311 Fan Spotlight – 6/26/17 – Annie & David Butler!

Welcome again to the 311 fan spotlight! This week I get the honor of sharing the story of an amazing couple from down under – time for the story of Annie & David Butler!

Introduction to 311 came during Annie & David’s sons teenage years, in the late 90’s, when they would hear 311 on a daily basis, along with all the other music from that time. “It takes us back to a special time in our lives. We have three sons and they are all musicians and they play a wide variety of music. Even our grandson is learning drums now.” While Annie & David don’t play instruments themselves, music is a very big part of their lives.

Thirteen is the number of shows that Annie & David are at currently. It’s a bit difficult for them to see 311 since they live in Australia. 311 has only played there once during the Vans Warped Tour back in 1998. They unfortunately didn’t attend that show, but they did drive a car full of teenagers down to Sydney to see it, which is about 80 miles from home for them. So their first show ever wasn’t until they made it on the cruise back in 2012, and it was eventful since the sail away show was cut short by lightning!

While they love every show they have been to, their all time favorite is the beach show at Half Moon Cay. “Lying on a blow up tube sipping Miami Vices and listening to 311 and being surrounded by everyone having the time of their lives. (Hence photo!) Life doesn’t get much better than that!” Annie said it took an enormous leap of faith to go on that cruise and they didn’t know a soul. “ We had always celebrated 311 Day here  and when they began streaming it live we would pay to watch it and take the day off work to celebrate and party at home. When we saw that they’d had a cruise we were like Wow how fantastic! Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would go on one. I kept looking online and kept threatening David I was going to book and we would both laugh but just one night I went through the whole process of booking and got to where I had to press the payment button. It was now or never! I pressed Send! I ran out screaming to David “I’ve done it I’ve booked the cruise!” I don’t think he believed me at first. We were exhilarated and terrified at the same time. What if it was all a terrible mistake. But from the moment we stepped on that boat we knew we belonged there, we had come home to the true believers ,our fellow excitables. We now cannot imagine a life without 311 and without the beautiful people we have met. They have enriched our lives. Everyone is so loving, warm and welcoming and we want to hug them all forever.”

Some of Annie & David’s favorite songs include “Use of Time,” “The Continuous Life,” “Life’s Not a Race,” “Taiyed,” “Inner Light Spectrum,” “Prisoner,” (which is where her Facebook name comes from) and “Don’t Stay Home,” which has become their mantra for coming to the U.S and  traveling to see 311. Annie said when she say “Use of Time” played live with the Unity Orchestra in Nola, she seriously cried. “I had never seen it played live and willed it to be played that night.” Favorite lyrics? “David always jokes that his favorite lyrics are Eat smoked fish, that is my favorite dish!” All joking aside, the do love “I love it when the only sound I hear is your infectious laughter” and “The continuous life there is no end, moving through life, moving through death.” Annie also said she can’t bake a cake without singing the lyric regarding Betty Crocker!

Annie and David were both born in Sydney, Australia. In the late 80’s they moved up the coast, so Annie said as you can tell they are a little older than most 311 fans. “Most of our friends and family know nothing about 311 and think we are a little crazy to keep following a band around in the USA. We are  sure some of them think we are in a cult,in fact some of my relatives thought we were going on “swingers” cruises because there’s so much talk of love and hugging and positive vibes and how much we miss each other.” To fund their 311 habit, David works as a psychiatrist and Annie studied and worked as an Occupational Therapist. David has his own practice now and Annie works as the manager for it.

Want to know how Annie and David met? It was at a psychiatric hospital! “We actually lived in a hospital house on the grounds when we were first married. Sometimes patients would walk past and hear the music we were playing  and come in to tell us they loved it :)”

Annie and David have been around music for a long time and they said there are many, many artists that they love. “We have adored Tool since the 90’s and we see them whenever they come our way. The Cure,David saw them in a very small venue  in Sydney in 1980 and we saw them do an almost four hour gig last year and they could’ve just kept playing they have so many songs.” Neil Young has always been an inspiration to them, plus they have some favorite Australian bands including Church and Midnight Oil. They also love to support local bands and they go to their sons gigs whenever they can. Some other favorites include Bjork, Talking Heads, Mars Volta, Rage Against the Machine, Sigur Ros, Primus, and King Crimson (especially for David).

Message to 311 for Annie and David is, “Thank you for your wonderful music and your positivity and including us in the 311 Nation. We were so honored to have our little videos we sent in played at two 311 days in a row and we were lucky enough to see it in NOLA on the big screen in 2014.”

Their message to all the other fans out there, across every country:

“We would just like to reinforce the positive message that the band promotes and just love the life you have been granted. Hari Om Tat Sat

We would like to especially thank the beautiful 311 people who were so wonderful to us on our two visits to Omaha. Especially on 311 Day this year.People looked after us all day every day we were there.They know who they are.We love you.And a special mention to Laurie Martinez ,SA’s sister for arranging for us to meet their parents,Helen and Ernie.It was such a humbling experience, we love the Martinez family, their hearts are gold.”

