If you grew up in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, you may have spent countless hours with a beer in one hand and a spliff in the other, your ears tuned onto a set of speakers blaring Bradley Nowell’s classic tunes What I Got, Smoke Two Joints and Garden Grove.
Nowell’s amalgamation of skate punk, ska and reggae via his band Sublime – which he formed in Long Beach, California, in 1988 alongside drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson – was a revelation. Their three albums, 40oz. to Freedom (1992), Robbin’ the Hood (1994) and Sublime (1996), are proof.
Sadly, the pressures of fame and addiction dogged Nowell, leading to his death via overdose while on tour in 1996, just as Sublime were set for mega-success. And though he didn’t live to see it, success did come after Gaugh and Wilson carried on as Sublime With Rome.
Nowell’s son Jakob – who was born less than a year before his father’s death – never wanted to ride his dad’s coattails. But as he came into his own, with LAW, and more recently Jakobs Castle, his story has mirrored Bradley’s at times.
The difference is that Jakob overcame his demons. And last year, he warmed to the idea of embracing the family legacy, teaming up with Gaugh and Wilson to undertake the unthinkable: reform his late dad’s band.
Since Sublime 2.0’s first show in December 2023, the internet has been buzzing. Some have been delighted while trolls have had a field day. Jakob Nowell, of course, was prepared for all of it, secure in the knowledge that he’s not his father – and nor does he want to be. “I’m going to try to do it adequately and serve the songs,” Nowell tells Guitar World.
“It’s going to be different,” he cautions. “There’s nothing that can bring back the original Sublime. This is just something me and my family and my friends are all doing because we want to get together and have a good fucking time. And I’ll bet that if anybody comes out to a Sublime show, they’re gonna have a pretty fucking good time, too.”
Anyone who’s dug on Sublime can confirm that despite their sometimes simple, punk-rock nature, Brad Nowell was a hell of a guitarist. Jakob, now in possession of much of his dad’s classic gear, agrees: “Technically, he was such a gifted and very bluesy player.
“I’m not a really good soloist – but I know how to sit down, learn, and get work done. I’ve learned all the solos, and I like playing all the little annoying melodies and the skank guitars that always found their way into my music, no matter what.”
Jakobs Castle released Enter: The Castle in April; and it’s surely very different from Sublime. But of course fans are wondering if Sublime has new music cooking. “It’s less about, ‘Here’s new Sublime,’ because I’m never going to be able to sing my dad’s songs like he did, and the same can be said for brand-new music.
“Instead of being like, ‘Oh, hey, we’re making new Sublime material,’ it’s more like, ‘We’re having fun as a band and trying to bring people together. That’s sort of the point of the revival.”
How did the Sublime reactivation come about?
“Man, I wake up every day and ask myself that! I’ve been playing music in obscurity for a decade – sucking off the Sublime thing was not something I wanted to do. I never wanted to join the band, abuse the legacy, or have unfair advantages.
“But a bunch of converging factors came together, and I started looking at the situation a little bit differently. I realized that bringing my family together, and a bunch of people who maybe haven’t spoken in years, and doing this whole thing again, benefits a lot of other people.
There’s a constant, ‘Why did I go into this line of work? Why not just do something totally different?’
“I try to put my own wants, needs, and sense of self aside for the greater good, to try to resolve the wounds, my family and all the amazing stuff that has happened around us. So, it happened organically, I guess.”
Some people believed it would be amazing, while others were full of doubt. Those who have seen you live can tell the proof is in the pudding.
“Thank you so much! The first time we did it, we only rehearsed a couple of times. I don’t know all these fucking songs and I’m still learning them as I go. So, it’s still one big punk-rock kind of experiment. We’ve rehearsed a lot more and we’re getting a lot tighter.
“But I’ll get comments like, ‘He doesn’t sound anything like his father. He does this melody differently.’ It's like, ‘Oh, yeah – it’s almost like I’m not that guy.’ I’m not him! I’m an entirely different fucking dude. My fucking larynx is biologically similar, so it’s gonna sound similar to the guy; but I’m never going to be that.
“He was a very bluesy singer. I’m just not. So I’m going to try to sing it good. I’m going to try to rehearse the songs very diligently and treat this gig like any other professional singer would.”
In the years since your dad passed, Sublime’s music has taken on a life of its own that he probably couldn’t have anticipated. Is that daunting?
“Yeah, I think that’s daunting for anybody who’s a son of a family that has a history. It’s a screwy way to grow up – there’s a constant comparison. There’s a constant, ‘Why did I go into this line of work? Why not just do something totally different?’
