Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Nick Hexum of 311

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Nick Hexum of 311 · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna cut right to the chase.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: 311 has been one of my most favorite fans for well over three decades.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started this podcast five years ago, my next guest was right at the top of my wish list.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, he did not disappoint.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nick Texum is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, fitness fanatic, an all-around family man and good guy.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: He joins me on the podcast today and we talk about all of these elements of his life and we take a deep dive into his relationship with nostalgia as old through his recent solo EP releases.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I am super excited to welcome Nick Hex into the show today.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mike.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: My next guest does not need very much of an introduction.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: He is a musician, entrepreneur, health advocate, family man, modern renaissance man.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who knows about things.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's my friend Nick Hexham from 311.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, my friend?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Good, man.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it means the world to me.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you have been a big part of my life for well over 30 years, and God do I feel like an old guy saying that, but uh oh man.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I want to kind of get right into it.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk a little bit about these solo EPs that you have released recently.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was in the line at the bank and I was listening to Full Memories, and I tell you what, brother, you got me in the feelings with some of those songs and some of the lyrical content on those songs.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about those and kind of where your mindset was with that material.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for such a nice introduction.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, so I guess I wanted to really with this solo stuff is just get as vulnerable as possible.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I definitely had I've always known that it's important to be like self-revealing in songwriting and keep in the parts that might be embarrassing and stuff like that, and and um not try and put up some sort of a like a over-stylized image of yourself.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like even just coming up with a name 311, I it was like I always kind of felt like not projecting an image.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're just a number.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can make uh make it of us, make of us what you want, you know what I mean?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, um, with this new project, I felt like it was um time to go more in depth and go into certain um topics that maybe were painful.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I have a song on the next EP where I um I'm kind of processing the the passing of of my brother who I lost to a drug overdose.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I just realized that there's um the people everybody has tough things that they dealt with, whether it's they're worried worried about their kid, like um a song uh please explain on the the second EP or or loss or triumphs or self-doubt or you know, all kinds of there's just so much to explore, and people love to relate.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we seek relationships, and it that's the best what art can do is to make you like get hit in the feel.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that you said that's what it did for you.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So absolutely, man.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: I find that I'm in the station of life where I'm watching my kids grow up, so it's kind of influencing my relationship with nostalgia, and with the first EP uh waxing nostalgic and this current EP full memories, it sounds like you're kind of in a similar place, especially correlating with the relationship with your daughter.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Most definitely.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and I had never really um gone to a full like nostalgia um trip like I did on the song 1978, that really um j first just writing the lyrics with my sister to have like a real snapshot of what our life was like in a pre-technology childhood where we were building forts and kickball games and um you know what passed for technology at that time was a slinky or a magic eight ball, you know what I mean?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was a very different lifestyle.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um because there was nothing on TV during the day except soap operas, and so we went out and and you know, did did stuff with other kids for fun, and we had a lot more freedom probably um now than than what kids had.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much helicoptering going on, so you know, whenever my kids asked to do something, I'm like, sure, I had been doing that for years by the time I was your age, so you know, try and give them um as much freedom and and responsibility, but uh yeah, it it was really interesting to look back and then to come up with a video which was real um home movies that from my dad's super eight films.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: That really hit me in the feels, and to see how sweet my big sister was to you know, looking out for for me and stuff.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I wrote that lyric about big sister, make sure I'm okay.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know, pouring down.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I I tell you, when I said I was in the bank line and I was in my feels, I was actually listening to Please Explain and just kind of giving you some personal insight.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have three daughters myself, and and uh one of them this week, the week that we're recording this, she has her 18th birthday Friday.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, baccalaureate on Thursday, 18th birthday Friday, graduation reception Saturday, and she's graduating high school on Sunday, and then next week, my twin stepdaughters do the same exact thing.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got three girls all the same age.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's a lot of big moments at the same time.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've never heard of that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, dude, it's almost like triplets.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty much, and and honestly, that's how they've grown up is they they've referred to themselves as the trio for as long as we can remember.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, so talking about communicating with your daughter and like having those deep conversations whenever they're a little bit hesitant, especially in this modern digital age where so much of their fulfillment is through technology, like sometimes some of those conversations are kind of hard to miss.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, we all were teenagers once when we would give like one-word answers.