It’s just a little after midday on a Monday in July, and the UFC Health club in North Brunswick, New Jersey, is uncharacteristically quiet. In walks 6-foot-3 Nick Hexum, the 54-year-old lead singer of 311, duffel bag in hand. He’s bought a smile on his face, however his eyes inform a unique story: The dude is drained.
Basic rockstar, proper? Partying all evening, then rolling straight right into a photoshoot. Nope, that’s not Hexum’s type. He’s been sober for almost twenty years and counting, which displays his dedication to prioritizing his well being and “specializing in the present, making music, and household—the highest issues in life,” he stated.
“Full sobriety is the place it’s at for me,” he defined. “To every his personal, however a lot of the guys within the band have type of progressed out of that part. You’ll be able to’t sow your wild oats endlessly.”
Zach Timberlake
This explicit bout of exhaustion? It was a mixture of a late-night gig and journey issues. The earlier evening, 311 rocked a Maryland amphitheater. Then, a string of flight delays pressured him to ditch the airplane, lease a automobile, and hit the street for a three-hour-plus drive for his “FLEX” photoshoot and interview.
“Oh boy,” I believed, a knot of hysteria forming in my abdomen. I’ve handled my share of artists, musicians, and actors who flip into high-maintenance divas after going through far fewer hiccups. Positive, Hexum sings about “Amber” and overcoming “Lovely Disasters,” however he’s nonetheless human. And I do know firsthand how sleep deprivation and battling Jersey Turnpike site visitors can flip anybody right into a full-blown stress grenade.
However as he surveyed the huge 28,000-square-foot facility, he didn’t explode. As an alternative, he stated, “I’m excited. A little bit out of my factor, however able to work.”
He may think about himself out of his factor, but it surely doesn’t present. The subsequent few hours of interviews, portrait images, workouts, and selfies, Hexum was participating and cooperative, with out a single criticism.
Erica Schultz
How Nick Hexum Capabilities At Full Throttle
A number of extra sled pushes? Positive. One other set of field jumps? Why not? Regulate the shape to get higher lighting even when it feels barely awkward? Not an issue.
Nick Hexum understands that well being and health lengthen far past aesthetics. “Train is a large a part of my life to remain centered and joyful,” he defined. “I really feel that working in your bodily well being, your psychological well being follows.”
It’s a near-perfect approach to sum up one of many quite a few advantages of train. In actual fact, if I had a shred of musical expertise, I’d attempt to seize it in a music. To save lots of myself the embarrassment, I believe I’ll depart the lyrics to the professional.
Since their breakthrough within the mid-Nineties, 311 has been a driving power within the music world, crafting a signature sound that seamlessly blends rock, reggae, funk, and hip-hop. With 13 studio albums underneath their belt — and a brand new one slated for launch this fall — the band’s discography boasts 34 singles. A number of singles reached the highest 10 on the choice songs chart, together with hits just like the aforementioned “Amber,” in addition to “Come Authentic,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” and “Hey You.” On Spotify alone, the band has amassed over 3.6 million month-to-month listeners and racked up billions of performs throughout platforms.
And people successes had been hard-earned. From Nebraska, the band formally fashioned in 1990. The band’s preliminary makes an attempt in Los Angeles had been unsuccessful, main them again to Omaha to construct a loyal fanbase. After securing a take care of Capricorn Data, their first album acquired little consideration, and their touring RV caught fireplace, destroying their gear.
Regardless of these setbacks, 311 persevered. Their mainstream breakthrough arrived with the songs ‘Down’ and ‘All Combined Up’ from their self-titled third album, propelling the file to triple-platinum standing. Successes continued, with 4 albums launched between 2005 and 2014, reaching the High 10 on the Billboard 200.
311’s longevity and inventive evolution are a testomony to their relentless work ethic, mirroring Hexum’s strategy to health and life. Identical to within the fitness center, there are not any shortcuts to success. You need to put within the work.
“We’re 34 years into being a band,” Hexum stated. “It hasn’t at all times been simple. We’ve had our share of setbacks, however we’ve at all times persevered. I simply keep an perspective of gratitude. I’m doing precisely what I at all times wished to do with my life. So why not be in temper?”
Erica Schultz
Nick Hexum’s Health Philosophy: Consistency
Within the health media world, not each superstar is genuinely into it. Some are simply taking part in a task. Hexum’s physique is streamlined and vascular, a results of years of dedication, not crash diets.
