By Michael Burgos (March 16, 2002)
 

	Nick Hexum – Vocals, Guitar S.A. Martinez – Vocals, D.J. Chad Sexton – Drums Tim Mahoney – Guitar P-Nut - Bass

Tim starts the countdown to the explosion… 4 – 3 – 2 – 1. S.A. then busts into the place injecting the strong verse which gets you worked definitely (no pun intended). Each measure is started with a blast as the band pauses and then comes in simultaneously every time to start on the 1. Nick comes in to let you breathe for a few seconds before S.A. comes in again with the explosive verse. The interlude gives you a melodic break where grooving takes place before the verse comes in one more time before the pre-chorus. The pre-chorus is another one of the less explosive parts. This was most likely done so that when the chorus comes in, the pre-chorus is what was built to inject you with pure feeling as the chorus comes in. The band repeats parts as necessary with great precision, gives one more countdown to a last chorus filled with energy, then ends the song before you know what has happened to you; but the last words they said just told you what happened, "you get worked."

Sick Tight

P-Nut starts off the song hoping to prepare you for the heavy riffs and beats to follow. Nick yells "Head Rush!" as the distortion and china cymbal pour through your speakers providing the straight forward rock beat appropriate for uncomplicated metal. Then the music goes into a faster groove as Chad’s hi hats start getting hit and Tim gets into harmonics. The chorus starts off with chunky distorted riffs and closed hi hits, which is accompanied in great fashion by hexum’s vocals. The chorus builds though, as the hi hats are loosened. This time S.A. prepares you for your next head rush. The heavily distorted riff with the china cymbal starts again before going into the faster harmonic section. The chorus once again takes over as Hexum brings you up with his echoed hypnotic voice. The head rushes continue as the last chorus lets you know (as if you didn’t by the amazing music) that 311 is "sick" tight.

You Wouldn’t Believe

Tim starts off the song with his beautifully distorted riff accented by one disjunct note every measure but then leaves out the disjunct note every 8^th measure which adds so much sophisticated musicality by leaving something out. While Tim continues his work, Chad and P-Nut lock up for the verse, letting Nick tell his story about a misfortunate guy who is truly good at heart. The pre-verse contains open hi hats preparing you for a harder chorus while Tim maintains the sounds of his guitar right before the transition. The catchy chorus leads into a section with S.A. belting his words that contains Chad using a ride cymbal and Tim and P-Nut using a repeated riff which has the notes getting higher and higher in tone. Nick’s section of the chorus comes back in and it ends leaving Tim by himself the way he was at the start of the song. The interlude preceding the verse afterwards contains such an awesome bass riff, which could not be thought of other than such as P-Nut. As the verse comes back in, Nick sheds his wisdom. The pre-chorus speaks to you again, and the chorus occurs as before. The bridge demonstrates some of Nick’s vocal range and demonstrates the tightness of the band again as the beat is thrown around and stopped and started abruptly. It ends in a great fashion making you want to play the song again.

Full Ride

Quite the intro. Crashes are accompanied by each stroke of each guitar. Then Chad starts up a slow groovin’ beat with guitar riffs held out only having two strokes. P-Nut adds the occasional slap on his bass letting the funk show through. The chorus tells of good virtues with more melody and a faster tempo. The following shows Tim’s chunky and creative riffs again and that Chad and P-Nut truly have grooving together down to an art. The slow held out verse occurs again leaving S.A. with much to say. Again, the chorus speaks of good attributes. After the second chorus I was pleased at how Chad played with Nick’s vocals striking the snare twice and in sync when he says "yes, yes". The end of the song is quite clever and great. Only two stokes on guitar as they lead you to think that they are going into the verse again. But they end there.