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: How was school?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Fine.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Fine.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you know what I mean?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just so to you know, to cultivate that kind of relationship.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's let's get real here and and talk about what's really going on.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: And when you sense that there's more um than than meets the eye, and you you do need to coax it out of them, that's what that song's about.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I tell you, I really appreciate the vulnerability with this material, and you said there's another one coming down the line.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think I read somewhere online where you've got several of these EPs in cue, don't you?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I realized that you know, there was a couple pivotal books that I wrote.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: One of them was Saved by a Song by Mary Gaucher, where she talks about how relatable and healing it is to go into these difficult things.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so that kind of got me into doing a bit of an inventory of my life.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when my parents split up when I was 13, you know, that was a a big kind of earth-shaking event for me, and you know, losing my brother and different, you know, different heartbreak and things that that have happened.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I guess I've got a lot of things I realized I could talk about.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So my goal is currently I'm on track to do 25 songs in 2025.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So there's gonna be lots to uh relate to.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I also just kind of getting to being the age 55, I realized like I'm so blessed that I have people who are still excitedly checking out my new music.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: I want to take advantage of it because at a certain point, you know, that people are just kind of set in their ways and they just listen to the oldie.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I I I realized it was a good good to open up this side career.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: 311 will always be my focus.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's our life's work.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a wonderful thing to behold, to hear about what we've been part of people's lives for so long.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I think it is healthy for all of us in the band to do different side projects.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it takes off pressure off the main thing.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: If, oh well, I can do that over here so I don't have to like arm twist anybody to, you know, doing a song that doesn't really fit.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So while you're writing this material and kind of relating to the sense of nostalgia, do you find that you're writing a lot through your children's eyes as well?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, there's just so much influence.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even just stylistically, um, one of the artists that I heard from my daughters, they put on a Faye Webster song, and she has this very alt-country.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, she's definitely like an indie darling, like she's kind of like a my kids think of her as like the next Taylor Swift or something, um, but it's not as poppy.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: But she has this creamy, beautiful production with a pedal steel and the really warm organic instruments, and I I really got into that, and that's a been a big influence if you hear the the production style on the new music.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I so I got that for my kids, and then hearing Chapel Roan from my kids and and deciding to cover her song California, that I realized like, wow, she's telling a story that I really relate with because it's about moving from the Midwest to California and not quite making it, and like, should should I go back?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Am I a failure?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And like for me, going back to Omaha to start 311 with my homies from high school turned out to be like the right move, but it it really was I did feel like a bit of a failure at the time.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then it of course worked out perfectly.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a really cool story where she's singing about Missouri and I changed the change it to Nebraska.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I appreciate that as a fellow Nebraskan.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, hell yes.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Only thing that bums me out is she says, Um, I miss the seasons in Missouri, my dying town.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think Omaha is a dying town, but I just that was her choice of words, not mine.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I tell you, I tell you what, man, I moved from Omaha to Lincoln like 10 years ago, and and I go back every other week and you know, spend some time with my bio kids and such.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I swear to God, it gets twice as big every time I go.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm I'm like the you know, the professional sports, I'm part of the Union Omaha soccer team, and like there's there's good stuff happening there.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I always said, you know, Omaha's a lot cooler of a town than people think, you know.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it just keeps getting cooler and cooler, man.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I when I was in high school, it was the cool thing to go to Omaha, hang out in the old market, and and now you've got old market, you got the Blackstone District north downtown.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And just for those that are watching and listening, 311 night is going to be June 12th at Werner Park for Union Omaha.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: We got to get that plug in.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for mentioning that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna do a um a co-branded jersey that I designed that's uh a 311 and Union Home Omaha soccer jersey that has the skyline of Omaha in there, and it's it's really dope.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna release it that day, and I'm gonna do heard it here first, announcing for the first time we're gonna do a short acoustic performance after the soccer game on June 12th.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll be cool.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, yes, now you just gave everybody even more reason to show up.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome, awesome.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, since we talked about Union Omaha, one of the things I mentioned in my opening is the fact that you are an entrepreneur, and one of the projects that I have gotten really excited about is SKP or escapee, if you will.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um Right.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the plan words.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, um, from what I've deducted from your mission statement is you guys aren't exactly anti-label, but you're pro-artist.