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There you have it my excitable friends, the story of the lovely couple Annie & David! I’m so honored to have met them in person and want to thank them for sharing their tale! I love the diversity and love of this fan community. You are all amazing!

Much love – The Runt

311 Fan Spotlight – 6/12/17 – Aaron Mohr!

Hello excitable nation! We are back at it with a new 311 fan spotlight after a brief hiatus. It’s time to meet fellow excitable Aaron Mohr!

Fandom for Aaron started when the blue album was released, but it really became solid for him upon seeing them live at Edgefest in Dallas, Texas, back in 2000. The festival lineup consisted of 311, Everclear, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Nixons, Splender, Oleander, Dynamite Hack, Bowling For Soup, Stir and Dollybraid. “After seeing 311 headline and being front and center on the lawn (covered indoor/outdoor amphitheater) I knew I’d just seen something special that I’d never forget. I’ve always loved the original sound of 311 and nothing really compares.”

Show count for Aaron is at 8 and he’ll be heading into double digits this summer when he sees 311 in Salt Lake and Boise. Favorite event so far was the 2017 cruise. “It was the best time of my 35 years of existence.” He said the Vegas show where they played the blue album in its entirety comes in as a close second.

Song that means the most to Aaron at this point in his life is “Sand Dollars.” “It’s not so much the words with me, but where I was at and the experience that happened when they played this on the boat. They had to stop playing for just a little bit because of the weather and it was the one song I wanted to hear. They played the very first half second note of the song and then took a break due to weather and I was the only one freakin out cause I knew it was going to be that song up next. No one around me really recognized it. When they came back on stage, I said they’d more than likely play a song and then go into Sand Dollars next. Sure as shit they did and everyone around me started yelling and being all stoked as hell for that song to play. Honestly, it’s shit like that which has made the 311 journey so much more amazing for me. Mike Crosby was the first one to pick me up and start screaming “YEAAHH!!!” It’s amazing moments like that, I remember and keep close to my 311 heart strings. Can’t say enough about my Boise crew and Jessica Sullivan tagging me every time someone said they had a spot open.”

Favorite lyric for Aaron he said is easy, it comes from “Jackolanterns Weather.” “I always say what I feel and that is a promise. Nothing in life is above being honest.” “My friends that know me definitely know I have an “I do what the fuck I want” attitude with a good positive “let’s go get a drink or 12 and have a fuckin blast” at every moment of my life.”

Irving, Texas (right next to Dallas) is where Aaron grew up. He entered into the Air Force and was stationed in Clovis, New Mexico. After he left the Air Force he traveled on to Oregon and lived in Gold Beach for a month. This was also the first time he had ever seen the ocean in person, at the age of 23. “Surfed on the south jetty every single day and then moved to Eugene, OR for a year and after driving 2 1/2 hours every weekend to Bend to go snowboarding at Bachelor, it was the obvious choice to move there. Lived in Bend for a solid 7 years and love going back to hang with my friends when I can.” He then said “Screw it,” and moved to Boise where he has now been for 4 1/2 years now. “Still enjoy it…especially now that 311 is coming in August!”

Interesting fact about Aaron? “When I get bored I grab my replica samurai sword from the show Heroes and run around the house like a ninja. Yeah, fact. Don’t even get me started with the $900 Spider-Man costume I bought last Halloween.” Unique element comes in the form of snowboarding. “I snowboard and haven’t for years but I don’t think any of my friends really know that I can go out and throw a front side 720 in the park, 270 on to some rails, and straight kill it ha. It’s all about those nose scooters and tail slappy’s. Can jam on the guitar as well and been playin since high school.”

Guilty pleasure for Aaron is in T.V. form. “I’m a sucker for all the CW shows. Yeah I watched every episode of Smallville and would get popcorn ready and shut my phone off like each episode was a movie. Spider-Man is the greatest super hero ever and I often introduce myself as Peter Parker.” Some other bands Aaron listens to when not jamming 311 are Rage Against the Machine, Pennywise, Incubus, Bad Religion, Green Day and Blink 182.

Aaron’s message to 311 is, “If you guys stop playin’ music, Chuck Norris and myself will find you.”

To all the amazing fellow fans:

“Thanks so much for being who you are and don’t ever change. Because of you amazing people I’ve had a band that’s not just a band, but a way of life. Cheers and I love you all!”

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There you have it friends, the story of Aaron Mohr! Thanks all for reading as always and thanks to Aaron for sharing his story. Keep being the amazing family tight fan base that we are…we all need to stay strong, be united, and spread that love to the world every day.

Much Love – The Runt