From Chaos

The title track starts off with the chorus, seeming to have an uplifting riff on guitar and nifty licks and fills from Chad. The verse has S.A. spitting a rap type flow with his words. Chad provides somewhat of a reggae beat to support S.A. Then Tim comes in with a varying riff in its third (out of 4 sections) section which is very catchy. The pre chorus I’d say starts off a very reggae-ish chop provided by Chad and I started dancin’ in my chair as the music played. The chorus comes back in giving its sense of inspiration again. This time for the verse, Nick shows his rap-like skills. He talks about how he doesn’t let people stress him out. The verse ends in a very intriguing sounding way that is peaceful and beautiful. The reggae beat starts once more, then the pre-chorus picks up the beat seeming to have a double time feel as Chad hits the snare two times for every one time he did before in the previous pre-chorus. The chorus comes in for its third time giving the song its perfect ending.

I Told Myself

Definitely a song about someone that just couldn’t be forgotten about or let go of. The song starts out with Tim providing a riff that makes me think of a video game or Ninja Turtle Cartoon line while P-nut and Chad play their parts that they play throughout the verse. Tim then changes the riff to distortion when Nick starts up his story. During the verses, Chad has a rap type beat where he changes up the snare drum, then not playing it at all where it normally falls, then bringing it back in. Chad leads into the pre-chorus by letting up on the hi hat. Nick proceeds to sing of his distress in the pre-chorus. His weakness comes out more in the chorus of how he tries to contact someone he probably knows he might not want to. During the second verse, the duty of story telling is handed over to S.A. The pre-chorus and chorus then follow as normal. When the second chorus ends, it leads into a bridge that makes me feel as if time is going back with reminiscing, and that memories are coming back in a slow motion fashion. Just then though, Tim starts getting the song back to its normal speed as he "chugs" with his distorted guitar. The music of the chorus takes the song over again with different lyrics, and then it resumes as normal, ending on an off beat.

Champagne

This is definitely one of my favorite songs by 311. I found myself closing my eyes while swaying back and forth nodding my head letting the music send me into a trance with it’s gorgeous vocals and hypnotic guitar riffs. The music made me feel like I was flying or floating through the air. I’d recommend listening to this song if you have sunk into a big comfy chair or a bubble bath. It’s actually quite amazing that such music was created by a real band, with real instruments (capable of bringing down buildings with their noise), but it has such soothing and relaxing qualities. For this song, I analyzed it person by person starting with the drums. 

Chad Sexton’s dynamics on the drums are amazingly wonderful in this song. I love listening to his fill going into the second verse it sounds as if there is an effect on his drums which make an effect for the volume, making the fill sound the way it does, though it’s all in the magic of his limbs. In the last section before the outro, Chad stops playing the snare drum where he normally does but lets off of the hi hat to create the effect of the snare with the hi hat. It’s like he plays both the hit hat and snare with just the hi hat. Truly genius. Through the verses, I couldn’t think of a cooler groove to play than his 8^th notes on hi hat with a great bass drum part. It locks in so incredibly steady with P-Nut’s bass line. This is truly a perfect example of the drummer and the bassist playing together. His ride cymbal playing in the chorus adds a lovely light feel with the change in guitar. The end of the song shows Sexton’s amazing fills and should seriously be listened to.

P-Nut locks in so steady with the drums throughout this gorgeous song and provides quite the flowing, chill bass line that will make you want to groove. Truly a necessary part of the song and a magnificent asset. 

The clean tones provided by Tim provide you with such and easy and comfortable feeling and it seems to clear all bad forces and aggressions and put you in a dreamlike state.

S.A. only sings for one of the choruses in this song and I must say, my, he does it so perfectly. He states how he’s "not an angel", but I’m sure he sings as good as any of them. 

Nick Hexum seems to be singing about a woman who is beautiful, but the beauty seems to end at her skin. The things she does seem to be uncomprehendable because of their mean or evil motives or undertones. It seems like though, they want to understand her and be with her, and they’ve tried to for a long time, but they realize it’s not worth it to keep it up. 

All in all, it creates a safe, comforting, secure feeling [which becomes unlocked] when you listen, and you feel like you’re secure in the arms of one that you love. 

The outro of the song only has two words, lasts about twelve seconds, but gives the song such finish with Chad’s amazing fills and with Tim and P-Nut holding out their last chords in between each fill. Also, listen closely because they had the cleverest ending with the sound of champagne pouring and fizzling. 

