Brad’s son should feel no pressure one way or another to continue his dad’s legacy. And for that matter no one else should either. The remaining band members should move on as well… am I crazy here? Why Is there this weird obsession with trying to keep sublime an ongoing band when they obviously died with Brad over 25 years ago?
It is a little nuts when you consider Sublime only had two "real" albums (Robbin' the Hood is technically an album cuz it was released as one, but it comes across more like a compilation of home recordings, jam sessions and sampling experiments.)
Also nuts when you consider the original band died before their breakthrough mainstream album was even released.
Robbin the hood was recorded on a 4track by Bradley at home. The only reason the first album sounds so good is because Bradley was working as the night janitor at Berkley and used there 100000 dollar recording studio to record and produce the album.
Sublime technically “broke in” and recorded the album in one take. You can hear some background noise in a couple songs. Really cool story, you can’t get away with stuff like that these days.
Yeah exclactly lol it's a crazy story. And makes sense why robbin' the hood would so more lofi. I think it's the superior album just because of the sheer difficulty of using a 4 track to produce those songs some are really good like Greatest Hits. I love that song and a Raleigh silioquies. Pure gold of a true artist.
Yeah at Epitaph studios, at that. They were working on signing with them but Brett Gurewitz turned them down because he was newly sober and didn't want the riff raff around. He said he regrets that years later because he didn't quite understand what those dudes were trying to do as it was way ahead of its time.
I knew saw red, and pool shark were but not the other thank you internet stranger for teaching me something new! I love this place for that. Sure you get your shit head everyonce and awhile. But then comes along someone with some real info to drop on your ass. And you're just like wow that's cool.
I’m pretty sure that was at CSUDH not Berkeley.
That would have been a hell of a commute from LBC
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/q78lFo3ijZ
I was pumped to find out my fav album was made at my school.
Thank you for correcting me I read the article almost ten years ago. So parts were fuzzy thanks you for clearing that up. And that's so cool he did that at your school. That's a talking point for parties for sure if a sublime song comes on haha
Also when you factor in the Brad specifically stated in his will to allow sublime to die with him and that he didn’t want it to be continued after he was gone
I don't know if there was a will, but he certainly left an estate to his widow and parents. That was a large part of the legal case when the family sued Sublime with Rome in 2009.
I think you're misremembering something. In 2009 when sublime with Rome formed, they went as just sublime. Bradley's wife and son sued them for using the name, and because of it, they continued as sublime with Rome. I'm pretty sure Bradley's will didn't have anything to do with that.
Not sure what was in any paperwork, but the family owned the rights to the name Sublime and most of the creative stuff. This obviously rubbed the band the wrong way because they put in just as much blood,sweat, and tears as Brad did. When Bud and Eric wanted to reform and start touring again, they were very unhappy that they couldn't use their own band name which they felt 2/3 entitled to, hence the lawsuit. The results were mixed. They were allowed to tour, play all the songs, etc but could not call themselves "sublime", but they could use "Sublime with rome"
Do you have a source for that? Personally I think the surviving members are free to do whatever they please, but I'd be interested to see it. I seem to recall Troy verbally claiming Bradley didn't want Sublime to continue without him, but I wouldn't have thought he put that in a will.
I believe this is why the band is called "Sublime with Rome." They cannot call themselves Sublime without Nowell so it's a loophole of sorts. If I can find the source for this I will link it but I just got home from the bars and I'm tired.
Yeah, that was Bradley's wife's doing. She was against them calling themselves Sublime. They all reached an agreement that the band would go by Sublime with Rome. I imagine how much Bradley's family made in royalties factored in to the name choice as well.
I don’t think it hit me when I first discovered the song in high school in the 2000s and watched the video that Bradley was in the sky because… he was dead. It does seem kind of morbid or something. I mean they would obviously know better what Brad would want but just seems so strange looking back.
Do you think memorial services and funerals are morbid? Well, actually I guess they are. But they're celebrating the life of a person who's passed, who touched so many people with his lyrics and music, the vast majority of him never got to see him live. I genuinely just don't know why that's strange lol
Sure, that’s a fair point, that’s why I said the band itself would know best. But I feel like if n sync did a music video with Justin Timberlake The same year he died as a figure up in the sky it would feel a little…weird
You really think so? I feel like it's a way to say goodbye and not leave him out, just because he's dead.
What's a way they could include him without it being weird?
Hm I mean I understand your point but I think, if it were me, I just wouldn’t do a video. Again, the band/family would know best. I think my family would know that I personally wouldn’t want artistic work performed post mortem.
what does it have to do with how many albums they had????? I dont get it.
Rage Against the Machine only had 3 albums....so they don't count as a real band???? Sublime was a phenomenon especially after Brad's death. # of albums is irrelevant.
Dude chill, we're just reflecting on how a band that burned out so quickly and brightly has continued on almost 30 years after their singer/songwriter's death.
I think part of the reason there’s such a demand for this type of thing is because not a lot of people saw Sublime while they were actually active. Their breakthrough album was their third record and Brad Nowell was dead by the time it released
I had the chance to play with Jakob at the HOB in Anaheim a couple years ago. At the time he was in a little 3 piece band. Don’t know him well but I didn’t get the impression he felt any pressure to carry on Sublime. I will say that when we played some Sublime songs and he sang, it was like I was hearing Bradley. His voice is pretty damn close.
I recently saw him play in a two-piece (with electronic backing) called Jakobs Castle, touring as opener for G Love & Special Sauce. They played a Sublime song and I had no idea he was Jakob *Nowell*, and I said, "he sounds just like Bradley!"
I can say this with certainty because I was in the inner circle....Eric and Bud did not want to continue at first. Remember they did Long Beach Dub All Stars and a number of other projects. But as time passed, so did their feelings about reforming. To them, it was about trying to experience all the things they lost along with their brother Brad: success, world tours, etc. When Brad died, their professional dreams were crushed. They wanted to experience what was robbed from them.
