http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2014/jan/15/267475/

Nothing like freedom to get your creative juices flowing.

At least, that’s how it’s been for lead vocalist and guitarist of 311. He’s been pursuing musical endeavors without the aide (or constraints) of a major label for both his 24-year-old alternative band, and new project headed to the Granada, The Nick Hexum Quintet.

“Now that we have independent distribution set up it’s lit a fire creatively,” Hexum says. “Now that I know I can put out music whenever I want, it’s made the output become a lot more prolific.”

Having recently released debut album, “My Shadow Pages,” Hexum is now showcasing the grooving, improvisational ’60s jazz and funk retro sound he started investing a few years ago through guitar lessons in as a side project. His brother Zack joined him, at first as a fun jam band.

“It kind of snowballed from there and we decided to make an album,” Hexum says.

The lineup includes Zack Hexum on guitars, saxophone, flute, keyboards and harmonies, drummer Gary Novak, keyboardist Luke Miller (who they call “Chops” for his skills and mutton chops facial hair) and Colombian-born bassist Andrés Rebellón, who Hexum discovered through hosting auditions at Los Angeles’s Musicians Institute.

“They are all just A-list musicians,” Hexum says. “Top of the line.”

The instrumentals were recorded in five days, and then Hexum went back to his home to spend some time working on vocals and guitar solos over the next six weeks. He headed back into the studio to mix for three more days, making it the quickest record he’s ever put out.

“No longer is there a gatekeeper, a label that you have to try and talk into marketing your music a certain way,” Hexum says. “It’s much more autonomous. That translates into more creative freedom. You can just be an artist and follow your heart and make music for your fans rather than worrying about what the mainstream wants. It feels a lot better. It’s probably a smaller scale but it’s just more pure heart.”

Don’t worry, though. He has no plans to slack on his Omaha alternative rock band, touring with the quintet during January before he starts rehearsing for the tour to support 311’s album release, “Stereolithic” on March 11 (get it?). There is no conflict between the two projects, he says, because 311 will always come first.

“It’s my life work,” Hexum says. “But now that the record is mixed and delivered I got a month to go off with quintet.”

Just within the past days, they’ve put together some innovative mashups of cover songs, taking inspiration from New Orleans funk sounds and James Brown, to give us a small taste of what’s in store for the Granada show on Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. He was careful to keep the surprises under wraps, but did say it’s for a more mature crowd.

“It’s not for moshing or crowd surfing,” Hexum says. “It’s more put on your blazer, go out and groove with your girl kind of night.”