311 Fan Spotlight #385 – 2/27/23 – Mathew Spicer!

Hello friends out there in 311 nation! A new week is upon us and that means we have the newest addition to the 311 fan spotlight. Let’s meet another friend from Australia – Mathew Spicer!

1995 was the year that “Down” came on the radio and it traveled to Mathews’s ears. He instantly became a huge fan. The music just connected with him.

First show for Matt was in 1998 at the Warped Tour in Manly Australia and then he watched them the next day in Ulladulla. “23 shows all up with 2 in Australia and the rest in the states.” As for favorite show, Matt chose the first 311 Day he attended in 2010.

For favorite songs. Mathew said his top 3 are “Hive,” “Offbeat Bare Ass,” and “Visit.” As for favorite lyrics, he chose ones from the song “Hive.” “Being an Aussie fan and travelling overseas for them, my favorite line is ‘I represent the traveller, him he’s a shredder.”

As Mathew has mentioned, he’s from Australia! He grew up skateboarding. He spent 18 years on the deck, started when he was just 12 years old and went well into his 30’s. Fun fact about him – his birthday is on 311 Day! He also said that in this stage of his life, in his late 40’s, he needs to see 311 at least once a year. “My outlet in life.”

For other music that Mathew loves, it includes artists such as Unwritten Law, Papa Roach, Opm, Pulley, Bliss N Eso, The Vandals and No Fun At All.

To 311, Mathew has this question: “Why haven’t you returned since 1998 to our beautiful country to tour again?”

Now here is his message to all the other 311 fans out there:

“To my 311 crew I hang with at every show that always organize Airbnbs , tixs and rides to and from airports and shows to make this Aussie have a epic experience ..thank you so much you know who you are … big shout out to my best mate Chris Brauner from St. Louis bloody champion mate ….cheers. Last words See ya OTMFB in March!”


Thank you so much Mathew for being a part of this and sharing your story with us all. As always, much gratitude to all the readers and support each post. Hope you all have an amazing week. Sending out lots of positive vibes to you all.

Much Love – The Runt

311 Fan Spotlight #384 – 2/13/23 – Kirby Lee!

Hello again my friends out there in 311 nation! It’s time for the latest fan spotlight. Let’s meet a friend from down under…Kirby Lee!

Kirby was 18 years old and had always really been a metal head, but he dabbled in rap and liked the sounds of groups like Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. Since the age of 13 his favorite bands had been Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. “I was at a friends house only about 4 of us, up late probably around midnight and RAGE was on. (RAGE is like Australia’s version of MTV and has been going for 35 years or so and still on currently) even as an early teenager you would stay up Friday and Saturday nights just to watch music videos, they would have guess presenters on that would play their favorite clips so always a learning experience! Anyway DOWN came on and instantly I was like this is a amazing and will never forget that feeling, when in the clip Nick starts levitating I knew I had to find out about this band and went out the very next day to buy the CD!!! I had a blue ford falcon XF (Australia made car) and I had a 6 stacker player in the boot (Trunk) it stayed in there on repeat until I got my next car 😊 and im sure many 311 fans agree that their music keeps you feeling young!! At now 45 I still feel like an 18 year old and every time I listen, see or play down on one of my guitars I still have that feeling of being 18!!!”

Kirby has an interesting story of how he came to see his first 311 show. “I was 19….. and I went on a holiday (vacation) to Bali Indonesia with a group of friends and I heard about 311 coming out to Australia just after Transistor was realized (still my Favorite 311 album) it was called the VANS warped tour, I got home from Bali on the Saturday and 311 were live on an awesome Saturday morning show called Recovery just like RAGE was on the ABC, they opened with DOWN and then played WHAT WAS I THINKING. The host of recovery was Dillion Lewis he was a vocalist in an awesome band called Brown Hornet, Dillion was funny but very sarcastic and a weird style of interviewing. Nick and P-Nut sat down an answered some questions and if you want to check it out here’s a link:

https://youtu.be/pZF8Lo1P8pY

So I had a chance to go and get a ticket to the show grounds and see them but after watching the show I found out that Chad broke his hand and they had a fill in drummer and Nick said they would be playing a small set and they will be back next year with a proper 311 show…. sadly that never happened!!! They never came back this was 1998 and I had to wait 18 years before seeing them live, the regret of not going to see them that day haunted me!!! So in 2016 me and my best mate Bizza (not really a 311 fan just came for the good times) flew to the U.S to see “311 IN L.A” it was August 12th 2016 at the Hollywood Palladium and met some amazing fans that were tripping that I had come from the other side of the world to see 311. I really thought this would get them out of my system but as with every other 311 fan I’ve met they make you keep coming back for more and collect posters from every show!!!”
In 2020, Kirby said he HAD to go to 311 Day in Vegas for the 30th anniversary shows. “3 nights of Awesomeness!! What other band would play for that long each night and still have songs you wanted them to play!!?? So once again I thought those three shows would be enough but then with the Friday the 13th show and the whole world changing due to corona virus I thought I might not ever be able to travel again to see them. I watched all the soundstreams from the hive and bought the blue album and transistor foil posters and I was once again feeling the 311 familiar feeling to be part of something live and positive in a world full of negative.So to add to my massive list of 4 live 311 shows I ventured back to 311 day in Vegas 2022, with soo many close friends I met at Vegas in 2020 it was really catching up and reliving the best experience in Vegas again for another 2 nights, absolutely life changing! So unlike so many of my 311 friends from the U.S who have been to 50 shows or something I’ve sadly only been to six.”

Favorite show for Kirby he said was his first when he finally saw them in 2016. “I had been waiting so long to see them play DOWN and to be able to sing along to “311 in L.A” I went to the HIVE the night before the show just to check it out and take some photos, I looked over the fence and was amazed I could see Nick H-E-X-U-M getting into a car with his lovely wife, as he was exiting the alley behind the HIVE I full stalked him and through his car window I asked him if I could just shake his hand, I think he heard my aussie accent and to my amazement he stopped the car and got out, we spoke for 5-10 minutes and my statement I’ve come all the way from Australia to see 311!! I got a photo with him (his wife even offered to take the photo??!) but Bizza knew how much it meant to me and gladly took the shot of me and Nick Hexum the one who knows about things….. which later on would be the photo that would end up on a future 311 album cover, the wonderful concept for the fans “MOSIAC.” In 2022 Kirby got Nick to sign that photo they took that day.

As for a favorite moment at one of the shows Kirby has attended, he said that was at the end of night 3 at 311 Day 2020. “I had been carrying around the backing plate of my Tim Mahoney signature PRS, I had been carrying it with me everywhere I went in Vegas just incase along with a sharpie pen, after they played I’ll Be Here A While and they were walking off stage the last chance I had I reaching over the rail almost breaking my ribs and Mit sees me and says sorry I can’t reach that far, I’m yell back YES YOU CAN, P-nut then holds Mit’s hips and he reaches out grabs it signs it and gives it back, I say to him I love you and he says I love you 😊 it was an out of body experience and I was in shock for a while after, what a band!!!”
While Kirby has a favorite song on every album, he said the song that means the most to him is “Use of Time.” “The song is just amazing and Nick’s echo vocals along with Tim’s two solos brought tears to my eyes when seeing it live for the first time, after 2 x 311 days I was really hoping they would play “TRIBUTE” but at least I got to see that on the soundstream 😊.”
As for favorite lyrics, there are many, but he has to go with one of the most popular, “Stay positive and love your life.” ” I had to get Nick to sign the photo of us with that very quote something I quite often look at and reflect on such a strong message and mindset 😊.”
Kirby grew up in a small town called Craigieburn (known as Crazyburn), which is about an hour away from Melbourne, Australia. While he said his parents weren’t very well off, they gave he and his brother the best upbringing they could with what they had. “We spent most of our summers on lakes water skiing and camping. I was always sporty riding a BMX and Skateboarding along with playing basketball and football (Australian Rules football and prepared to argue with anyone that it’s the best sport in the world!!)”