Hostile Apostle

Chad gladly delivers the opening to the song with a nice drum fill leading the way for Tim to come in with his piercing intro accompanied by P-Nut’s throbbing bass line. The verse then follows with triplets on guitar reminiscent of classic metal guitar. Chad keeps the beat fairly simple by using 8^th notes on a closed hi hat, followed by open hi hat quarter notes in the second part of the verse. These open quarter notes then continue into the pre-chorus where Tim speeds his tempo a bit with a varying riff. The chorus comes in with Tim holding out his chords similar to whole notes but he holds the chords for a count of three, then a count of 5 (making 8) opposed to just holding out two exact whole notes (count of 4 each, making 8). Chad plays along incorporating some triplets with quarter notes on ride with a steady back beat. Tim then plays straight quarter notes along with Chad’s ride for the second part of the chorus. The pre-chorus then comes in with S.A. first then Nick, being opposite of the first one. While Nick sings, S.A. repeats choice words Nick uses, making a true rap style delivery of lyrics. The chorus comes in once again with its simple distortion leading to a bridge with what I must say has a very 311-ish riff. Kudos to Tim for truly making a sound for himself. The riff is distortion traded off with harmonics. For the second part of the bridge, Chad starts playing along with S.A.’s vocals throwing off beat bass drum with a cymbal crash as an accent. The song then ends in the way it started with Tim’s piercing riff, but when it ends Tim holds the last note letting his guitar scream, then silences it.

Wake Your Mind Up

This song seems like it would be a very good live 311 song. The songs starts off with the chorus (a very short chorus) and its good message: to wake your mind up while you still can, to live life, be educated with clear sight. Then the verse comes in with Chad providing a straight beat while P-Nut and Tim hook up to provide a sweet melody. The quick chorus then comes in once more and then leads to a short verse one more time. A funky pre-chorus then comes in which is accented well by Chad’s varying hi hat pattern. The chorus comes in again with its short but important message, followed by another verse. The funk starts again with another pre-chorus. This time it leads into a great music section to follow. It has a very fun feeling to the music and lyrics as the two (music and vocals) match up right before Chad starts giving fills faster and faster. Everyone cuts out except for P-nut. Ooohhh yeah here we go. Check this awesome funky lick and then listen to how Chad comes in with it. Very creative, skilled and tight. Tim then wildly busts in the place with his metal-ish solo filled with great precision and skill. This then leads into one more chorus where everything: drums, bass, guitar and vocals are all together exactly. I’d love to see them play this live. Did this song at least wake you up?

Amber

A very relaxing riff opens the song. It’s just guitar. P-Nut then adds to the soothing flow. Chad gives the song an easy going sound with a snare that varies from the rest of the album. It sounds much more metallic. I’m thinking he used it to provide more of a reggae feel, as I feel as if I’m in a tropical island in the Caribbean when I listen to it. Nick adds even more to the dosage of good vibes in the song as his beautifully comforting vocals come in. The short verse leads into a short chorus describing one’s energy. P-Nut flows with Chad to start off a very oceanic, melodic pre-verse which comes in giving you much of this energy that they refer to in the song. Echoing effects on one of the snare hits takes me away definitely. Then the guitar and bass just give me a sense of a beach side sunset of golden and semi-darkness. One line of the chorus then comes in leading to a bridge of inspiration. The lovely short chorus then takes over again leading to the outro of the song leaving Chad all by himself leaving you with the sense of the song then echoing and fading away with one last hit of the snare. A warm comforting energy definitely emits from and throughout the song when I listen. 

I’ll Be Here A While

A short acoustic guitar intro leads into the start of the song, which definitely has a very intense ska-reggae feel reminiscent of 80’s bands such as Madness. It starts off with the chorus, and I really enjoy the harmonies and timings of the words. The verse then comes in with a somber vibe leading to an uplifting pre-chorus accented by Chad’s ride cymbal and off beat snare. Then the simple chorus comes in once more. The short second verse follows as before, leading into the pre-chorus of true ska fashion. The chorus echoes through one more time with the sound of the acoustic guitar intro in the background, leading into a quiet bridge with a very peaceful sense encompassing it. One last chorus comes in with varying words and more music.