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so tell everybody what that project is kind of about.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So what we've created is what would have been an absolute dream for me in 1992 when 311 was starting out, because we we knew that it was going to be up to us to make our band successful.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: But at that time there was such a barrier to entry with you know having to pay for a recording studio and a producer and printing tapes and CDs and distributing them everywhere.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, the radio uh labels had a stranglehold on radio.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: All of that has changed now.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the barriers have dropped, but you still need help getting above the fray and getting noticed.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And with marketing, distribution is so much easier now with digital distribution.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, what our platform is is um enabling artists to give them tools to become their own label.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um with distribution with kind of different tiers of added services, um, we're not you labels still serve a purpose, but they've just been so used to screwing over artists.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's just been such a um, you know uh exploitational thing where you artists were just like, I just want to make an album and get on the road and like I'll sign anything.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um but now more and more artists are are really um making a go of it at staying independent.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, there's a big chance to um to disrupt in in favor of the artists, um, and and a lot of technological tools that we're focused on.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Our our CTO is um from Google and is just like this really amazing coder.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So having a platform where bands can be become their own label and hire uh, you know, make strategic partnerships to get the promotional services they need without having to just sell away the ownership of their masters, which is what 311 had to do.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's about you know kind of giving back to uh free free the artist because music is such an ex uh essential service, it's such a part of who we are and having a shared experience.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it it feels good to try and be helping artists.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: When you kind of look at artists to be affiliated with SKP, are you actually seeking them out or are they seeking you out based on that model that you kind of described?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So far it's just been you know handpick with a few sort of test bands, and as we scale up, it's going to be more and more technologically based, self-serve different tools that you can get.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh it's called SaaS um software as a subscription service, um, kind of things that we're you can get.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we're just finding with digital advertising and uh you know playlisting and all these, the the the new way that music promotion looks, that there's a lot a lot of things that we can do to to automate to allow allow artists to get for themselves.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, AI tools like uh um so many of the record deals were so uh confusing and opaque and like 80 pages long.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so to use AI to be able to have very simple contracts that are like uh uh automatically execute, like smart contracts is something that's associated with Ethereum, so we call ours clever contracts, which are automatically um uh executing contracts where you can just see, okay, here's what your streaming is, and you've assigned these royalties to your producer, and you get this, and you know, everything is just like self-executing, right?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it's a level of of um transparency that has not existed yet.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what I was gonna say.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds way more transparent than the old back-end deals that used to be so prominent in the industry.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: What is your personal relationship with technology and the releasing of music moving forward?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Are you more optimistic with how things work nowadays?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And do you feel that there's a bit of oversaturation because there's so much digital out there?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I just think that it's indisputable that there's plenty of reason to be optimistic as an artist because A, you can you can stay independent.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's artists are proving that all the time, whether it's you know, Frank Ocean or Chance the Rapper or Lizzo or 311 or all these different indie artists that are having a good career, and um music revenue is at all-time high.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely took a huge dip after you know CD's collapse because of Napster, but it's it's way up at new highs right now.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just really a question of being careful as you make your career to make sure that you don't get in a shitty record deal.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's where that's where we're trying to come in.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which it I always knew the reason why we called our second album grassroots was because that was our philosophy that we are gonna take it straight to the people.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna expect that any critics or you know, magazines are are gonna are gonna, you know, ordain us as the next big thing.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be a grassroots organization.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: We take it straight to our fans through touring.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our model was more based on looking up to the Grateful Dead and people that like we're a live band first because nobody can take that away.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's not there's no gatekeepers with that.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna just put on the best shows we can and and you know, people and word of mouth, it'll spread, and now word of mouth goes way faster.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: When we first went viral, this was in like 1993, and it was like literally word of mouth, where we would play a show for 50 people, and the next time it would be 300 people, and that was what going viral, but it took months, but now it can happen so much quicker uh and it can go worldwide.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, really um helping artists realize that they're the ones that are responsible for their promotion, and here's what you can do to do it.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Use these tools, do what's you're comfortable with, and um and just keep making great art.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, there's every reason to be optimistic.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: That said, are you a fan of kind of this trickle out release strategy that maybe legacy artists are doing more of these days, or would you rather just you know let it all out at once?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I had people saying, you know, how about just like a song a month?