311 lead singer, by the numbers
Eighteen years in the music business, and 311's lead singer Nick Hexum claims he's never been asked to play a round of Number Association. (That's a twist on the old "word association" where you say a word/phrase/whatever with a number and the other person says the first thing that comes to mind.) So days before his rock quintet returned for its annual, multi-genre Unity Tour, we got Hexum to oblige us:
• "Beverly Hills 90210." "Sideburns."
• "Reno 911!" "The whale. Remember when they were trying to push that whale back into the water [in the movie 'Reno 911! Miami']? I didn't actually see the movie but it was a great trailer. I've seen the [TV] show too. It was on in the studio, and I remember the episode when the cops were trying to rap. Talking about 'Smoking the chronic.' 'Smoking the chronic' has been an in-studio joke since we saw that."
• "867-5309." "Ooooh — the summer swimming pool. ... Growing up in the late '70s in Omaha, Neb., I will always remember that song, 'Tainted Love,' just great memories of girls in bikinis. Summer and the pool."
• "777-9311." "Never heard of it." (It was a hit by the '80s funk band the Time.)
• 50 Cent. "Blowhard."
• U2. "A role model. Inspiration. An example of how to do it right."
• OneRepublic. "Good pop. I have a secret pleasure going on right now where I'm really enjoying them and Paramore and just a lot of popular stuff. I like a lot of stuff on the radio right now. I started listening to the Top 20 station on my satellite, you know, doing a little research; and I got pretty hooked. It may not be hip or cool to say that, but I don't care."
• Andre 3000. "Super-creative. One of my favorite MCs of all time. His guest vocals on 'I Choose You' by UGK, just that long intro rap over that old sample — 'I typed a text to a girl I used to see/Saying that I chose this cutie pie with whom I wanna be/Wetness all around me, true, but I'm no island/Peninsula maybe, makes no sense I know, crazy' — that [expletive] is genius!"
• 2Pac. "Missed it. He went over my head. I don't have any of his records."
• 311. "A gift to my life. An honor. And a privilege to do this for 18 years. It was our dream, but it has become much bigger than that. It's a whole community of people, and we feel very grateful."