“After I first began, I did it as a result of I observed I’d really feel much less loopy,” he stated about his preliminary motivations.
When requested about his health philosophy, Hexum emphasised the significance of regularity. “I imagine in consistency,” he stated. “I don’t go to the fitness center for 2 hours. Sometimes, I begin the day with 15 or 20 minutes of cardio simply to clear my head.”
“That works for me; you present up, you don’t need to set something up, and it’s totally different each time.” When touring, he sticks to a separate routine, beginning with cardio and a guided core exercise. Then, he mixes it up with basic seashore muscle routines in the future and full-body exercises the following, at all times studying new workouts.
Being a musician, Hexum’s exercises have a novel rhythm, syncing his reps with the beat of his music. He’s additionally experimented with totally different diets, however no single strategy labored long-term. “I went vegan for some time, did keto for 10 months, however I felt like I wanted quite a lot of naps,” he stated. “And now I’m again to extra of a full spectrum weight-reduction plan.”
Evaluate shirtless stage images or journal profiles from 2019 to now, and also you’ll discover that ditching keto resulted in a fuller physique. Nonetheless, he nonetheless maintains vascularity and visual abs.
Above all, Hexum’s strategy serves as a reminder that there is no such thing as a one-size fits-all. For him, it’s about longevity, energy, and wellbeing.
Erica Schultz
Nick Hexum is Leaving a Legacy of Empowerment
Whereas Hexum’s main focus stays on music and health, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to discover new ventures within the trade. Collectively along with his bandmates, spouse, and others, they launched SKP — which stands for “escape” — aiming to liberate unbiased artists and musicians from the customarily unfair and exploitative conventional music label system.
“We wish to depart a legacy of empowerment,” he defined. “We’re making a platform to assist youthful artists navigate the trade, to allow them to retain their very own fairness and management over their work.”
Hexum envisions SKP (skp.io) as “a system the place artists can maintain their very own fairness and nonetheless get the promotion {that a} label would.” This imaginative and prescient extends past music, tapping into “the nice democratization of tradition” the place creators construct careers via do-it-yourself content material.
On SKP’s web site, they define their mission: to create an ecosystem “that empowers and helps our community of musicians, artists and artisans, actors, managers, and technicians.” “We’re additionally increasing into movie in order that extra individuals on the forged and crew may be concerned and take part within the fairness of a undertaking,” he defined.
He contrasts this with the standard mannequin: “Earlier than, it’s simply been principally like one individual owns it and all people simply works for a test. After which, even when they make it an enormous success, they don’t get something for it. Similar with labels, like I by no means bought any curiosity within the file labels that we had been supporting.”
Erica Schultz
Nick Hexum’s “Sure To Life” Strategy
As we wrap up the session, one thing from our dialogue sticks with me. Throughout the previous couple of seconds of our interview, I requested the manufacturing crew, “So, what’s subsequent?” Nick chimed in, “No matter it’s, sure! Sure to life.”
I’m fairly positive it was an informal line to say he’s down for the rest we would want, however, whether or not he meant it to land or not, it didn’t find yourself being a throwaway line; the phrase caught with me as a message to embrace alternatives and strategy life with an open and constructive mindset — most of the themes discovered woven into 311’s music.
This “Sure to Life” outlook organically connects to numerous elements of Hexum’s existence and is obvious in 311’s numerous, genre-blending music. It’s in his strategy to health, the place he seeks new routines and adapts his weight-reduction plan. And it shines via in his entrepreneurial ventures with SKP, the place he’s seeking to reshape how creatives are valued. This perspective is about being constant, exhibiting up, exhausted or not, placing within the work, and staying constructive when it’s the very last thing you are feeling like doing.
After the shoot, Hexum is going through one other five-hour, traffic-filled trek to Boston; a mere pitstop earlier than 311’s subsequent present in New Hampshire. But, the 311 frontman’s optimistic outlook remained unwavering.
As we stated our goodbyes and I packed up with the crew, I mirrored on convey extra of that “Sure to Life” vitality into my very own world. This affirmative perspective has fueled a 34-year profession within the tumultuous music trade and, at 54, it continues to maintain his vitality and energy, which could simply be the key ingredient we’re all in search of.