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not quite ready to go that much of a just a uh a dripping faucet kind of thing.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So for me and the solo stuff of four-song E Ps, my second one is five songs, but four song e piece felt like the right kind of compromise between modernity and still having a bit of a an album feel where you're gonna experience these four-song, four or five songs together.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um but definitely more frequent releases is the way to go.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: There um, and and I would definitely think that 311 isn't gonna wait so long in between releases, too.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, um, doing something every other month like I got planned um was pretty ambitious.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done anything like this before, so it's it's pretty exciting.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, it and it's awesome.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you, during the pandemic when you and Peanut were doing some of those covers and such, man, that just made my day.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like for for you guys to cover Overkill by Colin Hay or Men at Work, as people are more familiar.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And your cover of Oceanize by Billy Eilish, that is on my permanent summer playlist from now to the end of time.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: But that's another way that my my uh my daughter's uh you know influence my I heard that song from them.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, go ahead.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I I do I do appreciate that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've long believed that like smaller releases like EPs more frequently keeps artists more grounded and more connected to their audiences.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Was there ever a band that you've become a fan of?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is just kind of an off-the-wall question, correlated or not, um, that you were maybe a little late to the party on.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um, well, first, uh, as far as the more frequent releases, that's a really a part that hit home when it came to uh when uh and Rick Rubin's book, when he talks about frequent releases is a way to combat writer's block.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, well, how does that work?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because you just say, I'm putting it out.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm I'm not gonna sit here because writer's block comes when you're getting to perfectionism and you're like, I don't know if it's good enough, I'm gonna wait, I don't know.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you just have to put it out, move on to the next thing, and that it's just walking through that fear and anxiety of of judgment is much better for your creativity than to just sit on something for years and tinker with it endlessly, besides the fact that you're becoming disconnected with your um you know, your audience.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: But um I I heard about the clash on Combat Rock.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that was actually kind of towards the end of their career, but I went so crazy with my fandom of the clash that I I my grandpa gave me his real-to-reel tape machine, and I can I made like a six-hour radio show for my own enjoyment, where I would play a song, and then I had these like fanzines that the clash you could but you could buy at the record stores that had all these little stories, or I would read something from the liner notes, or what I didn't I I wish I wish those tapes still existed because that's how huge of a fan that I was was to go back through Sandinista and London calling and giving them enough rope and giving up you know a riby play of of describing the songs and what they meant.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it it was and then when one one time when uh around on our second album, when someone says 311 is to me what the clash is to you, I was like, Oh shit, that's that's heavy.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is pretty cool.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, that's so funny you say that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the clash was probably the last band that my dad and I bonded over.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my dad was a musician.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was a musician in the 60s and the 70s, and he got to that old guy stage where he stopped consuming new music.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: But late 70s, he loved the clash.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: He loved the clash, and he ended up loving Tears for Fears in the early 80s.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So great writers, right?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was in junior high, we used to go to like junk stores and auctions.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're Midwesterners, for God's sakes, and we would buy whole boxes full of records, and it was always about like finding those clash albums on vinyl, and and yeah, it was the last band that my dad really found cool.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the clash has a special relationship with me, or I have a special relationship with them, very similar to yours, as you can tell from the clash poster and the Joe Strummer action figure behind my head.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, that's that's amazing, man, because I have always correlated 311 with the clash as well.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think we were such I personally was so influenced by the fact that they just anything goes.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: We can, you know, uh they went from uh a blues song to a punk rock song to a reggae song to a gospel song to jazz to ska, like some of the first hip-hop hits were on Sandinistas, like Magnificent Seven.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you watch those early breakdancing videos, they were dancing to the clash.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, you know, so it was uh that's such an innovative band, and that's why I'm so glad I got to do some recording with Joe before he passed away.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's I uh ironically, let's see, what was it?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like 22, 23 years ago, I got my first surround sound DVD player, and the first DVDs I got were Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Enlarged to Show Detail 2, and Westway to the World, this fantastic documentary about the clash, and so watching that back to back with Enlarged to Show Detail 2 just made my world, brother.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: So cool, man.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: So geez, that's great.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's uh since since we went there, let's go there.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 311's blue album turns 30 this year.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you guys are going to be commemorating it in several different ways.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just happened to be sitting beachside in Mexico when you uh dropped the announcement of the retro merch, and I was super excited about that.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: How does that feel, man?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: It just brings me back to what an exciting time it was.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was really 95 and net 96 because um we were always a slow burn, we never picked the right first or second singles.