The strikingly genius band, 311, is a vision of illumination peeking past the dark cloud cast on the music industry. They have certainly worked hard for all that they have achieved. Would you like to know what it is like to become an extreme musical underground success and all the hard work it takes to be exactly where you want to be? The history of the band, 311, has the answers to these questions.
             All the members of 311 grew up in the ultra-hip era, the seventies, in Omaha, Nebraska. Timothy Mahoney, Chad Sexton, and Nicholas Hexum lived on the West Side and they all went to Westside High School with each other. Aaron "P-nut" Wills and Douglas "SA" Martinez lived on the South side and both went to Bryan High School together. (ETSD Video)
             In high school, Tim and Nick were in a band called The Eds, which was named after the drummer, ED. Their songs and music were made up of the original songs and covers by eighties bands like REM, The Cure, and The Smiths. At this time Nick and Chad were also playing in the high school concert jazz band together. (ESTD Video)
             When Nick was seventeen, he graduated early from school (he was very advanced) and moved to downtown Los Angeles in pursuit of a musical career. When Nick came back to Omaha a year later for Chad and Tim's graduation, the three guys got together for a jam session, and that's when the original 311 sound, Omaha Stylee, was born. (ETSD Video)
             At first, they named the band Unity. At that time, they had a keyboardist named Ward Bones AKA Bones. In 1988 and 1989, Chad, Nick and Bones packed up and moved to Hollywood and tried making an unsuccessful stab at getting a record contract. (ETSD Video)
             Chad was the first to move back to Omaha. He then hooked up with P-nut as bassist and the original 311 guitarist, Jim Watson. Chad then asked Nick to join their band to play a show opening up for an indie band called Fugazi on June 10, 1990. (ETSD Vi...