As Kirby got older, he got into motorcycles. “My first was a Suzuki scooter from the early seventies it was purchased from my grandfather’s friend from down the street for $80! I was 10 at the time but I think from 5 years old onwards I was wanting a motorcycle like the rich kids!! Both my grandfather’s rode motorcycles when they were young along with my Dad so I guess it was always in my blood!!” Once Kirby got up to owning his second motorcycle, he started riding it at race tracks around his home state. “I believed I was good enough to start racing competitively and so I did, I had all the enthusiasm but a low budget, I crashed in my first ever race. I had a lot of rough road and mistakes and money spent that I didn’t have but eventually broke through a won a race at club level. The following year I crashed in practice and broke a thumb, that hit home I didn’t have money to fix the race bike and couldn’t work as a chef, but I still didn’t give up just yet. I ended up getting a job with my dream girl Melanie (we are still together to this day) at a famous winery in the yarra valley, being a chef and trying to race motorcycles is very hard as racing is on weekends and that’s when the chefs are needed the most!!! I was a qualified Chef but still not being paid enough to live out my dreams of becoming a professional motorcycle racer, my brother got a job in the city at the biggest motorcycle company in Australia Peter Stevens Motorcycles, he then loaned me money for parts, tyres etc. They also part sponsored me and eventually gave my a job at one of their outer suburb locations in Ringwood, I ended up getting a new Suzuki GSXR600 from the company and I felt like I was on my way but sadly after starting the season off well I was to have the biggest crash of my life and broke a collar bone. There I was having to pay for a bike that wasn’t really mine but at least I could still work at the shop in a sling! I gave up racing and made a career out of my experience, I can proudly say I have worked my way up from selling helmets and gear to moving onto sales of motorcycles, and then into management. 20 years on with the same company and I’m now the dealer principal of our largest store!! Really a dream come true and have to pinch myself every now and then, we sell dreams and lifestyles!!! I didn’t have to give up riding and have now ridden more bikes than I could of dreamed of growing up riding my first $80 Suzuki scooter!!! I made a come back from racing in 2018 (15 years after stopping) and did a weekend on a Triumph Daytona 675R racebike, I won both races I entered and then hung up the boots again, when it came to choosing a race number I chose #311 and I finished on a high!! The industry has lead me to meet many amazing people and has taken me to England 3 times, once with Suzuki Australia as a sales award to see the Isle of Mann TT races and two trips with Triumph Motorcycles for conferences and to see the factory in Hinkley, I never thought a boy from Crazyburn would ever be in London!!”

One of his other obsessions is The Melbourne Football Club, known as the Demons. “They invented the game of Aussie rules in 1858 and for 6 months of the year it’s a BIG deal, my team have had a lot of heart ache in my life and finally broke through a 57 year drought in 2021 to win the premiership but because of covid for the first time in over 160 years the game was played in Perth and not our spiritual home ground in Melbourne at the MCG! My great grandfather played for Melbourne in 1919 and my Uncle is a legend of the club and played over 250 games from the 70’s to the early 80’s. For a long time I dreamed of playing professionally and hoped to follow in their footsteps but my career choice really didn’t give me the time and only ever played local footy , I left school at 15 as I wanted to earn money to buy a car and motorcycles!!”

Kirby mentioned his dream girl Melanie, who got him the job at the winery in 2000, they are together still today and have a beautiful home that they built 12 years ago. “We got our dream puppy 6 months after moving into our house in 2012 a great Dane named Shale,for the next 10 years he was our life and we dedicated as much time as we could to adventures, sadly we lost Shale just before the end of 2022 he was not far off his 11th birthday which is amazing for a dane, the great news is we just adopted 2 Great danes, a boy named Moose 6 years old and a girl named Aspen 4 years old they are now our lives and are so beautiful and are so chilled.”

Fun fact – growing up Kirby didn’t like his name and said he was teased by the Mark’s and John’s of the world. “I wanted to change my name to Michael, I was a massive Chicago Bulls fan because of MJ, grew up listening to Michael Jackson, Mike Patton and my favorite movie of all time is Back to the future with Michael J Fox 😊. As I got older I realized my name was a bit out of the ordinary like me and suited me, people remembered me for it so I embraced Kirby and didn’t change it to Mike 😊.”

Kirby said he is also an music enthusiast more than he would call himself a musician. “I own 8 electric guitars, two acoustics and two basses, I have dabbled in bands over the years but never really did much other than a few gigs here and there. My first band when I was 15 was a punk metal band called For fucks sake 😊 we played for free beer and recorded two demo cassettes… A few years back I played bass in a band that never got past rehearsal stage but we did have a name “silver eyed Aliens.” These days I generally play all my favorites over and over and it’s usually Down, sick tight and Eons!”

