Dammit we need a new album

[pnutwannabe]

311 should start coming out on stage dressed like The Misfits.

[rchrhds29]

pnutwannabe: That comment made me wish 311 would play a Halloween concert here in Washington, DC!

[Alexnova]

dark is a good sign I guess. its "in" to be dark these days. I.

My take on this.

What is 311's core fanbase?

It's mostly been people coming of age, right?

I don't want to psychoanalyze from my armchair, but people in my generation are sort of facing a crisis. It's not a new one, but it's one that looks even worse considering the state of the economy and job prospects for those graduating out of college. There have been plenty of studies that have shown that unemployment and not being able to find a job has been a major cause for young people to undergo a ton of anxiety and stress. On top of this, is coping with living on your own for the first time without any parental help.

However, what I have seen is a lot of kids my age are still living at home with their parents and taking a much longer time to move out. Let alone starting families and careers.

Without any real concrete solution to the problems that we face as young adults, we become scared and confused about what lies ahead of us. Hence we start developing an existential crisis with our transition into adulthood.

Look at the financial burden fresh grads are carrying and truly bleak prospects out there.

Well I think the whole world has been pretty bleak and continues to worsen.

How does this tie with 311? It doesn't. I don't see how they can write about any sort of melancholy (let alone pretend)this late in life. They have been playing the positivity card when it comes to mortality and the human condition for a long time. Add to the fact that they are very well off and how are you going to connect to an audience that isn't?

I'm not really a fan of escapism in music, anymore. I want to listen to people who relate to the struggles I am going through and are realistic about it.

When has 311 ever done that? And like I said you can't expect them to. What struggles do they have? They broke a handle on a faucet that costs 1000 dollars to replace? A flat tire on their new Lotus?

Nick's got a family now so I don't see how he could be down at all or getting "darker" in his lyrics. If he's going to be more political, then ok.

I guess you can say I have "grown" out of 311 and moved on to other things. I just do not relate to their music, lyrics or anything that they do.

If they come out with an album that will surprise me, I'll give them credit. But insofar as my life is concerned, they are wholly irrelevant to me. And I would say to a generation at large.

Aren't most of the fans going to 311 shows out of nostalgia anyway? Folks in my generation reminisce about the past way to much and clamor on past glories in hopes they replicate them. How many times do you hear they should play Grassroots or Transistor in full on like every setlist?

BTW I'm not a pessimist, but merely more cynical than anything else. There is always a time to put on music that you enjoy that has nothing to do with going on in your life, and I fully understand that, but I have yet to see any true artistic growth from 311. Evolver was a turning point, sure, in the right or wrong direction is up for debate. If you were to categorize their albums into groups, most of their new stuff still follows the Evolver format to some degree. Nick took a few lyrical "challenges" on that album with some mild success, but he isn't a Dylan...then again he was never trying to be anyway.

I always felt it has been a tug of war with 311. Trying to please the old-school crowd and get some mainstream exposure. It's like they can't move forward without going backwards to please those folks. I guess that's why their new stuff has always sounded staid to me. Not like my expectations are high for some injection of creativity or anything.

Good on them from getting rid of Ron St. though. They should get rid of Bob Rock too, I really hate his production...it's too crisp. Now I'm rambling..

tl:dr 311 won't get darker, world sucks, young people are fucked, nostalgia, some bullshit

[rchrhds29]

Alexnova 2 things:

1: 311 has decided to stay clear of politics. I heard this directly from their manager Peter Raspler, so don't expect politics on the new album

2: I disagree that 311, or any band, has to go "dark" to relate to younger people that are in the situation you described. I mean, yes, some people prefer "dark" music, say the Alkaline Trio, when they are depressed or in a bad situation in there life.

But, I'd like to bring up the point that 311 is actually in a unique situation. There continuous message / vibe of positivity is music you can listen to that puts you on a good mood and makes you think about having a positive future for yourself.

It's like this, you ever heard how being confident means more likely that good things will happen for you? Well the person listening to "dark" music is just sinking deeper into their bad mood / negative thinking. Where as the person listening to the positive vibe / message of 311 is more likely to be positive and thus be more likely to want to work towards improving their life.

Just my opinion

Personally though, I wish 311, now that they aren't ever gonna be in the mainstream and are really just making music / playing shows for the diehard fans, would go back to experimentation like on 'Transistor'. I've said this a million times on here, but GOD I want an album where SA is the lead vocalist on every track.

[FreeRayLiotta]

I think Pnut was talking about trying to steer things away from the Badadopdopbadeeda shit. Sunset in July has a dark feel to the sound which is disconnected from their shit awful lyrics.

and dark isn't exactly new to them. use of time, what was i thinking... those are dark. Eons.

I would rather they go to the hive, hit record, and jam for 74 minutes than hear another collection of pop songs.

[Tehshewz]

I think Pnut was talking about trying to steer things away from the Badadopdopbadeeda shit.

The happy go lucky shit needs to go.

[Smoke]

I think Pnut was talking about trying to steer things away from the Badadopdopbadeeda shit. Sunset in July has a dark feel to the sound which is disconnected from their shit awful lyrics.

and dark isn't exactly new to them. use of time, what was i thinking... those are dark. Eons.

I would rather they go to the hive, hit record, and jam for 74 minutes than hear another collection of pop songs.

Yep, pop 311 is not why I signed on for the long haul. I really expected more experimenting. They have the fan base built up this is really the time. As long as it's not a complete 180 into folk music or metal or some other shit.

Which isn't to say I don't like folk and metal, but it wouldn't suit them very well I don't believe.

[$lmjimy311]

Hahaha nice