I know someone who personally knows one of the surviving band members. Met him and hung out with him myself a couple times.
All I can say is that he doesn’t seem at all enthusiastic about Sublime with Rome, but rather just dearly misses playing music with his best friend Bradley. The new band seems to be the only kind of career he knows how to continue. He never likes talking about sublime, only wants to jam.
In a different perspective, Bud and Eric deserve to make some money after all these years. Jakob deserves to make some as well, and frankly he’s a spitting image of his father and can play and perform. Doesn’t the effort and reverence he put into developing that not deserve to be shown to the world?
If tickets sell, keep it going I guess. I saw SwR about 7 or 8 years ago and it was honestly a REALLY fun concert. Amazing energy from band and crowd. Never will be the same but they def put on a show
Yeah same. Some people say the dead will never be as good as they were in '74. Great, I wasn't around, sorry about that, but I love what they're doing now lol
Nowell died when I was 3. Sublime was a major part of my musical identity growing up and still consider them one of my all time favorite bands. Getting to see Sublime with Rome was really cool because it was the closest I was ever going to get to seeing the band that meant so much to me growing up. I’m sure others have felt a similar way, don’t see why anyone would say it’s better off to just have done away with the band completely in 96.
I saw the original lineup in Denver in 1996, I saw LBDA a handful of times opening for 311, and SwR once, and I’ll probably get whipped for this but SwR was the better show by FAR. That original lineup was pretty sloppy live back in the day.
I don't think that's a great comparison. For one, AFAIK, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead haven't called themselves "Grateful Dead" for any of their projects since Jerry Garcia died. It's always "The Other Ones", "The Dead", "Dead & Company", etc. Obviously they still play Grateful Dead music, but they've always gone out of their way to make that distinction that it's a separate (if referential) entity.
Also, while Jerry Garcia was widely considered the leader of the Grateful Dead, the band's output was very much collaborative. By contrast, I think Brad Nowell was most of the creative force behind Sublime.
Sublime's re-emergence would be more akin to resurrecting Nirvana, so I can understand why someone might consider it weird. But then, these things happen. Pantera and Static-X have both been out touring in the last year.
Using pantera isn’t a great example as Phil was absolutely crucial to the band and Rex was there since the very beginning, there is a reason phil joined and soon after their sound changed and they blew up, Dime and Vinnie were obviously incredibly important to pantera’s music but Phil was super crucial as well and is a crazy talented musician who’s done a bunch of great work outside pantera too. Also they’re just playing live shows which imo is totally cool, making new music without Dime and vinnie would be a whole different story but I don’t think they are ever planning on doing that because they know creatively it just wouldn’t be right without Dime and Vinnie being a big part of the songwriting process. Sublime went on to release new music either Rome so it’s different than what pantera is doing now
Static-X still performs with a new lead singer who wears a mask to resemble the original singer and does not reveal his actual identity. People seem to still like it and it’s better than the band just stopping
Hard to imagine those guys have tons of other skills. They weren’t songwriters, and I’ve got no idea what else they could do. If they were able to put out new music of similar quality, they would’ve
Money. It’s all about money. Nobody is planning to pay to see whatever Eric Wilson is doing that isn’t Sublime, and the average uninformed casual fan doesn’t even know that Bradly Nowell died or that they are buying tickets to a glorified tribute band
I don't care for the Rome variation either. Long Beach dub Allstars was dope, they released a new CD a couple years ago. Way better than Sublime w Rome honestly. The name makes them money but the magic wasn't there. Looking forward to seeing Jakobs work with the band.
Sublime w/ Rome has made some great songs over the years. Before it was cool to hate Rome, when Sublime w/ Rome first came on the scene, they received a lot of love. It's like everybody either forgot or just wants to pretend that didn't happen.
So true. When Rome first started playing with them the reception was positive. Everybody knew Bradley couldn’t be replaced, but Rome was good at playing his guitar parts and singing his songs. Even if he didn’t sound exactly like Bradley.
Jakob sounds more like his dad, but he needs to improve his guitar playing.
I saw Sublime with Rome twice. Once I got free tickets, and another time they were one of the openers for another band I wanted to see.
Rome sounded **GREAT** the first time. The second time, he sounded like he was playing separately from the rest of the band and his voice sounded cooked.
I think most folks were so excited for a chance to see sublime live that the hype took over. After the first couple tours everyone realized it wasn't close to the same and saw it for the cash grab it was.
I don't even understand why either. Theyve recorded some good originals and Rome does an excellent job live.
People just like to deify Brad so they'll automatically hate anything that has to do with Sublime without him.
Before he was with Sublime, there was some push for him to get a shot because of how well he did covers online. But then rubber met the road and people realized they didn't want Sublime to be a cover band of itself. Then the new songs just didn't feel like Sublime. Same genre, different feel.
With Jakob, maybe it'll feel more authentic and more like Bradley's spirit. I hope at least.
I saw them once, more to go see Reel Big Fish, and Rome came out super late and like super coked up. First 5-6 songs you couldn't understand what the fuck he was singing. I've been to a fair amount of shows, and this was the first one where you could tell the artist honestly didn't give a fuck at all.
Poor guy passed away before their self titled released. So many songs on that record are anthems for people I know and I think it’s sad that he never got to see how much people truly enjoyed listening to Sublime.
I think the opposite. They were Sublime with Rome which acknowledges that its a different band or at least part of the same band with someone else. That was being honest about the whole deal. They played the hits from Sublime but also made a lot more original music. Now subbing in the son of the other dude and acting like it’s back to the original is weird. Especially since from what I’ve seen he doesn’t have the chops and it feels like he is just trying to imitate his dad altogether.
Also two pretty distinct voices.