Guilty pleasure for Kirby is that he is a “Back to the Future” nut! “One of my LA trips I visited a lot of the filming sites, I met Christopher Llyod (the doc) at a sort of comic con in Melbourne in 2015 I lined up to have him sign a replica BTTF part 2 2015 number plate, I also lined up for hours to have a photo with him in front of a replica Delorean time machine and have many collectables from the movies, model Deloreans along with DMC memorabilia. I own a Vespa it looks like an Alien in it’s Grey colour and the registration plate is 4LIEN, I have a matching Grey Renault traffic van with the number plate LEE311 but my latest purchase is a TESLA model 3 performance and “this sucker is electrical” so the plate I got for that is 121GIG.”

Kirby mentioned that aside from 311 he loves Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. Some others on his playlist include Regurgitator, Body Jar, Incubus, Butterfingers, Sepultura, and Slipknot. “Over the past 6-7 years I have really been into prog/djent scene with bands such as Animals as leaders, Plini, Polyphia, I built the sky and the omnific. Although my fav band since I was 18 is 311 and as a band together I love but individually I have favourite artists as musicians, what I mean is my fav vocalist is Mike Patton (FNM, Mr Bungle and many more) Fav Guitarist is Tosin Abashi (Animals as leaders) Bassist is Les Claypool (primus) and drummer Matt Skitz (Damaged, King Parrot) now that would be a line up! I love music of all types and can appreciate just about all genres but NOT a fan of country music.”

For Kirby’s message to 311, he would just like to say thank you. “For still being the best band in the world, the music and unity is what we came here for, I have felt a real sense of belonging to be part of their journey and their music will always be imbedded in me.”

Now here are Kirby’s words to all the rest of 311 nation:
“Thanks to the excitables around the world thanks for being unique and welcoming, every 311 fan I meet have similar stories of positivity and I’m glad we all went to the 311 university unity. I have made many lifelong friends because of 311, at one of the after party’s at 311 day in 2020 I was jumping up and down to Tropidelic and two girls were getting my long hair all up in their faces, once I realized what was going on I apologized over and over, these two women have now become great friends especially Christy Krasowski!! We have been in constant contact since and although on the opposite side of the planet we keep up to date with what going on in each other lives, usually on a daily basis! we all caught up at 311 day 22 and had the best time sharing the 311 experience and I had the pleasure of staying with her family just out of Chicago after 2022 311 day on my way to Omaha to see the 311 historical sites!!

Stay positive and love your life!

Kirby Lee the Australien”

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A huge thank you to Kirby for sharing his 311 story! I loved writing it and I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Now go out there and be amazing my friends. Sending you all so much light & positivity.

Much Love – The Runt

311 Fan Spotlight #383 – 2/6/23 – Zach McConnell!

Hello again friends out there in the Excitable 311 nation! Welcome back to the next edition of the 311 fan spotlight. Let’s meet Zach McConnell!

It was during the holiday season in 2017 that Zach was going through an awful heartbreak. He had just graduated high school and was hanging out with a friend who confided in music like he did and still does. ” I played drums my whole life, and marched quads in the drumline for a couple years. And music of that nature (DCI) was all that I listened to. So naturally he showed me beautiful disaster, knowing it would get my attention and lift my spirits. As soon as I heard that snare, I was a fan. The rest was a bonus that I wasn’t ready for. All I listened to for a while was the greatest hits album. And then mosaic after that and that’s still a top 3 album for me I love essentially everything on that album. But because I was also into instrumental bands like snarky puppy, I got recommended the Nick Hexum Quintet album and that made me respect Nick as an artist so much more. So many years in the game, and still looking for new ways to jam. Love it.”

For show count, Zach is at 15 and it’s about to be 16 at Reggae Rise Up. “One of them spiritually and all the rest physically lol, a friend of mine who we will name sal for privacy purposes, gave me a nibble of some shrooms at the hob Orlando and I Left earth completely lol. Missed most of that one.” First show for Zach was at Red Rocks in 2018 and then he saw them the next night at the Ogden Theater. “Which is also the show that got me into collecting posters! Soon after I discovered the band they announced the 420 red rocks weekend of stoner glory I bought tickets for me and my dad and decided we’ll figure out the rest later. My dad being the absolute champion that he is, DROVE ME FROM FL TO COLORADO TO SEE A BAND HE BARLEY KNEW! the car broke down mid way and we had plenty of reasons to turn around but we kept goin! Also his birthday is 420 so that made it even more special. It was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget. I was bullied my whole life growing up for being overweight and to go that far away from home and get welcomed into a whole family was life changing and from then on I’ve wanted to make music/ join a band to give someone else that second family too.”

