‘Tread’ Lightly
311’s eighth studio album reunites the band with Ron Saint Germain, who produced its breakthrough self-titled third set in 1995. “Don’t Tread on Me” is led by its title track, which lead singer Nick Hexum says “is about emotional volatility when you feel like your freedom is being encroached upon.”
Other cuts include “Solar Flare” (says singer SA Martinez: “This has to be one of the dopest songs we’ve put together.”), “Waiting” (Martinez: “If the Beatles happened to venture to Jamaica instead of India, this song might have happened.”) and “Long for the Flowers,” which is based on “Grifters,” an outtake from the band’s 1997 album “Transistor” that has been reworked and re-recorded.
“Speak Easy” was lyrically inspired by the beliefs of natural scientist/psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. “His belief is that any emotion we carry, we must let out,” Martinez says. “Otherwise, this said emotion will sit within us and manifest itself in ways which may not be good for our health,” he explains. “We create blocks that turn into physical symptoms that initially were emotions we denied ourselves from experiencing. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.”
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