Omaha, NE · alt-rock · reggae-rock

311

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Amber-toned reggae-rock positivity out of Omaha — three decades of hybrid grooves, rap-rock verses, and sunny choruses that made them a permanent institution of the summer shed circuit.

311 formed in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1988 around Nick Hexum, original guitarist Jim Watson, bassist P-Nut and drummer Chad Sexton. Tim Mahoney replaced Watson on guitar in 1990, and SA Martinez joined as a second vocalist and turntablist in 1992, completing the lineup that has held steady for most of the band's history. The name comes from an Omaha police code for indecent exposure, cited after a friend of the band was caught skinny-dipping in a public pool.

The band's music combines rock, funk, reggae and rapped vocals, a mix that found a wide audience in the mid-1990s. Signed to Capricorn Records in 1992, 311 released Music in 1993 and Grassroots in 1994 before their self-titled 1995 album went triple platinum and reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 behind the singles 'Down' and 'All Mixed Up,' the former topping the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1996.

The albums that followed sold steadily: Transistor went platinum in 1997, while Soundsystem and From Chaos were both certified gold in 1999 and 2001. The 2004 compilation Greatest Hits '93-'03 also went platinum, and the band has released fourteen studio albums in total, with Full Bloom arriving in 2024. By 2022, 311 had sold more than 10 million records in the United States.

311's live schedule has stayed long and consistent, including its own recurring events and cruises. Sexton's drum solo, joined by the rest of the band, remains a long-standing fixture of the set.

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alt-rockreggae-rock