As for favorite experience so far, Zach chose the 420 show at the Aggie Theater in 2019. “The plan was for me to fly to Maryland to see a friend and then we were gonna fly together to the shows. But there wasn’t any available out of Maryland, so we rented a Uhaul van put a mattress in it and drove all the way to Colorado last minute. That 3 show weekend started at the Ogden theater so we drove literally from his parking lot in Maryland to the gas station across the street from the Ogden all in one shot. And my stoney self was dressed in full winter gear because In 2018 ON THESE SAME EXACT DAYS OF THE YEAR it snowed and now it was hot! 311 fans being the gems that they are let me scoot around the line to follow the shade. And when the doors finally opened people kept telling me to go ahead of them in line just so I could secure the Miles Tsang foil that night. We luckily found a hotel with an open room night of, and headed to red rocks the next day. Got to meet a bunch of friends I made online in the 311 FB groups. The next day we realized Ft collins isint necessarily around the corner from red rocks and I needed a new ride. Someone I met on FB that day was kind enough to pick me up and take me to the show and even drop me off at the airport afterwards. That night was first/only time I got a signed print from the booth, but they literally played all ten of my top 10 songs I wanted to hear that night. And then some! It felt like a musical adventure from a movie!”

For favorite songs, it varies for Zach. Some he relates to heavily and some have influenced him to make changes in his life that have brought him positive changes. “And for that reason, I gotta go with come original. That song is why I picked up a bass in the first place, let alone get to where I’m at touring with some of my favorite bands playing my favorite venues now!”

There are many lyrics that are meaningful to Zach. “I love how in Welcome, they talk about how money isn’t t the only thing they’re after because it just fixes material things. In Silver they talk about how some people just love to disagree for the sake of disagreeing. And that even if you don’t like the music it’s a waste of your time to hate on it. I also love in Offbeat Bareass how they talk about people getting arrested for marijuana, and how in some cases people with far far worse crimes would get paroled to make room for a stoner. Another one I love is in Boom Shanka. I have had anger issues my whole life and I have issues letting things go. ‘Every time I think I got it figured something bigger always jumps in the frame, something gets in the way. Now I’m ready to turn the page on yesterdays and forgive them, now I’m willing to disengage to seize the day and move on.’ That song helped me a lot . Places where the mind goes too. It was comforting to know when my idols can have vulnerable moments or sad thoughts.”

Pembroke Pines, Florida is where Zach was born. Then his dad got a job offer in New York and they moved up there during his elementary school years, then they ended up back in Florida later on. “In between those big moves was plenty of smaller moves. Never really had many friends, never met anyone personable in any of the sports I tried to play. So I just confided in games and food. One year for Christmas my dad bought me a drum set and I fell in love with it and just played and played till it fell apart.I really loved it. So since it was much cheaper and we could rent one through the school I picked up trumpet and played in the band at school All the way through high school. I didn’t make too many friends there but all my teachers could see I had a real passion for it and they would all go above and beyond to help me further it. I had a knack to learn by ear and picked up marching drums fast. In high school I marched bass drum and quads, performed at Tropicana stadium and we won the best drum line in our state!”

