"The members of 311 all grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. Nick, Tim and Chad lived on the west side of Omaha and they all went to Westside High School together. P-Nut and SA lived on the south side of Omaha and they went to Bryan High School together.

During high school, Nick & Tim were in a band called "the Ed's" - named after their drummer, Ed. Their material was made up of original songs and covers by the alternative bands of the day like REM, the Smiths and the Cure. At about this time, Nick was also playing in the high school concert jazz band with Chad.

At seventeen Nick graduated early from high school and moved to downtown Los Angeles in pursuit of a music career. When he returned to Omaha for Tim and Chad's graduation - the three of them got together for a jam session and the "Omaha Stylee" was born.

They called themselves "Unity". They had a keyboardist named Ward Bones at that time. In '88 - '89 Chad, Bones and Nick moved to Hollywood and made an unsuccessful attempt at getting a recording contract.

Chad moved back to Omaha, hooked up with P-Nut and formed a band with guitarist Jim Watson. Some time later, Chad convinced Nick to return to Omaha to join their band and to play a gig opening for FUGAZI on June 10th 1990.

In '91 they parted with Jim and added Tim Mahoney as lead guitarist. At that time, SA Martinez was making guest appearances at 311's live shows. In '92 SA was added as a full member and 311, as you know it, was born.

The band rented a small house in Van Nuys and they all lived there together. These were lean times that they spent practicing music, playing basketball and unsuccessfully growing marijuana. There was also a lot of pasta eating and TV watching. Just before the band disintegrated into poverty they were signed by Capricorn Records.

Their first record "Music" was released with little fan fare in February of '93. They then had a bare bones tour that was temporarily sidelined when their touring RV caught on fire and exploded - destroying all of their equipment, clothes, money and personal possessions.

In July of '94 the band released "Grassroots." By this time they were touring the U.S. non-stop. They moved out of their house in Van Nuys - put their stuff into a storage space and literally just lived on the road. The band put all their energy into their live shows and through word of mouth they developed a true grassroots following.

In July of '95, they released "311" and once again set out on tour. By '96 their shows and their fan base had grown considerably - and the media, which had basically ignored 311 until then, began paying attention. In September of '96 (14 months after the "311" album was released) "Down" hit and became an across the board success on radio and MTV.

After the success of the Blue Album (which has now gone triple platinum), 311 released a long-form home video called "Enlarged to Show Detail". To make it a unique item, the band bundled the video with a CD of unreleased recordings (outtakes from the Blue Album). ETSD was a blast to put together and the fan feedback was so positive that the band is working on a sequel.

After ETSD, 311 returned to the recording studio on March 11th (3-11 day) and began recording "Transistor". Together with their longtime sound engineer, Scotch Ralston, they put together a collection of 21 songs which debuted at #4 on the Billboard Charts and has since gone Platinum.

311 then toured relentlessly through the US, Europe, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. In February of '98, they returned to LA to begin some new recording projects.

In October '98, they released a CD titled "Omaha Sessions", which is a collection of early 311 material written and recorded between 1988-1991. The CD is only available on the "Store" page of the website and at shows.

On November 3rd '98 (new 3-11 on 11-3!), the band released "311 Live" - which features 14 live songs recorded during the Transistor tour.

On October 12th '99, they released their latest album "Soundsystem" and then hit the road again.

311 kicked off the new millennium with a bang, by performing a special New Year's Eve Concert with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Forum in LA. Soon after they celebrated March 11, 2000 with a special 311 weekend in New Orleans. The mayor of New Orleans presented the band with a plaque officially proclaiming the date as 3-11 Day in New Orleans. They played 47 songs at the concert (their longest set ever) and the show included dancing Mardi Gras Indians, confetti cannons, and guest appearances from a 12 ft. Alien and a 10 ft. Bunny.

This summer 311 celebrated their 10 Year Anniversary together. In celebration they played 3 special shows. On June 10, 2000 (10 years after their first show) they played the album "Music" in sequence and in it's entirety at their show in Washington DC. On June 15, 2000 they played the album "311" in sequence and in it's entirety at their show in Boston and on June 22, 2000 they played the album "Grassroots" followed by "Music" both in sequence and in their entirety at their show in Atlanta.

In July 2000, 311 purchased their own recording studio in Los Angeles (The Hive Studios) and they are now starting to work on some new music. They're hoping to release their next record in early 2001.

Between now and then, 311 will head over to Japan for the Summer Sonic Festivals in August 2000 and they also plan to do a Fall Tour of the US in October / November.

Many more adventures ahead...

Peace,

Adam Raspler

311 Manager"

This info was provided by 311 History

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