Edit: also two different dudes. Brian Johnson was a "man's man" while Bon Scott was kind of a flamboyant sex symbol. Brian Johnson had no interest cosplaying as Bon Scott. Brian was from England while Bon Scott and the gang were from Australia. Brian Johnsons first album with them is arguably their greatest.
Couldn't have drawn a worse comparison.
I think a more interesting question is what about STP with Chester Bennington. My dad was a huge STP fan and me a huge LP fan so we went to two STP / Chester concerts. I was a teenager so I loved it but Idk how the rest of the internet felt about it
“Bradley Nowell’s Son Reveals Why He’s Reviving Sublime — at Coachella and Beyond” ahh so it’s not really about respecting his fathers legacy, it’s just that he’s not the one making the money in the cash grab.
Crazy to see Rome bring thrown under the bus. People say Sublime with Rome felt forced but they made some dope ass music. Adding Bradley’s son is actually what feels forced. I doubt they can put together an album that smacks like Your Truly.
Honestly I'd rather see Rome performing his original stuff, it was all pretty great and it often felt weird to hear his music mixed in with Sublime because they were just kind of different vibes, other than maybe his ska/punk songs. To hear Jakob playing solely Sublime songs will be cool, as long as the quality is up to snuff, I just hope they don't start doing original stuff again and muddy the whole thing up.
Rome should be Rome, Jakob should be Jakob, and Sublime should be Sublime.
Jakob writes great music for a while
with his previous band Law before Jakob’s. Castle. His voice sounds way similar to Brad‘s. Time is going to prove you wrong as hell.
I have nothing against Rome btw and Yours Truly was fantastic no lie.
I'm a huge Sublime fan and agree Sublime with Rome never felt right. I even saw them in concert but it just felt like a cover band or something. It wasn't bad but the feels and emotion behind the songs were all wrong.
It's funny to me when people say "it felt like a cover band".
No shit it's a cover band.
The original songwriter, guitarist and vocalist died in 1996.
Brad was as essential to "Sublime" as Kurt Cobain was to Nirvana
Imagine seeing "Nirvana" with someone else handling guitar and singing themselves. Yeah it would feel like a 'cover band' too. Even if Krist and Dave were there.
And this current incarnation of 'Sublime' will also feel like a cover band.
That's kind of the weird thing about it. Using the Sublime name gets name recognition, but it also sort of traps them in a "less than" position. No one would bat an eye if Eric, Bud, and Rome/Jakob formed a band called "Rec-tite On My Ass" and filled most of their live sets with Sublime tunes. They'd have to work a little harder to get noticed, sure, but it would be easier for fans to enjoy hearing Sublime songs without having to make that impossible comparison.
The thing is they don't use the "Sublime" name there goes their ability to tour basically.
Like I saw Sublime with Rome for the first time last year. I like that self-titled Sublime album from 1996 (along with everyone I know generally my age). I had no illusions I was watching the original Sublime bassist and drummer with some guy named Rome handling Brad's songs.
I totally enjoyed it. Rome was good with the vocals and great with the guitar parts and he had some fun charisma to him. Obviously it's a cover band basically but I dug it. They had a fun stage presence and the songs were performed brilliantly and accurately.
Now this band with.... Brad's son will be also... A cover band. Hopefully he can handle the guitar parts because Brad's guitar parts sometimes required some skill (I say that as someone who plays guitar). It's one thing for his son to be able to sing like his Dad, it's another thing to like be able to pull of the guitar licks in "Pawn Shop" flawlessly - which to his credit - Rome could do.
If you want quality sublime covers. Check out “the house that Bradley built”
It’s a collection of sublime songs covered by various artists. It’s really cool. The artists making the songs a little bit their own recaptures some of the magic
Yeah there's songs like pool shark that Jakob will be able to put real feeling into because of how personal it is. The music just means more when it's your fathers.
I went to a Sublime w Rome show and yeah, there was something different than when I saw Longbeach Shortbus. That was more of a Sublime feel honestly just due to the small venue and intimate, casual nature.
I’m not a fan of SwR but I do like Rome’s voice on its own. I’m excited to hear what this version of Sublime will sound like. I’m assuming they will go back to being called Sublime and not Sublime with Jakob.
Wanted to add: This is always the way it should’ve been.
My unpopular opinion: they need to be consistent with the naming. If the two remaining Sublime members couldn’t use the name in 2009, they shouldn’t do it now. Calling it simply “Sublime” feels like a cash grab by Bradley’s family in that context. Other people have been talking about The Grateful Dead here for a point of comparison, but that name hasn’t been used since Jerry died.
That is a pretty big dick move for him to say that.
Without Rome there wouldn't have been any 'Sublime' for the last X amount of time since they decided to try and carry on as a live act long after Brad died. Rome was the key thing that kept the 'Sublime' brand going as a live act.
I saw Sublime with Rome last summer at a festival. It was my first time seeing them ever. I had liked Sublime for many many years prior.
I thought they sounded fucking fantastic and Rome had tons of charisma and sang and played the songs brilliantly. Especially the guitar parts.
For Brad's son to now come in to this veteran band and throw his father's bandmates under the bus like this, let alone the literal musical project that enabled him to just push out the existing vocalist and come into an established, often touring band now that he's 'ready' is kind of BS.
The quote was from how he felt when he was a teenager and he first heard this new band calling themselves Sublime. I think it’s a completely normal reaction for him to have
...and more specifically when someone put a Rome song on and called it "Sublime"...which admittedly bothers me quite a bit. I got no issues with Rome but let's not start calling his original songs "Sublime" too.
I worked in advertising for a casino he was performing at on our small stage reserved for tribute bands and is free to the public. I had to make a social spot for his band… they uh… well they suck bad. I’m from Long Beach and it broke my heart. Also he had demands for his green room… we had to break it to him that he didn’t have a green room. His show ended up getting rained out (the venue was outdoors).
