Welcome again friends out there in 311 nation! It’s that time again, we need to meet our next fan spotlight! Say hello to Heidi Weber!
Heidi’s best friend in high school had the Grassroots album and they would drive around listening to it. Then Heidi went and found the Music album and was hooked from there on. “When I was a kid I loved how different they sounded from everyone else. The lyrics were so uplifting to me and made me think about things in a different way and changed my perspective. Young and impressionable for sure.”
As far as show count, she’s pretty sure it’s somewhere around 25. Her first show was in Cleveland at the Agora Theater back in 1999. “I had just gotten my license and overestimated how cool my parents were when I bought the tickets. They definitely were not cool enough to let me drive an hour to Cleveland to see a band. But I already had the tickets so what was I going to do? I was going to lie and go anyway. Me and my friends ended up stealing one of their dads cars and driving up there and lying about where we were. It totally worked. It was the time of my life at 16. They started the encore with who’s got the herb and the whole place lit up. I had never seen anything like that in my 16 year old life, but I totally lit up with them.”
Favorite event for Heidi was her first 311 Day in 2016. “I had been wanting to go since they started doing it back in the day, but there was no way I had money to travel to see 311. The drummer in my band, David Elrod (some of you may know) shared an interest in 311 that we apparently had never talked about. It came up one day and we decided to go for it in 2016. We had such a blast meeting new people and seeing how much love for 311 was still out there. We hopped on the cruise the next year and Vegas this year. Safe to say we’re hooked.”
When it comes to favorite song, Heidi said that historically “Eons” has been her favorite if asked but with that being said, “Freak Out” hits her really hard. Then picking lyrics that mean a lot to here is difficult, but there is a funny story that comes with one set of lyrics in particular. “In high school someone was giving me a hard time about something. Just being an all around not cool person and instead of slapping back at them I just spouted these lyrics. They were definitely speechless after that.” The lyrics come from the song “Uncalm” – “Don’t even try it, you don’t want to disrespect me. If dealing with punks was school I’d have a Harvard degree. You can’t make hate you no matter how punk you act, whatever you do I don’t react. I’m the perfect example of not giving a fuck about catty rude people that just suck. What do you know, all of a sudden, uh, I usurp you. Look it up in the dictionary to find out what I do. I go back to the style I came from, it’s not something you can fake son. You’re a con man who’s run is done, you lead a world wide web of deception.”
A “super small town” in Ohio is where Heidi was raised. She said there wasn’t much to do in the summer and even less in winter. “Our main hangouts were driving around in someones car and listening to music. 311 was always in heavy rotation.” She lived in Ohio for 23 years and then moved to California. There she produces concerts and live events. She also hosts a radio show on Radio Valencia in San Francisco. As if that wasn’t enough, she DJ’s at her local dive bar. “I got super lucky and was able to turn my love of music into a career.”
Interesting fact about Heidi is that she played in a German brass band for most of the time she was in Ohio. She’s also super into karaoke. “On the cruise last year I went to the karaoke event right when it started and signed up for 4 songs at least. I was recognized as the karaoke girl after that.” Guilty pleasure? She’s been known to get down to some Taylor Swift! Other musical interests include Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sleater Kinney, Rilo Kiley, Alvvays, Belle & Sebastian, and King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizard. She said she also really loves the 60’s pop that’s out there.
Her message to 311 is a simple yet beautiful one: “Thanks for all the memories.”
To all the fellow fans:
“It’s always a fun time hanging out with you guys. Can’t wait to catch you at the shows!”
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Thank you to Heidi Weber for sharing your story! Gratitude goes out to all who participate and who read every week. You are all amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of this community. Until we meet again!
Much love – The Runt