311’s Nick Hexum on new music and the band’s return to Phoenix

Nearly 40 years into its career, 311 is still finding ways to evolve. But as the Omaha, Nebraska-born reggae rock band works on new music, it’s taking an old-school approach, revisiting the recording techniques and creative process that helped define its early years.

Fresh off a co-headlining tour with Dirty Heads, 311 will return to Phoenix this Thursday, Nov. 5, for a headlining show at Arizona Financial Theatre, with support from Beach Weather and Tunnel Vision.

For frontman Nick Hexum, Phoenix has been part of the band’s story since the very beginning. He still remembers one of 311’s earliest performances in the Valley, when the band was touring behind its debut album, “Music.”

“We were playing outside, and when we ripped into the song ‘Do You Right,’ our first single, the place went crazy,” Hexum recalls. “The dust from everybody moshing turned into this huge cloud. Coming straight out of Omaha and then getting to a city where a bunch of people knew our song was a core memory that will stay with me.”

After decades on the road, that connection with audiences remains a major part of what keeps him excited about performing. Hexum describes making a conscious effort to stay present onstage, taking in the crowd and the music rather than getting caught up in his own head.

“It’s like this tribal dance,” he says. “There’s just a certain kind of ancient bonding that humans have been doing for tens of thousands of years to connect with each other.”

That connection continues to evolve, especially as streaming introduces younger listeners to songs that weren’t hits when the band first released them. For example, “Champagne,” which was never a single, has organically become one of the band’s top five songs, while “Sunset in July” and “Whiskey and Wine” have also experienced renewed interest.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to have that kind of feedback of what people are digging,” Hexum says.

Rather than leaning further into modern recording technology, 311 is revisiting its ’90s approach, relying more on the band itself and experimenting with recording an album using tape machines and no computers, even as AI content has become commonplace.

“We’re in a retro phase where we’re getting back to our older process,” Hexum says. “I enjoy using AI for different things like gardening and helping me with my beekeeping,” he says. “But creatively, we’re in a back-to-basics kind of mode.”

311 performs Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix. Tickets are available through Live Nation.