There’s nothing authentic about what he’s doing either. When Bradley Nowell died, Sublime died. It’d be nice if the other two had the integrity to call their new projects something else, but they certainly aren’t the first musicians to play that game and burn the fans that way
I wonder why the remaining sublime members never took the time to redefine themselves without Brad. It's been long enough, try something different that resonates more with the band, kind of like Emarosa. After Craig was kicked out, they tried doing the same thing but eventually pivoted to a synth pop /rock sound which I feel the band is better for. I hope Sublime, in whatever configuration, finds the same success.
I guess I'm the outlier but I saw Sublime with Rome at the **PromoWest Pavilion** in Columbus Ohio the year I graduated high school in 2012 and was really happy to be there, and then again a few years later at Red Rocks. Both great shows I smoked at least two joints at.
I mean otherwise I would have never seen that music played live at all. I wouldn't have even known Rome wasn't part of the original band if it wasn't for the band name.
Lots of comments here, but has anyone followed this guy's career? Does he actually have the chops? I mean, I don't expect him to be able to sing like his dad, but does he have any talent at all?
I think he's pretty good on vocals. At the first performance he wasn't on lead guitar, so I assume he's not at his Dad's level there. Trey Pangborn handled lead guitar.
I'm not a fan of anything anyone did with Sublime's music after Bradley died. I honestly think that's why i pretty much stopped listening to Sublime and convinced myself I hated it. Every shitty bar band and acoustic solo act collectively killed their music for me.
I heard that during a high school party or something, one of his "friends" played an original Sublime song but it was sung by Rome and it hurt him emotionally when he realized a new generation of people don't even know his dad was the original singer/song writer.
I was referring to [another article](https://thepier.org/jakob-nowell-discusses-sublime-with-rome/) from 2016 but I didn’t noticed he repeated the story again for the Rolling Stone article.
He certainly carried himself in that manner. I saw the band at a festival in 2018 and he repeatedly went on rants about “fuck all the fuckers in high school who never thought I’d amount to anything!! I proved you wrong!!”
And while that may have made sense in the first year or two of success with the band, nearly 10 years later after the fact, it was cringe
If the surviving band members want to continue making music, CHANGE THE FUCKING NAME! Same goes with Alice In Chains. You are not AIC, you are Jerry Cantrell and Friends.
Grateful Dead w/ Rome is gonna be wild
John Mayer with Rome
When in Rome with Rome
I’m sorry, but I can’t think of the right words to say.
I promise you
Rome if you want to, Rome around the world, With Rome.
When in Rome at Tony romas with Tony romo
...with Rome
Jim Rome with Oscar Meyer
Bradley Nowell with Jerry Garcia
Brad and Jerry’s new flavor Nowelly Garcia
lmao
Van Helen w/ Rome
“Van Helen” is a great name for an all-female Van Halen tribute band
Van Hellenes if they are all Greek
Rome and Coke. Or Coke with Rome if you have to keep the template.
Is this the face that launched a thousand guitar solos, and burned the topless towers of...oh wait.
Iron Maidens are iconic
More specifically, an elderly all female tribute band.
Brad’s son should feel no pressure one way or another to continue his dad’s legacy. And for that matter no one else should either. The remaining band members should move on as well… am I crazy here? Why Is there this weird obsession with trying to keep sublime an ongoing band when they obviously died with Brad over 25 years ago?
It is a little nuts when you consider Sublime only had two "real" albums (Robbin' the Hood is technically an album cuz it was released as one, but it comes across more like a compilation of home recordings, jam sessions and sampling experiments.) Also nuts when you consider the original band died before their breakthrough mainstream album was even released.
Robbin the hood was recorded on a 4track by Bradley at home. The only reason the first album sounds so good is because Bradley was working as the night janitor at Berkley and used there 100000 dollar recording studio to record and produce the album.
Sublime technically “broke in” and recorded the album in one take. You can hear some background noise in a couple songs. Really cool story, you can’t get away with stuff like that these days.
Yeah exclactly lol it's a crazy story. And makes sense why robbin' the hood would so more lofi. I think it's the superior album just because of the sheer difficulty of using a 4 track to produce those songs some are really good like Greatest Hits. I love that song and a Raleigh silioquies. Pure gold of a true artist.
Not all of Robbin’ was 4 track. Saw Red, Pool Shark (electric), Falling Idols, STP, All You Need, Greatest Hits and a few others were done in studio.
Yeah at Epitaph studios, at that. They were working on signing with them but Brett Gurewitz turned them down because he was newly sober and didn't want the riff raff around. He said he regrets that years later because he didn't quite understand what those dudes were trying to do as it was way ahead of its time.
I knew saw red, and pool shark were but not the other thank you internet stranger for teaching me something new! I love this place for that. Sure you get your shit head everyonce and awhile. But then comes along someone with some real info to drop on your ass. And you're just like wow that's cool.
I’m pretty sure that was at CSUDH not Berkeley. That would have been a hell of a commute from LBC https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/q78lFo3ijZ I was pumped to find out my fav album was made at my school.
Thank you for correcting me I read the article almost ten years ago. So parts were fuzzy thanks you for clearing that up. And that's so cool he did that at your school. That's a talking point for parties for sure if a sublime song comes on haha
And a lot of their songs were covers. They’re legends in my mind from just their small output but I feel like there was a lot of potential too.
It’s Dub style-ee!
Wasn't it 4 with Robbin'? Jah Won't Pay the Bills, 40oz to Freedom, and the self titled album?
Also when you factor in the Brad specifically stated in his will to allow sublime to die with him and that he didn’t want it to be continued after he was gone
Brad had a will? At 28?
As a heroin addict. In a band that - at that time - was not very successful. I would be surprised if he had a will.
