs, but Nick Hexum returned to the microphone to thank the fans for coming out for their final show of the tour and making it the most memorable one yet.

If Friday night in Phoenix was any indication, the upcoming 311 Day in Las Vegas, complete with three days of live music, should be absolutely astonishing!

http://thepier.org/live-311-12-9-11/