Nick Hexum: No Rockstar Angle, Simply Sweat and Gratitude

It’s a bit of 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 received a smile on his face, however his eyes inform a distinct story: The dude is drained.

Traditional rockstar, proper? Partying all evening, then rolling straight right into a photoshoot. Nope, that’s not Hexum’s model. He’s been sober for practically 20 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 many of the guys within the band have form of progressed out of that part. You’ll be able to’t sow your wild oats without end.”

This explicit bout of exhaustion? It was a mixture of a late-night gig and journey problems. The earlier evening, 311 rocked a Maryland amphitheater. Then, a string of flight delays compelled him to ditch the aircraft, lease a automobile, and hit the highway for a three-hour-plus drive for his “FLEX” photoshoot and interview.

“Oh boy,” I believed, a knot of tension forming in my abdomen. I’ve handled my share of artists, musicians, and actors who flip into high-maintenance divas after dealing with 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 large 28,000-square-foot facility, he didn’t explode. As a substitute, he stated, “I’m excited. Slightly out of my factor, however able to work.”

He would possibly take into account himself out of his factor, but it surely doesn’t present. The subsequent few hours of interviews, portrait images, workout routines, and selfies, Hexum was participating and cooperative, and not using a single grievance.

How Nick Hexum Features At Full Throttle

A couple of extra sled pushes? Positive. One other set of field jumps? Why not? Modify the shape to get higher lighting even when it feels barely awkward? Not an issue.

Nick Hexum understands that well being and health prolong far past aesthetics. “Train is a big a part of my life to remain centered and completely satisfied,” 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 reality, if I had a shred of musical expertise, I’d attempt to seize it in a tune. To save lots of myself the embarrassment, I believe I’ll go away the lyrics to the professional.

Since their breakthrough within the mid-Nineties, 311 has been a driving pressure 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 Unique,” “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 cope with Capricorn Information, their first album acquired little consideration, and their touring RV caught fireplace, destroying their tools.

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. Similar to within the health club, there are not any shortcuts to success. It’s a must to put within the work.

“We’re 34 years into being a band,” Hexum stated. “It hasn’t all the time been straightforward. We’ve had our share of setbacks, however we’ve all the time persevered. I simply preserve an perspective of gratitude. I’m doing precisely what I all the time wished to do with my life. So why not be in an excellent temper?”

Nick Hexum’s Health Philosophy: Consistency

Within the health media world, not each movie star is genuinely into it. Some are simply enjoying a job. Hexum’s physique is streamlined and vascular, a results of years of dedication, not crash diets.

“Once 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 health club for 2 hours. Usually, I begin the day with 15 or 20 minutes of cardio simply to clear my head.”

Off the highway, he’s a daily at F45, a high-intensity group health routine.

“That works for me; you present up, you don’t must set something up, and it’s completely 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 someday and full-body exercises the subsequent, all the time studying new workout routines.

Being a musician, Hexum’s exercises have a singular rhythm, syncing his reps with the beat of his music. He’s additionally experimented with completely 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 a variety of naps,” he stated. “And now I’m again to extra of a full spectrum weight loss program.”

Evaluate shirtless stage images or journal profiles from 2019 to now, and also you’ll discover that ditching keto resulted in a fuller physique. Nevertheless, 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, power, and wellbeing.

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 together with his bandmates, spouse, and others, they launched SKP — which stands for “escape” — aiming to liberate impartial artists and musicians from the customarily unfair and exploitative conventional music label system.

“We need to go away 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 good democratization of tradition” the place creators construct careers by means of home made 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 folks on the solid and crew could be concerned and take part within the fairness of a undertaking,” he defined.

He contrasts this with the normal mannequin: “Earlier than, it’s simply been mainly like one particular person owns it and all people simply works for a verify. After which, even when they make it an enormous success, they don’t get something for it. Identical with labels, like I by no means received any curiosity within the file labels that we had been supporting.”

Nick Hexum’s “Sure To Life” Method

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 certain it was a casual line to say he’s down for the rest we’d 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 varied 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 loss program. And it shines by means of in his entrepreneurial ventures with SKP, the place he’s trying 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 dealing with 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 learn how to carry extra of that “Sure to Life” power 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 power, which could simply be the key ingredient we’re all in search of.