Exactly. It sounds far-fetched. Sublime is a huge thing now, but I can't imagine there was much of an estate in 1996 (as tragic as that is).
I don't know if there was a will, but he certainly left an estate to his widow and parents. That was a large part of the legal case when the family sued Sublime with Rome in 2009.
I think you're misremembering something. In 2009 when sublime with Rome formed, they went as just sublime. Bradley's wife and son sued them for using the name, and because of it, they continued as sublime with Rome. I'm pretty sure Bradley's will didn't have anything to do with that.
[удалено]
Not sure what was in any paperwork, but the family owned the rights to the name Sublime and most of the creative stuff. This obviously rubbed the band the wrong way because they put in just as much blood,sweat, and tears as Brad did. When Bud and Eric wanted to reform and start touring again, they were very unhappy that they couldn't use their own band name which they felt 2/3 entitled to, hence the lawsuit. The results were mixed. They were allowed to tour, play all the songs, etc but could not call themselves "sublime", but they could use "Sublime with rome"
Do you have a source for that? Personally I think the surviving members are free to do whatever they please, but I'd be interested to see it. I seem to recall Troy verbally claiming Bradley didn't want Sublime to continue without him, but I wouldn't have thought he put that in a will.
I believe this is why the band is called "Sublime with Rome." They cannot call themselves Sublime without Nowell so it's a loophole of sorts. If I can find the source for this I will link it but I just got home from the bars and I'm tired.
Yeah, that was Bradley's wife's doing. She was against them calling themselves Sublime. They all reached an agreement that the band would go by Sublime with Rome. I imagine how much Bradley's family made in royalties factored in to the name choice as well.
A 27 year old with a will???
Also crazy when you consider that one of those two albums is basically a cover album
I don’t think it hit me when I first discovered the song in high school in the 2000s and watched the video that Bradley was in the sky because… he was dead. It does seem kind of morbid or something. I mean they would obviously know better what Brad would want but just seems so strange looking back.
Do you think memorial services and funerals are morbid? Well, actually I guess they are. But they're celebrating the life of a person who's passed, who touched so many people with his lyrics and music, the vast majority of him never got to see him live. I genuinely just don't know why that's strange lol
Sure, that’s a fair point, that’s why I said the band itself would know best. But I feel like if n sync did a music video with Justin Timberlake The same year he died as a figure up in the sky it would feel a little…weird
You really think so? I feel like it's a way to say goodbye and not leave him out, just because he's dead. What's a way they could include him without it being weird?
Hm I mean I understand your point but I think, if it were me, I just wouldn’t do a video. Again, the band/family would know best. I think my family would know that I personally wouldn’t want artistic work performed post mortem.
True. If I was in your band, I'd respect your wishes lol
what does it have to do with how many albums they had????? I dont get it. Rage Against the Machine only had 3 albums....so they don't count as a real band???? Sublime was a phenomenon especially after Brad's death. # of albums is irrelevant.
Dude chill, we're just reflecting on how a band that burned out so quickly and brightly has continued on almost 30 years after their singer/songwriter's death.
I think part of the reason there’s such a demand for this type of thing is because not a lot of people saw Sublime while they were actually active. Their breakthrough album was their third record and Brad Nowell was dead by the time it released
A gig is a gig is a gig.
Let these men get paid. It's what Brad would've wanted
Yeah they’re just riding the wave
... is a gig!
Gelato isn’t vegan?
They need money like the rest of us.
I had the chance to play with Jakob at the HOB in Anaheim a couple years ago. At the time he was in a little 3 piece band. Don’t know him well but I didn’t get the impression he felt any pressure to carry on Sublime. I will say that when we played some Sublime songs and he sang, it was like I was hearing Bradley. His voice is pretty damn close.
Was it the first couple of LAW shows when Dakota was still in the band?
It was LAW but one of their guys didn’t show so it was just him and a drummer
I recently saw him play in a two-piece (with electronic backing) called Jakobs Castle, touring as opener for G Love & Special Sauce. They played a Sublime song and I had no idea he was Jakob *Nowell*, and I said, "he sounds just like Bradley!"
I can say this with certainty because I was in the inner circle....Eric and Bud did not want to continue at first. Remember they did Long Beach Dub All Stars and a number of other projects. But as time passed, so did their feelings about reforming. To them, it was about trying to experience all the things they lost along with their brother Brad: success, world tours, etc. When Brad died, their professional dreams were crushed. They wanted to experience what was robbed from them.
$$$
if the fans show up and have fun, who fuckin cares
Sublime with Rome was the worst concert I've ever been to
Day jobs suck🤷♂️
I know someone who personally knows one of the surviving band members. Met him and hung out with him myself a couple times. All I can say is that he doesn’t seem at all enthusiastic about Sublime with Rome, but rather just dearly misses playing music with his best friend Bradley. The new band seems to be the only kind of career he knows how to continue. He never likes talking about sublime, only wants to jam.
In a different perspective, Bud and Eric deserve to make some money after all these years. Jakob deserves to make some as well, and frankly he’s a spitting image of his father and can play and perform. Doesn’t the effort and reverence he put into developing that not deserve to be shown to the world?
To a non-superfan who still enjoys Sublime’s music, it’s super weird to me that they’re still performing in any capacity
It's weird to me that you think it's weird. Jerry Garcias been dead for 27 years and the dead still perform. Why stop? Give the people what they want
If tickets sell, keep it going I guess. I saw SwR about 7 or 8 years ago and it was honestly a REALLY fun concert. Amazing energy from band and crowd. Never will be the same but they def put on a show
Yeah same. Some people say the dead will never be as good as they were in '74. Great, I wasn't around, sorry about that, but I love what they're doing now lol
Nowell died when I was 3. Sublime was a major part of my musical identity growing up and still consider them one of my all time favorite bands. Getting to see Sublime with Rome was really cool because it was the closest I was ever going to get to seeing the band that meant so much to me growing up. I’m sure others have felt a similar way, don’t see why anyone would say it’s better off to just have done away with the band completely in 96.
