311’s Weed Dealer Approved The Riff On “down,” Which Helped The Song Rise To No. 1 

Holed up somewhere on Mulholland Drive, high above the Hollywood Bowl, Nick Hexum, Doug “SA” Martinez, Tim Mahoney, Aaron “P-Nut” Willis, and Chad Sexton—collectively known as 311—laid the demo for “Down,” the third single from the band’s 1996 self-titled album. They could have never predicted it would be the song to launch them into another orbit. Propelled by MTV, which designated “Down” a “Buzz Clip,” the track blew up and landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. 

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It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and helped push the album itself to triple platinum status just two years after its release. The song also breathed new life into 311’s catalog, allowing the Omaha-bred band to re-release “All Mixed Up,” which wound up performing exponentially better on the chart following its mainstream success. 

Thirty years later, 311 is more than a band—it’s an institution. The group just wrapped up 311 Day in Las Vegas, where they curated the first-ever 311 museum, performed multiple shows at the Dolby Live Theater, participated in meet and, greets, and hosted various after-parties. Next year, they’ll set sail on the ninth edition of the 311 Caribbean Cruise, which has evolved into a premium experience for their loyal legion of diehard fans. 

Here, Nick Hexum and SA Martinez reflect on the origins of “Down” with another Omaha native—me. I first heard of 311 as an eighth grader. My cool, older friend, who was already a freshman at Central High School, brought home a cassette tape called Unity, one of the group’s earliest recordings. That led to seeing 311 at the now-defunct (yet still legendary) Omaha venue The Ranch Bowl and other local spots like Sokol Auditorium and the Peony Park Ballroom. As the group exploded and moved out of our hometown, I quietly cheered them on from the sidelines. Now, all these years later, I still am—only louder.

Tour ’Til Gold

Nick Hexum: We got off tour. We had been touring really long on Grassroots to the extent that we just put our stuff in storage. We didn’t even have a home. So we just lived on the road in ’94. And our motto was “tour ’til gold.” But we didn’t quite make it to gold. We were like, “OK, let’s go make new music.” But really those first two years, ’93 and ’94, we put in our 10,000 hours and really got our chops together from show after show. I think once we did 20 days in a row with no days off. We were hitting it hard, partying our asses off the whole way. It’s just crazy what we put our bodies through at that time. Then we came home to make some new music. 

SA Martinez: I remember getting the demo and immediately thinking, “Oh my God, please let there be raps on this.” It was just like the verse, the guitar was perfect. And at the time, I was into all this dope West Coast hip-hop like Souls of Mischief and Pharcyde. That was the vibe of that era. We did the record, recorded the song, and the album was out. “Down” was the third single off the record, and before it was even a single, it was getting reactions at the shows. The reactions it was getting was like it was a single already, and it was blowing up. That was the vibe at the shows whenever that song was played. Everything at that moment, though, truthfully was just a culmination of two, three years of touring nonstop and getting this groundswell of word of mouth, a “you got to check these guys out” type of thing. The vibes at the show were popping, right? When you add that fire of a song like “Down,” it’s really popping. It was a phenomenal time for us in our lives. 

Alice

Hexum: There was a certain patch that I had in my guitar rack. It was called Alice. And it was because it was basically recreating the distortion guitar with “wah” like the song “Man in the Box” by Alice In Chains. I loved that patch. We were listening to lots of hip-hop, lots of dancehall, and Helmet, so there’s definitely a Helmet influence in there with that riff. I remember I had the riff and it’s obviously very harsh, and I remember asking our weed dealer, I was like, “Do you like it better with the effect on or off?” He was like, “Oh, leave the effect on.” I just remember him confirming the choice. It’s interesting that SA talks about Souls of Mischief and Pharcyde and stuff, because I don’t really hear that. I remember me saying, “I’m going to make a dancehall chorus.” And SA being like, “I don’t know why that’s dancehall.” 

Martinez: I’m like, “Hmm, I don’t really hear the dancehall in it [laughs].” But it’s all of what we’re listening to, both individually and collectively, and we all get these ideas that percolate and spring out of what we’re being influenced by. 

Hexum: It might not have had the impact [without the weed dealer’s input], but we had a lot of arguments with the label because they really were always pushing us to do more melodic because that’s why they kind of made us start with “Don’t Stay Home” and then “All Mixed Up” because it was more singing. But we kept saying, like, “‘Down,’ ‘Down,’ that’s the one.” So finally, they threw us a bone and put it out as the third single. That became a buzz clip, which was a huge deal. That’s MTV saying, “This is the song that everyone’s buzzing about.” They played it literally every hour. And then after that happened, a lot more teenagers started coming to the show. I remember people being like, “Man, there’s all these kids now at your shows,” and I was like, “Good.” 

Martinez: Yeah, they’re gonna buy the records. 

Hexum: Reading along with the lyrics and absorbing it in a way that you only do when you’re a teenager was how we did it. 

Mulholland Drive

Hexum: Me, Tim, and Chad had a house up on Mulholland, up above the Hollywood Bowl, that we were renting. That’s where those demos were made. Peanut and SA lived nearby. I made a demo probably using an ADAT machine, which used VHS to record digitally. It was this big innovation back then. I probably made it on that using a drum machine at first. Then the band learned it, and I just left the verses open for SA to do a really hard-hitting rap. It just came together perfectly. 

Bring the Ruckus 

Hexum: The demo happened in a day or two. Then we got SA a cassette to write his raps, got together, and played. Fortunately, the neighbors didn’t mind that we were rocking really loud in the living room there. I remember the next house we had, the neighbor was like, “No, you are not doing this here.” But yeah, so we had rehearsals there, just blasting out over Los Angeles and we had the most beautiful view of downtown and all of Hollywood. It was a mid-century house and the whole back of the house was glass. That was dope. 

