Listening to the recent Sublime single Ensenada, their first original track in 28 years - already the band’s biggest hit since their 1996 breakthrough What I Got put them on the map, spending eight consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart - is tantamount to hearing a ghost, such is the similarity to the style and sound of the band’s much-missed original frontman Bradley Nowell.
Nowell passed away back in ’96 - just months before the release of Sublime’s eponymous third album dragged them from the underground into the mainstream - but his distinctive aesthetic is now being thrillingly revived by his son, Jakob Nowell.
Born just a month after his father’s tragic death, the new frontman’s resemblance to his father is uncanny, both in the timbre of his vocals and the sun-dappled nonchalance of Ensenada’s ska-punk arrangement.
The 30-year-old singer had been fronting bands for over a decade when approached by the remaining founding Sublime members - Eric Wilson (bass) and Bud Gaugh (drums) - about stepping into his father’s big shoes, but he concedes that the novel predicament he faced was still a daunting one.
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“It is a weird scenario,” he laughs. “You don't hear about stuff like this often, but it’s one that is my life, you know? It's exciting and sometimes terrifying, but altogether a gratifying process.
“I knew about my father being the guy from Sublime growing up - my mother is a very big music fan, so she definitely showed me the ways. And then my Uncle Miguel, shout out to him, he’s responsible for a bunch of my music tastes. Really, my whole family is. Miguel was part of the band back in the day, and my Uncle Eric and Uncle Bud as well.
“So I definitely always had an awareness of Sublime and the music that my father made, and that definitely led to where I'm at today. I mean, a lot of people have lost loved ones, and sometimes they leave without leaving us anything. So, the fact that there's all of these imprints of my dad's very soul, you know, out there in the world just to listen to and experience, I think that it's maybe remiss to not look at that as a huge gift.”
Nowell has no qualms about sounding eerily like his father, indeed believes that it’s this ability to replicate the old-school Sublime aesthetic that makes him the best man for the job.
“I think that the best tactic is to try to emulate it as best you can, because your own spin is going to come out whether you like it or not,” he reflects. “But then there's a sort of reverse finger-trap situation where almost the less you try, the more it does sound authentic - especially, I think, in my case, because my vocals are like him naturally.
“So, I try instead to reverse engineer proceedings and look at all the singers that influenced him to sing the way he did, and really try to see how it is that they got to where they were at and what made their voices unique and then look at their influences and just keep going back.
“The more you push yourself to try to go in those new directions, you find yourself able to do things you were never able to do before. And that's been a really, really fun and enlightening process for sure.”
The legacy of Sublime - especially in their native California - seems strangely undiminished with the passing of time, and Nowell attests that the excitement surrounding their return has been both genuine and visceral.
“Shout out to the fans, man, keeping the dream alive,” he grins. “That means they keep on showing the music and the catalogue to new people, and I just can't believe it, even I was surprised by how popular we still were, even when I joined the band.
“And it's only been continuing to grow with the new material and the releases of the old stuff and us continuing to play shows and do press like this, continuing to play in new markets. It feels really exciting to be part of this band, and that's what gives my heart a warm feeling.
“I know that it's truly every father's dream to see their son continue onwards and to continue the family business like this and push it into new areas, so it’s totally a gift. It can be tough and challenging at times and emotionally taxing, but it's something that I want to bear with dignity and pride because these are the opportunities my father was robbed of.
“The music is good, and the fact that it got anywhere is a miracle, because these were just a few kids in Long Beach having fun, doing crazy shit and making each other laugh, but they really were that good and their music is that special and deserves to be seen and heard by people.
“So, the fact that I've been invited in and allowed to have the position that I do have is nothing short of mind-blowing to me.”
Nowell has also been blown away by the response to Ensenada - the first taste from Sublime’s forthcoming fourth album Until The Sun Explodes - which by many metrics has already become the band’s most successful single.
“Yeah, man, I could not believe the response we got from it,” he enthuses. “I mean, I just can't believe it. It's a song that really meant a lot to me, working on it. We really put in a lot of hard work, not just on that track but on the whole record.
“I'm very optimistic about the future for this band and for all these new songs. I think we're just trying with all this music to continue the legacy - look back at all the old influences and the process of what made Sublime Sublime, and try to continue doing that, but still in an authentic and modern way without losing that old charm.
“And it's making us happy - which is the first good sign - and if we're doing our job right, then it'll make a whole lot of other people happy as well.”
In terms of Until the Sun Explodes, Nowell explains that it loosely follows the template that made the initial Sublime albums such a ragtag joy.
“It’s got that same diversity, for sure,” he continues. “There’s the punk songs, the hip hop songs, the surf ones, the reggae ones - there’s a little bit of everything for everybody. It’s a celebration of Sublime through the ages.
“I think of Until The Sun Explodes as like a sort of like an epilogue - like an afterword at the end of the book. One that looks back on everything that's happened - a victory lap of sorts - and just a celebration of 30 years since the release of the self-titled record.
“And the name is just a way of saying that we'll do this until the end of all time. I mean, the sun's our logo, but it keeps on exploding and getting bigger in that sense, so it's ad infinitum. It’s love, it's family.”