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's always for every time it was the third single that that had legs for us.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and like because on the blue album, it was down.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: That was our third single, and I always knew like that hook, man, they that chorus you got.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: They were like, ah, it's a little too hard for radio, but but the people wanted it, man.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: They demanded it.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and our and uh a couple other times that happened, and all the third single is the one that went with like Amber and um uh one other time it happened.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, um knowing how the ch the shows changed a lot because once you got an MTV buzz clip, the crowds got a lot younger, which pissed off some of our OG fans who'd been with us for you know two years or a year or two at that time.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: But like all of a sudden, they're like, where are all these stupid kids coming from?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, dude, we want kids.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: We like this you know what I mean?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: That they're the same as you, just a little younger.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna be elitist and like you know, have an age limit or minimum or anything like that.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, and then there was some people who who felt betrayed by the popularity because they we were their you know best kept secret at the time, and then all of a sudden everybody knew about us, and I was like, look, man, we're gonna stick, we're just sticking to what we do, and uh the the ebb and flow of how many people are into 311, that's gonna come and go, and it has.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we're just gonna, as long as we keep being innovative and putting, you know, making music from the heart, and um and then we really did react sort of to that success with the album Transistor, which was pretty big departure stylistically.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Plenty of people said 311 sucks now.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: That that album doesn't rock, there's all this trippy, you know, whatever.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: What why did they do this?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: I like the blue album better, but we we just knew that it was time to um challenge ourselves and challenge our listeners and not just make the blue album part two.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: But it was a very exciting time to, you know, get to be on David Letterman and Conan O'Brien and all the different things that we did kind of at at when the blue album came out.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I it's so funny.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have here on my notes about the transition from blue album to transistor because I don't think the modern 311 sound would exist without that one-two punch where your core sound was the blue album, but your innovation came from transistor, and you've made such a melting pot of those two albums, and then expanded that field so much more since that I I think that was the biggest blessing uh to the longevity of your guys' career for sure.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it it was uh another slow burner because uh after a while um it became known as our I don't know, Sandinista or Sgt.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Pepper or something where uh you really you know took a big step in a different direction, and it became a lot of 311 fans' favorite album.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you you kind of if if if a new album is too easily accepted, you might not be challenging your your your audience enough.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I also knew when when I'm making this solo music that's got you know pedal steel and some fiddle and banjo and different things, and people might be like, I don't know, but it's it's where my heart led me.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: You you can't deny the muse, because she will abandon you if you keep denying the muse.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where music comes from is following the muse, and that's what I'm into, so that's what I gotta do.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: And even even if it isn't, you know, people's favorite, just gotta do it.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's funny is earlier when we were talking, you took another analogy right out of my mouth is modern day Grateful Dead, and I have thought that about 311 even since before the blue album, and I think that adds a lot to your longevity and your band success uh with longevity.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think that having that one-on-one relationship with the audience?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's kind of a redundancy, but does fuel that and and that your live show really is the punctuation mark to what 311 really is?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, uh we just decided, like the dead, we're just gonna tour every summer rain or shine.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter whether our last release did better or worse or whatever, and how radio or critics never really supported us anyway, so they definitely didn't matter.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know what I mean?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're we're rain or shine, we're going on tour in the summer, we'll work the albums around that, but we are a touring band first.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the only thing is that we realize it asks a lot of our fans.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we just had a show two nights ago um in in Houston at the is it called the 713 Music Hall at the music hall, and we had played there in August, and we had the exact number down to the like exact number of same attendance of the two shows between eight months.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, man, that is that is awesome that you know we could play a place and go back eight months later and and not have like worn out our welcome.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was pretty crazy that the ticket count was the exact same.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: That usually doesn't happen.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: But um we only thing that was a drawback to all that is that we didn't focus, we didn't develop uh overseas markets, and a lot of bands kind of like, okay, this year we're doing Europe and next year we're doing the US, and we never did that.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: We just we just like focused on because there's just so many markets in the in the US.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we are kind of trying to, you know, we we've been to Australia and Europe and and Japan um over the past year, so that's pretty exciting, hoping to go to South America at then this year, but you know, our foundation with our relationship with our fan base in the States is is very enviable, you know what I mean?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: We never take it for granted.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're so stoked on that.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I don't think the in my opinion, the quality is never degraded by any way, shape, or form.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I say this with all due respect to other singers, and I'm not just trying to shine ass here, I'm I'm being legit and I'm being honest here, but a lot of people as they age seem to decline in some of the finer aspects of performing.