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Returning to Australia for the first time since 1998, 311 are set to raise the good vibes at Good Things Festival kicking off later this week, with the band's first headline sideshow also taking place tomorrow (Wednesday 4 December) in Melbourne.
As veterans of over 2,000 shows across 27 countries, 311 is one of the longest running original lineups in rock, alongside iconic acts like U2 and Radiohead. 311’s celebrated live shows and touring schedule have earned them a vast and dedicated following nationwide; a fact amplified by their brand new album release, the phenomenal Full Bloom which dropped on October 25.
To help get you in the 311 and the Good Things spirit, today bassist P-Nut is parting the curtains for us and sharing some key creative inspirations that helped shape and inspire Full Bloom. Read on and get set for some incredible times 311-style this week!
TURNSTILE
Here's some inspirations for Full Bloom and I'll start with music because I know that's one thing that usually we all agree on. One of the cool things about when we first moved out here is that we were sharing so much music with each other. We lived together, so it was almost a daily event to hear something new and to be blown away by how cool it was. I put Turnstile in that camp and I really couldn't speak higher about them. I think that's an inspiration as far as them relatively being kids compared to us, that have the torch and are just doing incredible things with it. I think we're all really inspired by what Turnstile is doing for sure. There's an authenticity in their invention that I think we can draw inspiration from. Even though I know they were inspired by us, I've talked to them about it, which is another just incredible thing to do because I look up to them, those 30-year-olds. Like I said, they're doing great things, and I know we're all inspired by them. I don't know if you can hear it in Full Bloom. I think it's more like an open door for us to continue being ourselves. They're doing their thing, but I know we love what they're doing, and I think we are all inspired by them musically.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
The great outdoors in one way or the other is another one, just being outside more I think is one thing that we're all inspired by. We all have a little oasis to call our own since we've worked hard for so long. We know it's important when we come home to be able to just bring everything down - and nothing's better at that than being outside. That's definitely an inspiration, you can hear it in the songs too. In Mountain Top on Full Bloom, there's direct references to ‘you should probably go outside’. We are all avid outdoors people, and some people more than others. There's something about it. It's so simple, but it means a lot. And it's a fun thing to talk about in songs because we all know how trapped we feel inside.
BREAKING DOWN ART INTO INSPIRATION
With movies that we're all into, we're a little all over the map, and it couldn't specifically be any one thing in terms of a key inspiration for this album. Dune definitely blew us all away, but we're pretty eclectic as far as movies go - and I like that about us. It shows how different our personalities are. You could get a top 10 list of movies from all of us that would be probably vastly different from each other. Me and Nick [Hexum] share a lot of things together. We watch the same sort of things. We recently watched Ripley on Netflix, which was a good kind of under the radar show. The setting was just so beautiful, it makes me want to go to Italy and France and just hang out and drink coffee. I don't need too much more than that, but it looks so cool. It makes the story so much more interesting to have a wonderful setting like that. And I think that's something that I know Nick appreciates and it's something that we talk about a lot, the setting of things. Just breaking down different art as inspiration is really fun with the guys because, like I said already, we are very different people and especially so that we don't live together now. We group up for the summer, historically, and for months at a time generally, and catch up in that time. But when we're not working together, there's natural break and that's kind of a cool thing too.
THE 311 SECRET SAUCE
Also, we understand that the relationship is a lot. Essentially, we're married to each other and have been for 34 years, and there's been ups and downs, things going sideways and wrong and all this shit. Then you throw in COVID and all that. But it's still fun and we still love each other. The secret sauce is that we still really give a shit and we're still having a lot of fun. We know that there's a tonne of people rooting for us. We know that you only get a few shots at this. We've had more shots than most and we've had a lot of appreciation. Just unconditional appreciation is what it feels like. We were the right song and the right band at the right time. Those sorts of moments, it's pretty special. I think if we weren't in the band, we'd be obsessed with some band and we'd be just as obsessed with music as we are now. It's a great opportunity and we're really thankful to be coming back down to Australia and to share our passion and to steal some inspiration from you guys!
GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2024
For ticket info and more, head here
LINE UP:
Korn
Sum 41
Violent Femmes
Electric Callboy | Billy Corgan | Mastodon | Kerry King
The Gaslight Anthem | Jet | The Living End | L7 | Northlane
Bowling For Soup | Alpha Wolf | Sleeping With Sirens | The Butterfly Effect | 311
In Alphabetical Order:
AViVA | Destroy Boys | Dragon | Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls
From Ashes To New | Grandson | Highly Suspect | Imminence
Killing Heidi (Performing ‘Reflector’ In Full) | Loathe | Reliqa | Taylor Acorn
Plus the return of Stage 666!
DATES AND VENUES:
Friday 6 December - Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne (15+)
Saturday 7 December - Centennial Park, Sydney (16+
)Sunday 8 December - Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane (15+)
311 HEADLINE SIDESHOWS:
Wednesday 4 December - 170 Russell, Melbourne
Tuesday 10 December - The Triffid, Brisbane
Wednesday 11 December - Liberty Hall, Sydney
BY TIANA SPETER