Being a 311 fan in high school, it made Zach want to play drums even more but they are really expensive. So after seeing Pnut perform in Jacksonville, Florida in 2018, he decided he wanted to learn how to play bass. “Because if I could have as much fun as him for a living I won! So a friend of mine loaned me his bass just to get a feel for it and I totally fell in love with it because it was so different. Marching drums are very uniform and bass is very open ended. You can play it however you want. Everyone plays a little differently. So with the first stimulus check we got, I bought my Warwick streamer bass, and I decided that day I have no idea how I’d do it. But I WILL make this dream work and I WILL play bass and spread the love and positivity like Pnut and 311. I just didn’t have any friends with the same dreams or aspirations so I was on my own. As time went on, I went to more shows , looked up more and more tabs online teaching myself countless 311 songs, collected more and more merch and joined more and more FB groups. And kind of accumulated my own audience of online friends so my cover videos grew and grew, and bands I look up that I found through 311 like ballyhoo!, Fortunate Youth and The Elovaters started reaching out and commenting on my covers telling me both online and in person at the shows that I have what it takes to make my dreams a reality. So I kept at it and finally June of 2022, literally the DAY AFTER I had a 1 on 1 Jammcard talk with Pnut who reassured me the light at the end of the tunnel was near, a 311 tribute band reached out and asked me to play, and the band I’m in now, Cloud9 Vibes, who tours all around Florida, they’ve played reggae rise up and 311 cruise pre parties and they’ve played most to the venues in FL with all of the bands I love. Asked me to learn their music and was willing to give me a shot. And here we are now gearing up for a tour with ballyhoo named the sleepin on the couch tour from 2/28 -3/5. Here’s some key points in my journey just to kind of map it out how fast this all happened: Pnuts birthday 2018 I tweeted him telling him I wanted to bring people together and play music like him for a lifetime and he said “channel your thoughts and actions for exactly that” from then to March of 2020 I played a Ibanez 4 string that my friend loaned to me. No amp either just playing to myself. Then I got my first amp as a birthday present from my brother in 2019 and I bought my Warwick in March of 2020. Then from 2020-2022 I just networked as much as possible put myself out there as much as possible posted a ton of covers and started to build a name for myself even if it was just the kid who can slap bass pretty good on Facebook. Mid 2022 I joined Cloud9 Vibes and September of 2022 I was playing cafe davinci on my first tour supporting shwayze for hundreds and hundreds of people. And now we’ve played a handful of festivals and are gearing up for our 2nd FL tour with a stop in Baton Rouge LA too! Literally went from the crowd to the stage in a matter of months. Lots of my idols are now friends and it still blows my mind that I’m in the position I’m in. This last October for the blue/transistor shows me and my musical brother Jacob somehow got the blessing to set up and jam an after party after the blue album show AT the hob!! To play the same venue as 311 on the same day is just insane. Energy started low but by the end of the night we had that place hype!! And by the end of the night I mean 3am haha. 311 has given me new perspective on life and how I view myself and the opportunities I’m given. 311 has given me a second family that has made most of the shows I’ve attended possible by helping me get rides or even plane tickets sometimes . I was just a kid working at a little Caesar’s selling pins and posters to get concert money hoping one day I’d be on the other Side and here I am now. Actually looking foward to the future and playing shows I never thought I would. But it’s only the beginning! Being 23 I missed most of 311s whole career but the handful of years I’ve been around it’s totally changed the course of my life and how I go about life.”

Something that Zach is really in to that most don’t know about is collecting Nike/Jordan’s. As for something that makes him unique, Zach said he’s living proof that you can make your dreams come true. “I’ve had countless reasons to give up but I never did thanks to to reassurance of my friends family and the people I look up to. And I’m lucky enough to have had that musical ambition from my earliest memories. Anyone can do it if you’re ready for the opportunity when it comes!”

Other bands that Zach loves include Ballyhoo!, Polyphia, Tech N9ne, and of course, his band Cloud9 Vibes. “I can get into anything that’s not edm country or rap honestly.” As for guilty pleasure, that comes in food form. “I could scarf down 311 bags of lays baked barbecue chips if given the chance.”

To 311, Zach would like to share these words: “Thank you for believing in me when you had no reason to, and thank you for pushing through every setback you’ve had your whole career to make it long enough to inspire someone my age to such a great extent.”

Now here are his words to all the other fans in the universe:

“I want to say thank you to everyone I’ve met through 311. Both in person and online, both through music and through merch or even mutual friends. Not only have you given me new hope in the world but your positive influence has lead me to a place I didn’t think I’d be at for a long time. The ball is in my court now and it’s my turn to bring people together and spread the love through slap bass.”


Many thanks to Zach for sharing your story! Everyone make a point to check out Cloud9 Vibes if you get the chance. As always, all my gratitude to the supporters of this little blog each week. Sending you all tons of positivity!

Much Love – The Runt