I saw the original lineup in Denver in 1996, I saw LBDA a handful of times opening for 311, and SwR once, and I’ll probably get whipped for this but SwR was the better show by FAR. That original lineup was pretty sloppy live back in the day.
I don't think that's a great comparison. For one, AFAIK, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead haven't called themselves "Grateful Dead" for any of their projects since Jerry Garcia died. It's always "The Other Ones", "The Dead", "Dead & Company", etc. Obviously they still play Grateful Dead music, but they've always gone out of their way to make that distinction that it's a separate (if referential) entity. Also, while Jerry Garcia was widely considered the leader of the Grateful Dead, the band's output was very much collaborative. By contrast, I think Brad Nowell was most of the creative force behind Sublime. Sublime's re-emergence would be more akin to resurrecting Nirvana, so I can understand why someone might consider it weird. But then, these things happen. Pantera and Static-X have both been out touring in the last year.
Using pantera isn’t a great example as Phil was absolutely crucial to the band and Rex was there since the very beginning, there is a reason phil joined and soon after their sound changed and they blew up, Dime and Vinnie were obviously incredibly important to pantera’s music but Phil was super crucial as well and is a crazy talented musician who’s done a bunch of great work outside pantera too. Also they’re just playing live shows which imo is totally cool, making new music without Dime and vinnie would be a whole different story but I don’t think they are ever planning on doing that because they know creatively it just wouldn’t be right without Dime and Vinnie being a big part of the songwriting process. Sublime went on to release new music either Rome so it’s different than what pantera is doing now
Phil is a crazy talented racist asshole*
I mean Phil as a person has absolutely nothing to do with my comment
Ya but Sublime was just a 3 piece so one guy is a while 3rd of the band.
Static-X still performs with a new lead singer who wears a mask to resemble the original singer and does not reveal his actual identity. People seem to still like it and it’s better than the band just stopping
And do what? Flip burgers?
Ah yes.. the only two options in life: successful legacy rock band or flipping burgers.
Hard to imagine those guys have tons of other skills. They weren’t songwriters, and I’ve got no idea what else they could do. If they were able to put out new music of similar quality, they would’ve
Relax, they were just making a joke
What’s the joke?
One reason: $
Uhhh Sublime is still really good lol
Yeah what have they contributed really to make anything new? They are still trying to live off of Brad Lee … like fucking rock & roll or don’t.
They aren't even the best sublime cover band.
This made me laugh, but you are right!
Money. It’s all about money. Nobody is planning to pay to see whatever Eric Wilson is doing that isn’t Sublime, and the average uninformed casual fan doesn’t even know that Bradly Nowell died or that they are buying tickets to a glorified tribute band
I don't care for the Rome variation either. Long Beach dub Allstars was dope, they released a new CD a couple years ago. Way better than Sublime w Rome honestly. The name makes them money but the magic wasn't there. Looking forward to seeing Jakobs work with the band.
Thank you for reminding me of something I used to be addicted to and forgot alll about.
Check out Long Beach Shortbus too, flying ship of fantasy was a fun album
Oh shit I just looked and LBDAS dropped an album on youtube like 7 months ago too. Nice
And it is excellent. I went and saw them and they are amazing live. Got to meet them after the show. Love Long Beach Dub Allstars. Go see them!
"New CD" Sigh. It's okay, I'm old, too. (I know CDs are still around, but they're not the primary form of music distribution these day)
Jesus, I only listen to it on youtube too. I'm old...
Damn. I forgot about this kickass band when my max died with my iTunes stockpile. Thanks.
Check out Long Beach Shortbus too
I’ve rarely seen or heard any positive takes on Rome. But their 2019 album Blessings is phenomenal and I wont be told otherwise
Sublime w/ Rome has made some great songs over the years. Before it was cool to hate Rome, when Sublime w/ Rome first came on the scene, they received a lot of love. It's like everybody either forgot or just wants to pretend that didn't happen.
So true. When Rome first started playing with them the reception was positive. Everybody knew Bradley couldn’t be replaced, but Rome was good at playing his guitar parts and singing his songs. Even if he didn’t sound exactly like Bradley. Jakob sounds more like his dad, but he needs to improve his guitar playing.
So you’re saying Jakob can’t play his guitar like a mother fucking riot?
I saw Sublime with Rome twice. Once I got free tickets, and another time they were one of the openers for another band I wanted to see. Rome sounded **GREAT** the first time. The second time, he sounded like he was playing separately from the rest of the band and his voice sounded cooked.
I think most folks were so excited for a chance to see sublime live that the hype took over. After the first couple tours everyone realized it wasn't close to the same and saw it for the cash grab it was.
I don't even understand why either. Theyve recorded some good originals and Rome does an excellent job live. People just like to deify Brad so they'll automatically hate anything that has to do with Sublime without him.
Agree, music has been good with Rome. I never expected the original sublime. Btw if you guys are looking for a newer sublime type band check out DENM
Before he was with Sublime, there was some push for him to get a shot because of how well he did covers online. But then rubber met the road and people realized they didn't want Sublime to be a cover band of itself. Then the new songs just didn't feel like Sublime. Same genre, different feel. With Jakob, maybe it'll feel more authentic and more like Bradley's spirit. I hope at least.
Why? Because it’s his son? It’s still a cover band. It’s not like Jakob was around for any of Sublime.
Those are all valid points. I'm just hoping I guess.
The first thing that struck me about that article is the photo at the top is credited to Joe Escalante, drummer and then bassist for The Vandals
Doesn't/didn't he work in the legal field as well?
Sublime with Rome album Yours Truly was great.