Martinez: That was technically the band’s second house. The first one, we were in the valley in Van Nuys in a smaller spread in a “Leave It to Beaver” neighborhood. This gay couple was next to us, and they were so nice. They didn’t mind, so at noon every day we played for like an hour. We had a painting by [local skateboard shop owner/artist] Tony McMillan on the wall. 

Sir-Raps-A-Lot

Martinez: It was the intent, to have a lot of rapping on it. We were all into all those [West Coast hip-hop] groups. We were still going out to clubs at that point and absorbing. And that’s the thing. Club culture was the influencer culture. DJs were the influencers back then. And that’s what I try to communicate to people. You couldn’t just walk into Whole Foods and hear Sister Nancy playing. You had to be at the spot, like, “What was that?” Then it was like “good luck finding this one.” It was guarded. 

The Elevation

Martinez: We were in downtown L.A. when we shot the video with Josh Taft. We’re spending money to do these videos. And it’s like, “Oh, that’s kind of a lot.” But you’re going to do it because it’s what you have to do. You’re taking people at their word in the business and connections were being made. We had another partner come into the fold business-wise named Danny Goldberg, he made some calls and got the video on MTV. That was a big part of it.

Hexum: There was a time that there was zero CGI, so they actually had a board with cables. Did they lift him up? Or did they lift us up? 

Martinez: I can’t remember. 

Hexum: Somebody got lifted up, and they were elevating us. They were sitting there meditating. They were like, “Don’t worry, we’ll remove the wires so it looks like you’re floating.” We had tinsel blowing all around me. Josh had done some really cool things, like Nirvana or Soundgarden or something. I think we had 50 grand to make that video, which was like, big time for us. 

Martinez: The concept was all Josh. Most all our videos aside from maybe the one we did recently with Brian Smith, a friend of ours, none of us had a clue what was going to happen that day. Maybe we had, like, a loose concept. You’d gete a little storyboard prior, some treatments, and then be like, “Yeah, we’ll pick this one.” But how is it going to turn out? No one knows. With that one, I don’t recall the treatment. I’m sure we got one, but you just kind of show up.

Hexum: Shout out to Adam Raspler, because he would just get all these different treatments and be like, “This guy is cool.” And we’re like, “Please just make us look cool [laughs].” 

The Breakthrough

Hexum: I remember him [the Buddha in the video] being Hawaiian, but he really looked like a Buddha with silver paint all over him. I think it really turned out cool. I think it holds up. 

Martinez: It was what broke the band through. Up until that point, we were just kind of slugging it out, and that was when the gates opened. To circle back, we put out “Don’t Stay Home,” we put out “All Mixed Up” and then “Down,” and then we re-released “All Mixed Up” again to radio and shot a video for it, because we didn’t do a video for it initially. Then it also took on a new life and had two different incarnations on radio. 

Hexum: I know they had cool clothes for us, like these quilted silver jackets in the meditation scene. I actually just found mine in the container. It was in a plastic bag and it smelled really weird, but I aired it all out and it’s in the museum for 311 Day. 

Ladies & Gentlemen…David Letterman

Martinez: You don’t really know what’s going to happen next because everything is coming at you all at once. You’re now at the wheel. We were at the wheel, but now that wheel is accelerating. And honestly, there’s more pressure, because now that record did well. This next one better do well. You kind of feel that pressure a bit. But it’s also a particular moment in one’s life. And we were all young dudes and ready to take on the world. 

Hexum: And then going to New York to be on “David Letterman,” that was a big moment. David Letterman used to be on really late after Johnny Carson, and I would stay up and just love how he used to be so fucking snarky in the ’80s, so to meet him and be on “Letterman,” that was like, “Oh wow, I think we made it guys.” 

I was so excited, man. We just blew up the spot. I remember while Dave was introducing us, he was like, “This is the No. 1 song in the country. Not doing too good in the city, but these guys are from Nebraska.” I was making weird noises with my guitar while he was introducing us. He was like, “They’re ready to blow the roof off the spot.” Usually they have Paul Shaffer play along with the band, but we were like, “No, we’re not doing that. We’re just gonna rock the fuck out.” 

Still Grateful

Hexum: The most important thing is that when I wrote my inspiration for the chorus, the lyrics were both a thank you to the fans and a thank you to my bandmates because it was like, “If I ever didn’t thank you, then just let me do it now.” We were really feeling this groundswell and dreams were coming true, so it’s really a heartfelt message of thank you to the fans. But I also remember thinking about my bros in the band. So that’s why it’s just a really good closure, because there’s really nothing more important to say to the fans than thank you. 

Secret to Longevity? 

Hexum: You got to respect the democracy. Sometimes you’re not going to get your way and get outvoted, but you just keep an attitude of gratitude of realizing this is a special thing and that we stumbled on something that’s really cool. We’re better together than we could ever be apart. And just keeping that gratitude. It makes the optimism sustainable. Sometimes you’re not gonna get your way, so you gotta be flexible and just being down for the unity. 
Martinez: Plus, our humble Nebraska origins [laughs]. When you come from Omaha, you don’t have any rock ‘n roll role models that are from your area. That’s not a thing. Once we were getting traction and doing things that we wanted to do, it was inspirational to us. And yeah, you get immersed in L.A. culture and whatnot, but you also remember where you came from. You don’t take it for granted. It’s just something that you’re privileged to be a part of. I think about it all the time. How does it even happen? It’s pretty amazing.

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