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So without giving too much of the secret sauce away, how is it that Nick Hexum just keeps getting better with time, my friend?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it is pretty rare that my um range has um increased uh a bit.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that and it really happened because I went and learned I I'm very big fan of humility and asking for help to go and learn better vocal technique.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this guy named Ron Anderson was this vocal coach um in LA that uh really helped me to learn to sing through the break.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um because as being just total self-taught guy, I I there was a period in the early 2000s when I was kind of straining my voice and having like diminishing returns.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I went and I asked for help, and now I have these tapes that he made me that I sing along with before every single show.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it's you know, you have to kind of think of it as like an athlete being being fit and having your chops up, having your cardiovascular, you know, having your cardio in ready to go to be able to perform a show.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot not train for a for uh a tour, and that includes your guitar chops, your your singing chops, your your physicality, your flexibility.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like we just take it super seriously.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and being that you're a well-known health and fitness advocate, I'm sure that plays a good part into it, you know, monitoring the the diet, the workout routine, and and and being consistent with that.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: So with all your time on the road, how do you keep yourself consistent?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was 1994 when we went and had um corn out on do uh uh or run of shows.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: Corn was our opening band and they brought weights.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you can do that?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can just bring a gym and have it in the dressing room.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, yeah.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so ever since then, man, we we bring a workout set up.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Not all of us use it, everybody has different, you know, uh things that they do, but everyone is is fit, and uh, and to me, I realized that um getting the blood flowing with a workout about 90 minutes before the show, so I just hit the ground running um is just super important to me.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and then staying staying fit during the uh the off season.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: I play I play basketball, I do F-45, I jog, I do, you know, weights on my own, and uh get get in and out of different phases.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's like surfing, other times it, you know, F-45 classes is something that I I really enjoy.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they have those in all over the country, but it's it's a good it's a good workout.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, bringing this full circle and back to the beginning of the interview, we talked a lot about parenting and such.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is your children's relationship with what you do, and are they showing any aspirations to be musicians themselves?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they all are wonderful singers, and they um they they really enjoy the perks of getting to come like on 311's cruise.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: They always jump at the chance to come to a show anytime it's at all feasible.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, the fact that I can get us the inside lane on tickets to go see you know, Taylor Swift or whatever, that doesn't hurt at all.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um and but my oldest daughter is probably the most accomplished as a uh former musician.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like she's been playing piano since she was three, and she does the Certificate of Merit training, which is a very serious like recital and testing and theory and sight reading, and like she is a way better musician than I was at her age, but she doesn't uh have an interest in fame, and so she does like yeah, I I'm like when it came, she played piano on that song 1978 we were talking about earlier, and she was like, I'll play on uh on I'll play the piano, but I'm not gonna be in the video.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Why?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, I don't know, my friends will see it.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, but my other my middle daughter was a little bit more agreeable.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: She agreed to be in the in the music video for for Please Explain with me.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say the younger two are a little bit more interested in the career in music because they're into acting and musical theater.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they don't really play instruments, so but they all have really great pitch and they harmonize together and on um, it's just a very huge part of what we do as a family to bond to enjoy music together and dance around and go to shows and stuff.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Same here, man.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter, the one that's graduating this weekend, she is ten times the musician that I ever was.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, she does a lot of the sporting events throughout Omaha, actually throughout Nebraska.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, she's even gotten to Illinois and a few other places.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: She does a national anthem and all these performances, but but I can't talk her into doing it anymore.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like she she's about to go to Northwest Missouri State and she's gonna marry um major in music and musical theater.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but I can't get her to do the anthems anymore.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Liz, come on, do this thing already.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, she's like, no, no, I'm over singing the anthem.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've done it enough.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: I did it for state wrestling, I did it for this.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, she's very similar to your oldest as well.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess, yeah, you know.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's interesting.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my uh at my oldest echo, she has this like kind of uh synesthesia where she'll hear a song and be like, oh, that chord is kind of green or whatever, and like I don't know what you're talking about.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I guess Billy Eilish says she has that too.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I I know she'll keep playing and maybe she'll take an interest in it in some time.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe you know, someone like me who was super ambitious and just couldn't wait to be on stage and be like, look at me, you know, maybe maybe they're a little healthier than I was at that time.