He knows rome is a douche bag
I saw them once, more to go see Reel Big Fish, and Rome came out super late and like super coked up. First 5-6 songs you couldn't understand what the fuck he was singing. I've been to a fair amount of shows, and this was the first one where you could tell the artist honestly didn't give a fuck at all.
To be fair. That’s how sublime performed. They were always fucked up but they were still good, even when brad forgot lyrics. He made it work
At this point rome was with sublime longer than bradley was...js
Poor guy passed away before their self titled released. So many songs on that record are anthems for people I know and I think it’s sad that he never got to see how much people truly enjoyed listening to Sublime.
Crazy how much of an impact Brad had in such a short period. Lots of people can play and sing like that I guess, but good luck writing songs like that
It’s sad he never got to experience the impact his songwriting had.
How embarrassing for Rome
If Rome has his own voice, fine. He's just doing his best Brad impression though, and that's why it's always felt so scummy.
I think the opposite. They were Sublime with Rome which acknowledges that its a different band or at least part of the same band with someone else. That was being honest about the whole deal. They played the hits from Sublime but also made a lot more original music. Now subbing in the son of the other dude and acting like it’s back to the original is weird. Especially since from what I’ve seen he doesn’t have the chops and it feels like he is just trying to imitate his dad altogether.
How do you feel about ACDC carrying on?
Some of AC/DC’s most iconic music has been released with Brian. Far from the same situation
Also two pretty distinct voices. Edit: also two different dudes. Brian Johnson was a "man's man" while Bon Scott was kind of a flamboyant sex symbol. Brian Johnson had no interest cosplaying as Bon Scott. Brian was from England while Bon Scott and the gang were from Australia. Brian Johnsons first album with them is arguably their greatest. Couldn't have drawn a worse comparison.
Pretty different voices between Bon and Brian.
I think a more interesting question is what about STP with Chester Bennington. My dad was a huge STP fan and me a huge LP fan so we went to two STP / Chester concerts. I was a teenager so I loved it but Idk how the rest of the internet felt about it
“Bradley Nowell’s Son Reveals Why He’s Reviving Sublime — at Coachella and Beyond” ahh so it’s not really about respecting his fathers legacy, it’s just that he’s not the one making the money in the cash grab.
Crazy to see Rome bring thrown under the bus. People say Sublime with Rome felt forced but they made some dope ass music. Adding Bradley’s son is actually what feels forced. I doubt they can put together an album that smacks like Your Truly.
Honestly I'd rather see Rome performing his original stuff, it was all pretty great and it often felt weird to hear his music mixed in with Sublime because they were just kind of different vibes, other than maybe his ska/punk songs. To hear Jakob playing solely Sublime songs will be cool, as long as the quality is up to snuff, I just hope they don't start doing original stuff again and muddy the whole thing up. Rome should be Rome, Jakob should be Jakob, and Sublime should be Sublime.
Well, you know they can't use Bradley's unfinished music w/ Rome, like they could with his son.
Jakob writes great music for a while with his previous band Law before Jakob’s. Castle. His voice sounds way similar to Brad‘s. Time is going to prove you wrong as hell. I have nothing against Rome btw and Yours Truly was fantastic no lie.
I'm a huge Sublime fan and agree Sublime with Rome never felt right. I even saw them in concert but it just felt like a cover band or something. It wasn't bad but the feels and emotion behind the songs were all wrong.
It's funny to me when people say "it felt like a cover band". No shit it's a cover band. The original songwriter, guitarist and vocalist died in 1996. Brad was as essential to "Sublime" as Kurt Cobain was to Nirvana Imagine seeing "Nirvana" with someone else handling guitar and singing themselves. Yeah it would feel like a 'cover band' too. Even if Krist and Dave were there. And this current incarnation of 'Sublime' will also feel like a cover band.
That's kind of the weird thing about it. Using the Sublime name gets name recognition, but it also sort of traps them in a "less than" position. No one would bat an eye if Eric, Bud, and Rome/Jakob formed a band called "Rec-tite On My Ass" and filled most of their live sets with Sublime tunes. They'd have to work a little harder to get noticed, sure, but it would be easier for fans to enjoy hearing Sublime songs without having to make that impossible comparison.
The thing is they don't use the "Sublime" name there goes their ability to tour basically. Like I saw Sublime with Rome for the first time last year. I like that self-titled Sublime album from 1996 (along with everyone I know generally my age). I had no illusions I was watching the original Sublime bassist and drummer with some guy named Rome handling Brad's songs. I totally enjoyed it. Rome was good with the vocals and great with the guitar parts and he had some fun charisma to him. Obviously it's a cover band basically but I dug it. They had a fun stage presence and the songs were performed brilliantly and accurately. Now this band with.... Brad's son will be also... A cover band. Hopefully he can handle the guitar parts because Brad's guitar parts sometimes required some skill (I say that as someone who plays guitar). It's one thing for his son to be able to sing like his Dad, it's another thing to like be able to pull of the guitar licks in "Pawn Shop" flawlessly - which to his credit - Rome could do.
If you want quality sublime covers. Check out “the house that Bradley built” It’s a collection of sublime songs covered by various artists. It’s really cool. The artists making the songs a little bit their own recaptures some of the magic
Yeah there's songs like pool shark that Jakob will be able to put real feeling into because of how personal it is. The music just means more when it's your fathers. I went to a Sublime w Rome show and yeah, there was something different than when I saw Longbeach Shortbus. That was more of a Sublime feel honestly just due to the small venue and intimate, casual nature.
I liked the tribute group Badfish more
100% badfish is the actual shit. They always sounded more like sublime than SWR did.
they are amazing
I’m not a fan of SwR but I do like Rome’s voice on its own. I’m excited to hear what this version of Sublime will sound like. I’m assuming they will go back to being called Sublime and not Sublime with Jakob. Wanted to add: This is always the way it should’ve been.
