Rocker Feels Heat, Doesn't Care For It

by Erika Waddell

For over a decade, Nick Hexum has devoted his time and energy to being the frontman of alternative rock-and-reggae band 311. Nowadays he's got a new cause, and there's nothing musical about it. After his beloved home in the Florida Keys was ravaged last year by devastating hurricanes, Hexum became driven to raise awareness about global warming, which he believes to be our most dire environmental issue. He recently started the non-profit organization Liberal Hexum, which is dedicated to various environmental and social causes, the first of which is to fund research on global warming.

As the son of a scientist, taking up such a cause seems like a natural step for Hexum, who continues to educate himself and doesn't profess to know everything. But should he stick to being a rock star and keep his politics to himself? You be the judge.

Q: What inspired you to get the word out about global warming?

A: Well, I have a vacation home in the Florida Keys that got hit by four hurricanes last year, so that made it kind of personal. But I think if anybody really looked into it and really considered it, they would become alarmed. It's our biggest crisis; it's bigger than terrorism, immigration, and all of these different things that you see in the polls that Americans are really worried about.

The waters are getting warmer, the hurricanes are getting stronger, and that's one of the first negative effects of global warming. If people understood, they would be a lot more concerned. But I guess people don't get worried about things until they start affecting their pocketbooks. Global warming is already affecting peoples' pocket books; they just don't know it, because it comes in the form of insurance premiums, and taxes that have to go to FEMA to bail out these places with emergency funding.

Q: How are you educating yourself?

A: Reading and watching every documentary I can find on the subject. On Earth Day, I saw HBO's "Too Hot Not to Handle" documentary, which I thought was just brilliant, really well done.

Q: Have you seen Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"?

A: Yeah. I pledged to see it on opening day. It's really exciting to see that he's finally being paid attention to for something that he's been warning everybody about for so long. In the same way that Jimmy Carter talked about our addiction to foreign oil when he was president, and nobody listened to that. The whole political aspect of global politics and the business of importing oil, that's one thing in itself, but global warming and the greenhouse effect are also serious problems. But they basically both can be solved by the same ingenuity and a shift in our economic energy policy.

Q: So what are some things that we can do to help prevent global warming?

A: If people, for both economic and conscience reasons, switch from SUVs to a hybrid cars, that would reduce our emissions by 75-80 percent. Solar and wind have become really viable lately, to the point where people are powering their whole houses and actually selling energy back to the power companies.

Q: But is it as simple as reducing the amount of energy used?

A: No, the government has to take the lead, there's no question about it. And that's the last thing on Bush's agenda, which is what's so upsetting.

Q: Have you tried to get involved politically?

A: Absolutely. I went on a one-month tour with my brother [Zack Hexum], called "Hexum Brothers Rock for Kerry," trying to support Kerry a couple years ago. It was really disappointing, but at least I feel like I tried.

Q: How hands-on are you with Liberal Hexum?

A: Very. I have even learned to design Web sites. A lot of young people are interested in environmental issues, but understanding the science of it is pretty confusing. So at Liberalhexum.org I've made a primer course, like Global Warming 101. It's an overview of why this is so serious and what the problems are projected to be. In the scientific community, there isn't this big debate about whether it's going on or not; that's been over for quite some time. That's just something that conservatives do to try and put off having to clean up their acts.

Q: Do you ever get the reaction: What does a musician know about global warming?

A: I haven't gotten that. I just try to collect as much information as I can from as many different sources as I can.

I have a lot of liberal beliefs, and I had been involved in anti-war things previously. In doing that, I learned more and more about global warming and about how the Bush administration has blurred the issue and silenced the scientists, so that kind of made the transition for me. Then, when you add to it that I had also been victimized by a hurricane, it all kind of worked together to motivate me.

Q: How has being in a band helped your cause?

A: It's just a platform. I've always felt that when something really urgent comes up, for example the invasion of Iraq, I've felt that I had a responsibility to try and use whatever sort of platform where I had peoples' ears and their attention to speak my mind about what I felt was a grave mistake being made. There are plenty of people who say that musicians have no business to be talking about politics, but I just have to follow my conscience.

Q: Does it ever scare you that you can affect so many people, especially because your fan base is heavily made up of young, impressionable people?

A: No. I think that people are more affected by their family and people around them than they are by Hollywood people. I certainly do take responsibility. I would be worried if I was spreading any sort of hateful message or anything destructive or even just a sort of a pessimistic, life-sucks message. I think a lot of people just wash their hands of what they're doing and say that they're just reporting what they see on the streets, but people are listening and impressionable.

Q: Do you find it hard to stay positive these days?

A: Yeah. After the disappointment of the presidential election, I went through a time when I just had to really wash my hands of politics for a while because I was so disheartened.

Q: So how did Liberal Hexum come about, and what do you do with your donations?

A: Originally I was thinking about a political action committee, but those are much more lobbyist-oriented, and being an educational non-profit environmental charity is a lot easier to get the paperwork through. I just talked to a lawyer about it, and just the start-up cost of getting yourself registered as a non-profit organization is substantial, and running a Web site. But we do have a significant war chest now, so I'm doing research as to where the money that we've raised so far would be best spent.

Q: In school, were you a science guy? I've noticed that science even creeps into your song lyrics.

A: Yeah. My dad is a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and I always loved to go to the lab with him. He researches the most basic building blocks of human anatomy as far as amino acids and stuff like that. And I was really into physics class; I guess it's sort of a hobby of mine.

Q: What motivates you?

A: At this stage in my life, it's feeling like I'm having a positive effect, whether it's by encouraging people through lyrics or my side projects.

Q: What fascinates you?

A: Well, I've become fascinated with meteorology, and that's been my obsession lately, and politics. But let's have something fun. I love power pop. I love Jellyfish, you know, that band. I can't wait to hear Jack White and Brendan Benson's new band, The Raconteurs.

Q: What would you do if you weren't a musician? Would you be a scientist?

A: I've always said I'd go into law, because I like to debate. I don't think I would be happy just being in the laboratory like my father. I'm much more into human contact.

Q: What keeps you up at night?

A: Is the trend of hurricane seasons getting longer and the hurricanes getting more severe going to continue as it has over the past three years? That worries me. And not just for myself. There are a lot of people whose lives are ruined, and those insurance companies do everything they can to find loopholes and ways not to pay.

Q: 311 is touring this summer - will you be doing anything to raise awareness while you're on the road?

A: I try to keep them separate. We don't sit as a band and come to a collective political stance on anything. Though I know I have support and agreement from members of the band, I just think that 311 is an all-inclusive; it doesn't matter if you're a red state or blue state or whatever, it's about bringing people together. Therefore if each night if I decided to take a few minutes to talk about global warming, I would piss off a lot of people who think that it's just a liberal nutcase sort of thing. And I have had a couple of people who say that global warming doesn't even exist, you're off your rocker, and you should shut up and stick to music. But the vast majority of people have been saying that's so cool that you're trying to help out with something you believe in. But there's not going to be a big global warming booth or something like that on the 311 tour. They're separate things.

(Published on CourtTV.com June 28, 2006)