“But it’s not all gloom and doom. At a certain point, you’ve got to grow the fuck up and accept who the hell you are. Either decision is valid; maybe you run away and become a farmer and ignore all the stuff your family’s connected to.
"But I think a big rung of maturity is saying, ‘Hey, this is who the fuck I am. This is my last name. This is what I’ve been thrust into.’”
As far as a guitar goes, how did your dad impact you?
“Oh, I hate playing guitar! It’s a horrible instrument – your fingers hurt, and you’ve got to sit there, try a riff 100 times, and get better. And then there’s that fucking bell curve where you think you’re about to get the riff perfect, then you start getting worse at it because you’ve just been grinding on it for hours. You’re like, ‘Ah, this sucks.’
“But my dad played this really awesome custom guitar, and it’s really fucking cool, man. It’s kind of like an Ibanez S540 LTD, but it has its own thing going on. So I play that on the Sublime stuff. He always played out of Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier amps; those have the coolest clean tones. So I think in that sense, it’s always inspired my own guitar work.”
When bands from the ‘90s come back with a new record, it’s kind of just kind of jive! That was the problem with Sublime with Rome
What gear do you use with Jakobs Castle?
“I play out of a Taylor T5z, a cool hollowbody electric guitar that Taylor makes with an acoustic pickup. When you’re playing smaller clubs and you’ve got the wedge right in front of you, if you put on that acoustic pickup, the wedge makes really cool, gnarly feedback sounds like most acoustic people don’t want.
“I put a bunch of weird effects on it, and I love amp simulation. I don’t like lugging around heavy gear. So I’ve been using the Universal Audio Audio Dream ’65 pedal recently. It just sounds exactly like a Fender Twin Reverb to me. I couldn’t tell the difference if you put them up next to each other.”
What’s the key to harnessing the classic Sublime guitar tone?
“With my natural tone, I like more weird stuff. But also a lot of simple dreamy poppy stuff, like double spring reverb; I can't have enough of that – like, bury that motherfucker in reverb! But with Sublime, the tone is super-simple and impressive. It’s just that really thick, mid-range, Triple Rectifier Mesa/Boogie sound.
“So it’s been super-simple. You just plug the guitar straight into the amp. Though I think I detect on some of Sublime’s recordings – and I don’t know if he did this live – there’s some kind of chorus or something, like clean skank strokes. Maybe it’s some kind of soft, super reverb. But it’s been fun!”
What are your favorite Sublime songs to play live?
“Greatest Hits – it’s just really fun to play.”
That has some of your dad’s best guitar licks.
“Yeah. I’m glad you know your shit – I said Greatest Hits in another interview, and they’re like, ‘Well, which of the greatest hits do you like?’ And I’m like, ‘Ahhh, gotcha!’
“Chica Me Tipo is fucking awesome – really fun. He does that solo and then sings, ‘I’ve got to get it on with you, oh what can I do? I would lay down anytime with her (with her)’. Yeah, that song is fucking sick!”
Are there plans for new Sublime music or to resurrect anything from the vaults?
“A new record’s kind of jive. I feel like when the old bands from the ‘90s come back with a new record, it’s just kind of jive! I think that was the problem with Sublime with Rome – a lot of that music sucked. Except for Eric Wilson’s contributions. Those parts are good; everything else sucked.
“But as far as resurrecting unreleased shit from the vault, I think that’d be kind of cool. I think the more we make this process collaborative and like a family thing, the more legit it becomes. If we brought back some old songs, like collabed with musicians in the scene that are currently holding it down, stuff like that would be cool.”
I wouldn’t be here without my father, both biologically and in a career sense. There’s so much I owe to Sublime and the scene of Sublime
Sublime’s music means a lot to a ton of people. But as the son of the man who created most of it, what does it mean to you?
“Oh, man… I don't know if I could sum it all up. It’s been a blast; I’m super-grateful to all the fans out there, and I hope we can keep pushing it together. I’m stoked to be doing it – but I’m also going to do it my way.
“That way, I’m being genuine to myself, but I’m not dishonoring the ways of the past. I wouldn’t be here without my father, both biologically and in a career sense. There’s so much I owe to Sublime and the scene of Sublime.
“I do know it’s my boulder. It’s like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill – only to have it roll back down. It’s just an infinite, insane, absurd thing. But I’m happy to push this boulder. And who knows? Maybe someday I’ll have a kid, and then it’ll be their fucking problem!”
- Enter: The Castle is out now via Epitaph. Jakobs Castle commence a new tour on May 16.