Between 2009 and 2024, another version of Sublime featuring Waugh, Wilson and young fan Rome Ramirez played and released music - using the moniker Sublime With Rome after they were legally challenged over their use of the name Sublime at early performances - but despite having been a vocal critic of the project in the past, Nowell is today quite philosophical about that era.
“The way I look at the band Sublime is that it's had four distinct eras,” he tells. “There's the original Sublime from roughly ’86 to ’96, I think, right about there. And then there's the Long Beach Dub All Stars era, which was in many ways a continuation of Sublime, with the original members and all of their friends and their whole crew continuing on a lot of that core root of what the sound was, and they've remained authentic, and they're still making music today in their own vein.
“And then there was the 2010s with Sublime With Rome, and it's no secret that I've sometimes had critical things to say of that project before in the press. But I think that’s okay. And that's authentically who I am. You know, not everybody needs to love each other.
“But I disagreed with where the direction the band was going. To me, it seemed like at that point, the band was becoming more of like this middle of the day support act at your local reggae festivals and county fairs in the middle of America, and while there's nothing necessarily wrong with that it started to feel like Sublime was becoming more of like a dad rock band, or maybe more scarily like a jock rock kind or yacht rock sort of band.
“And I never thought that way, and the true fans don't either. It's a funny, exciting, emotionally impactful, and sometimes uncomfortable alternative rock group. So when I joined, that's the direction that I wanted to go in.
“And for what it's worth, I think Rome's an amazing entertainer, singer and guitar player - in many rights, better than I can do when it comes to just doing things and sounding good and well-rehearsed. But sometimes that's not what Sublime is, man.
“And it really was the will of my uncles - my father's closest friends that need to guide this thing - and they wanted me to do it. And so I have to take on that mantle and try to interpret where I think would be the most reasonable and genuine path for Sublime.”
“And so now we get to the fourth era of Sublime, which is what I consider like the Renaissance or the revival, the West Coast alternative return to form, with still looking towards the future. And that's the current day. And I think the proof's in the pudding, man. We play pretty much only alternative festivals with the occasional reggae ones here and there, and the new music we write reflects that. And the response of the people reflects that. We're trying to make stuff that fits towards that.
“They had their direction and the way they saw fit, and there was nothing wrong with that - it was just two different interpretations of where to go. But we're under new management now, and all generations seem to be really enjoying it, and I just want to remain humble in the fact that I'm just a small piece of this fucking thing.
“It's them who's the big hole - it's not me, it's you. It's the you that listens. The kid who was just handed the CD by their big brother or sister, and the family that is dysfunctional but comes together when they go out to shows. Those are the common threads that really break us down to our essential parts.
“And I also realise at the end of the day we ain't curing cancer here, we're just making fun rock music for everybody. As long as it’s smiles for miles from everybody, and as long as we all think we're having a good time and getting along, we can keep doing it.”
Nowell is of the opinion that the Sublime sound has stood the test of time so well because it was entirely out of time to begin with.
“My manager Kevin - he’s a close personal family friend, and he was the first to really book Sublime big pay-days back in the day, he was a promoter in San Diego and he became their good friend - he told me that oftentimes he would have comments from people labout how they couldn’t get their heads around the band’s sound,” he offers. "Because back then in the 90s, my Uncle Bud says you could drive across town, and you'd hear eight different genres and subgroups and identities of music.
“You’d drive past the hip hop kids, you'd drive past the punk rock kids, you'd drive past the goth kids, the surf kids - they were all in their own boxes. So when people would hear Sublime, they'd be like, ‘I don't get it, man. What are they supposed to be? Are they a reggae band? Are they a punk band? I don't get this.’
“But I think that whether they knew it or not, they were kind of identifying this niche of people who listened to all of those things, because they had this common thread of this rebellious spirit and this sort of devil-may-care attitude that was very emblematic of the ‘90s and early-‘2000s. And post my father's death, posthumously, it just kept growing and growing and growing as it luckily just really settled into the niche and the attitudes and expectations of the time.
“As we know, things go in trends, and those days are back again in full swing, I think. I feel it here. And that's a big part of my purpose, being with Sublime, to raise awareness of that and tell people there is still an exciting scene of music happening in Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles and all over the West Coast, and it's inspired by that era. It's West Coast alternative music, man, so I couldn't be more excited about what I get to do today."
And with this new revitalised version of Sublime gearing up to hit Australia in 2026 to play headlining shows—they were also on the Bluesfest bill before it was cancelled—Nowell is keen to grab the opportunity with both hands.
“I'm very much looking forward to it,” he smiles. “I've never been, but it's a fucking magical place from what I've always heard and very diverse in many different ways.
“So, just to get to explore around a little bit for a few, I think I'm going to try to stay a little bit longer, maybe even sneak in some shows with my solo band, Jakobs Castle, while I'm out there, just so I have an excuse to check out some more cities.
“I'm so excited, man, just so fucking excited. To get to go there and be taken to new places because of music is every musician's dream. Shout out to all of our fans out there in Australia, man. Thanks for keeping our scene alive, and we hope we can fit in there and just have some fun with the local bands out there.”
Sublime will tour Australia in April. Until The Sun Explodes arrives on June 12 via Atlantic Records.