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know not need so much attention.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know it.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know it.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, man, I I want to kind of start wrapping this up with a few personal anecdotes.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: First one being um I went to I lived in big cities my entire life.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I moved around, I was always the new kid.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: I lived in Denver, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kansas City, always moving around.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: In high school, I ended up in a small town in Iowa, southwest Iowa.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the perfect midpoint between Des Moines and Omaha.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Twenty-six years ago, I started a band and decided to move to Omaha.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: And a big part of that influence was my fandom of 311.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I've had a fantastic life because of such.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: And now we actually have a lot of mutual acquaintances, which I'm not gonna name drop on air, maybe we'll talk offline.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: But uh man, I've had a great life, and I definitely think that 311 has really influenced that in a positive way.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to thank you for that.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: That is so nice to hear.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't expect that at all.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes you show up at a podcast and they're only vaguely familiar with 311, but this is really cool to hear.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, oh man.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: When when I tell you, when I tell you offline who some common friends are, you'll be like, no shit.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, yeah.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh anecdote number two, it comes from the year 2020, year 2021.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: As I said multiple times, my daughter is graduating high school this weekend, but before she started her freshman year, the thing that she wanted from her dear dad was to um go to her first concert.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: I had had one hell of a year work stress, post-pandemic stress, you know, everybody was going through it.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, her first concert happened to be 311 at the Pinewood Bowl here in Lincoln, Nebraska, and we took so many photos and videos, and you know, very similar to that eight millimeter clip that you talked about from your childhood.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had that with my daughter, and again, it was fantastic.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna follow it up by seeing you guys this summer after she graduates high school on July 12th here in Omaha for 897 the River's 30th birthday bash, which just so happens to be the day after the blue album turns 30.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's crazy, and that that really means a lot that you have those kind of memories associated with us.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing that.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's at band practice now because she's singing in a band now.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: And when I tell her that I just got done talking to you, she's not gonna believe me until she sees it.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, tell her I said hello and to keep showing that instrument, even her voice, show it show that some love every day, and she'll be just fine.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk about 311 311 adjacent uh shows.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Essays band, Los Stellarians are gonna be playing in Omaha a free show on June 7th.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for that one.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, you can go to 311 at Werner Park on June 12th.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Nick, let everybody know he's gonna do a solo acoustic set.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: You heard it here first.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: First.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then July 12th, 897 the River's 30th anniversary show.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, the day after the blue album turns 30.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot wait to see you guys all there.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, I'm hoping we get to run into each other in person at one of these events.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Come to the soccer game, please.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be there.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be the easiest.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be there, we'll be there, we'll bring the fam.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, my closing question that I ask everybody is what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh I get asked for advice from you know couples getting married and stuff, and I always just say let love guide all your decisions.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Don't keep score.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: Just you know, try and savor and serve.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Savor the moments by using your senses to get into the present moment and and be of service, because the rewards that you get to know that you're you know making the world a better place is is the best reward that you can have.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, yes, stay positive and love your life, everybody.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just said another way.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Nick Hexum, thank you so much for doing the show, man.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: The world is a much better place with you and it.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: Much appreciated.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: This was super fun.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can only imagine the number of cartwheels and backflips I did after this episode was over.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: What a fantastic time, what a fantastic opportunity.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want to thank my guest, Nick Hexham, for doing the podcast today.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: It meant the world to me.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to thank the folks at skp.io for helping set this up.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you are following Nick and SKP on Instagram as soon as you possibly can, and I know a lot of you are already following 311.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: 311 will be in Omaha, Nebraska on July 12th, 2025 Riverside Park for 897 the River's 30th annual birthday batch.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hope to see you all there.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: While you're being generous with follows, make sure you follow Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Visit me www.cottonhemic.com.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: And for all guest inquiries, shoot me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mic.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Clark.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, thank you.