When Jakob Nowell took his late father Bradley’s place in front of Sublime in 2023, fans were skeptical. It quickly became clear that the family DNA bred magic through music – but the idea of a new album remained far-fetched.
Their self-titled 1996 LP, released after Bradley’s death, included What I Got, Santeria, Wrong Way and Doin’ Time, seemed to have been their last word from the studio. But the more shows Jakob played with Sublime, the more fans got aboard.
Now they’ve released Ensenada as a single to lead a full-length record. “As a team, we dove into the catalog and wrote down every little piece of what we felt made up the Sublime formula,” Nowell Jr reports.
“My uncle Miguel told me when I was little: ‘You create the spellbook and you burn it when you’re done.’ Then I learned from [bandmates] Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson that it’s all about chaos, having fun and jamming with your friends.”
Purists will be pleased to know that many of the new songs sprouted from bits and pieces Bradley left behind. “You feel like an archaeologist,” his son says. “It’s a trip, man – It’s a fucking trip.”
And becase the trio aren’t messing with the formula, they’re not expecting to break new ground. “Sublime is already Sublime,” Nowell says. “We just want to make a record that feels like an honest tribute that’s not besmirching the legacy in any way.”
He adds: “We’re not curing lung cancer here – but at the same time I do have reverence and respect for what’s come before me. We try to keep all these songs personal, and seriously coming from a place of heart.”
Is it fair to say that Sublime’s back catalog inspired the new music?
“Yeah, man. It’s been an experiment as a songwriter and a fan of the music. I’ve said often that I've been a fan of so many bands from the same era as Sublime. It can be weird when they come back out of nowhere with a whole brand-new album.
“It makes sense for a lot of those bands. But for Sublime, that's been a legacy band for so long, it made more sense to keep it old school – take some of these old unreleased jams and use them as jumping-off points.”
Did you have an appreciation for the old songs before you joined the band?
“One hundred percent. I remember creating my own relationship, agnostic of anyone else’s influence. Being a teenager, you start smoking weed and hanging out with your friends. There were times where I was like, ‘I want to listen to Pawn Shop in my room.’ Or, ‘I’m sad and angsty because I’m 15, so I’m gonna play Boss DJ out in the woods and scream!’”
A lot of this stuff was old jams and stuff we couldn’t use because it was locked in thousand-year-old record contracts
How does that impact you now you’re in the band?
“Part of me tried to just take it all in and get to know it. But another part of me was totally emotional about it because of how much of my father’s soul is left there. He’s a man I’d always wanted to get to know, but never did. Now I feel like I have a whole new way with the music.”
Did you use those unreleased jams like scaffolding around new songs?
“That’s exactly right. To make sure we were keeping things correct, we’d use that scaffolding and build out from there. There were some organic ideas – pure ideas that came out of nowhere – but they were always rooted in these unreleased ones.
“Some of them maybe live on as interludes, or even in their unreleased form, but a lot of this stuff was just old-school jams, and stuff we couldn’t use because it was locked in thousand-year-old record contracts! But the inspiration was definitely there.”
What’s the story behind the first single, Ensenada?
“You’re always trying to make the single; chasing the vibe of, ‘This is as good as it could possibly be – this is the song that’s gonna make me famous, man!’ With Jakob’s Castle, I was always trying to write something accessible and catchy, even radio-friendly.
“But with Sublime, that was not even a thought. We just wanted to make a very respectful homage sonically. When it came down to, ‘What’s our single?’ we were like, ‘Um, I don’t know!’ So we threw a dart at the track list, and Ensenada legitimately felt like a fun choice.
“A lot of the material is deep and a bit more challenging. Ensenada is more about having fun, but there’s still a layer of darkness in there. So many of the lines – I hope – come across as funny and goofy, but with a slight underpinning of underlying darkness, which I’ve noticed is in a lot old Sublime songs.”
Did you mostly use your dad’s old gear while recording?
“Oh, yeah – what was most fun about this is we’re trying to be honorable and venerable Sublime priests and historians. That meant we used all the OG equipment. We used my dad’s Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier amp; you can’t get a better, meatier, cleaner tone.
“And we used his custom Ibanez guitar. It’s all there.There might have been some differences in pedal choices and fun production ideas. We were inspired by different punk rock and hip-hop groups of that era, so there’s some sprinkling of that.
We’d grab the guitar, stare into the amp, commune with it, and the spirit of the amp would give you the solo
“There’s a really rare Fender that [producer] Jon Joseph has. It’s one of those super old-school surf guitars that’s like $30,000 now. I’m not a huge guitar head, but it’s a cream-white, really old, beat-up Fender. It’s worth its weight in gold and sounded killer. We used that for a lot of the pretty-sounding stuff.”
When you plug your dad’s Ibanez into that old Mesa/Boogie amp, can you feel the energy of what he created?
“I hate to use fantasy analogies, but these are the sacred objects and artifacts, dude. It’s just pulsing and teeming with energy. It’s like the sword from The Lord of the Rings, where he cuts off the guy’s hand with the ring and they reforge it!
“If we couldn’t figure out a killer solo for a part, we’d just grab the guitar, lock ourselves in the room and just stare into the amp, commune with it, and the spirit of the amp would give you the solo. If it was harder to commune with the spirits, we’d do this ritual where we’d stay up for days at a time!”
What does it mean to add to Sublime’s mythology?
“It’s a daunting task. I’ll always have impostor syndrome… maybe not always, but I have a fair bit of that. It stems from not wanting to disappoint the fans. If they think it’s jive, I guess we’ll pull it off streaming services!”
It seems that you’ve quieted the haters.
“A lot of people see an old band come back with a record and they’re like, ‘Oh, cash grab!’ I’m like, ‘Our job is to make music. No-one’s like, ‘You went to work at Barnes & Noble? Fucking cash grab, dude!’ You only go to work because you want money. So, money is what we want, but only because this is our job. Things become cash grabby if you’re doing stuff that’s joyless for profit motives.
“We’re trying to make art. We’re trying to make people happy. The biggest thing is like, ‘I’ve gotta not take myself too seriously.’ We’re trying to have fun, not be dragged down, and keep a sense of purpose.
“Hopefully we’re doing our job right. It’s never our goal to overshadow the original catalog – that’s a game you’re not gonna win. I think music is a moment in time more than anything. We hope these songs can be a different moment.”
- Sublime’s new album will be announced soon.
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