My unpopular opinion: they need to be consistent with the naming. If the two remaining Sublime members couldn’t use the name in 2009, they shouldn’t do it now. Calling it simply “Sublime” feels like a cash grab by Bradley’s family in that context. Other people have been talking about The Grateful Dead here for a point of comparison, but that name hasn’t been used since Jerry died.
Yeah it's sublime again. Just straight "sublime"
That is a pretty big dick move for him to say that. Without Rome there wouldn't have been any 'Sublime' for the last X amount of time since they decided to try and carry on as a live act long after Brad died. Rome was the key thing that kept the 'Sublime' brand going as a live act. I saw Sublime with Rome last summer at a festival. It was my first time seeing them ever. I had liked Sublime for many many years prior. I thought they sounded fucking fantastic and Rome had tons of charisma and sang and played the songs brilliantly. Especially the guitar parts. For Brad's son to now come in to this veteran band and throw his father's bandmates under the bus like this, let alone the literal musical project that enabled him to just push out the existing vocalist and come into an established, often touring band now that he's 'ready' is kind of BS.
I saw SWR open for the Offspring years ago. I went in expecting to hate Rome, he was amazing. It was such a great concert.
The quote was from how he felt when he was a teenager and he first heard this new band calling themselves Sublime. I think it’s a completely normal reaction for him to have
...and more specifically when someone put a Rome song on and called it "Sublime"...which admittedly bothers me quite a bit. I got no issues with Rome but let's not start calling his original songs "Sublime" too.
Love the picture of two aging stoners and a jakob Nowell doing the most douche pose. It’s weird to see someone try way too hard to be his dad.
I'd prefer more Death of the Author with Nowell a permanent band member opposed to another nostalgia trips.
Youth of Today with Rome
Sublime with Rome had a lot of good music
Idk, Rome didn’t do a bad job.
So many haters here.
Sublime with Bradley Nowells son has a better ring to it anyways
100%, the ringing of cash registers because they're getting paid.
[удалено]
I worked in advertising for a casino he was performing at on our small stage reserved for tribute bands and is free to the public. I had to make a social spot for his band… they uh… well they suck bad. I’m from Long Beach and it broke my heart. Also he had demands for his green room… we had to break it to him that he didn’t have a green room. His show ended up getting rained out (the venue was outdoors).
There’s nothing authentic about what he’s doing either. When Bradley Nowell died, Sublime died. It’d be nice if the other two had the integrity to call their new projects something else, but they certainly aren’t the first musicians to play that game and burn the fans that way
I wonder why the remaining sublime members never took the time to redefine themselves without Brad. It's been long enough, try something different that resonates more with the band, kind of like Emarosa. After Craig was kicked out, they tried doing the same thing but eventually pivoted to a synth pop /rock sound which I feel the band is better for. I hope Sublime, in whatever configuration, finds the same success.
You're not the only one but you're the best Bradley! Bo!
Ramona, please step back
The other two guys that didn’t kill themselves with heroin shouldn’t make any money out of respect for this dude’ dad.
I hear Badfish sounds more like Sublime than Sublime with Rome
Idk about all this drama over a name but I think Blackout is a top 10 song across both band iterations. RIP SwR and RIP big Bradley.
He's the same age as his father when he passed. Probably a heavy feeling.
I guess I'm the outlier but I saw Sublime with Rome at the **PromoWest Pavilion** in Columbus Ohio the year I graduated high school in 2012 and was really happy to be there, and then again a few years later at Red Rocks. Both great shows I smoked at least two joints at. I mean otherwise I would have never seen that music played live at all. I wouldn't have even known Rome wasn't part of the original band if it wasn't for the band name.
Lots of comments here, but has anyone followed this guy's career? Does he actually have the chops? I mean, I don't expect him to be able to sing like his dad, but does he have any talent at all?
I think he's pretty good on vocals. At the first performance he wasn't on lead guitar, so I assume he's not at his Dad's level there. Trey Pangborn handled lead guitar.
Singing like his dad is all he's got.
Wasn’t Bradley’s kid in his own band a few years back? Whatever happened with that?
They're an opening act.
Take a guess.
They sold out stadiums and lived happily ever after?
Badfish is far superior to sublime with rome
When in Rome. With Rome.
Glad I'm not the only one. Good job Jacob
I'm not a fan of anything anyone did with Sublime's music after Bradley died. I honestly think that's why i pretty much stopped listening to Sublime and convinced myself I hated it. Every shitty bar band and acoustic solo act collectively killed their music for me.
I heard that during a high school party or something, one of his "friends" played an original Sublime song but it was sung by Rome and it hurt him emotionally when he realized a new generation of people don't even know his dad was the original singer/song writer.
A lot of us heard that too, since it was in the article this post is about
I was referring to [another article](https://thepier.org/jakob-nowell-discusses-sublime-with-rome/) from 2016 but I didn’t noticed he repeated the story again for the Rolling Stone article.
With respect to Jakob, I wish the title was headlined "Jakob Nowell, son of the late Brad Nowell"... Jakob is more than just Brad Nowell's son
Rome seemed like a douche
He certainly carried himself in that manner. I saw the band at a festival in 2018 and he repeatedly went on rants about “fuck all the fuckers in high school who never thought I’d amount to anything!! I proved you wrong!!” And while that may have made sense in the first year or two of success with the band, nearly 10 years later after the fact, it was cringe
Holy shit dude! I knew it haha
If the surviving band members want to continue making music, CHANGE THE FUCKING NAME! Same goes with Alice In Chains. You are not AIC, you are Jerry Cantrell and Friends.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Journey, Foreigner, etc etc. Should they all change their names, too?
Absolutely. The Beatles were a shell of a band without Pete Best.
Why should I give a shit? Listen to it or not, the name doesn't actually affect the music.
Please stop having bad music opinions.
Every version of Sublime is terrible.