Will you play some of the new songs on the tour?
That’s being debated among the band members. It’s a different time now with everyone having cell phones and putting stuff on YouTube. We’re trying to decide if we want to wait until people can hear it properly recorded for the first time or not. So I don’t know. We’ve allowed taping in the past, but that was something only our most hardcore fans will do. Now it’s become so widespread that if we play any of these songs it’s going to be passed around immediately so we have to debate whether we think it’s ready or not.
When do you think the new album will come out?
We hope to be mixing in the winter and put it out in the spring.
Do you think fans are getting impatient for its release since it’s been a while?
Yeah I do sense that there’s a hunger amongst our fans. The last 311 tour we played was hysteria. It was so much love. It was insane. It was our biggest one yet. People from all over the world came and there was such a great vibe. It was just nuts. Definitely 311 has been growing without us putting out albums over the past couple years so I think there is a lot of anticipation.
Does that add any pressure for you to make sure this record is as good as it can be?
I think we decided that we want to dig deep and make sure this record is totally exciting to us. We kind of hurried through the last record. There was a few great songs, but we were in the middle of a touring cycle and we were like ‘We want to get this record out quickly to support the tour!’ Now we’re going to tour regardless and people will show up because we have such a catalogue of music and the record will be done when it’s done. Putting the quality and the music first. That’s exciting to me.
311 will be playing at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, NY, on July 16. Look for thier new record to be released sometime in the fall. For more info, visit 311.com
