Jakob Nowell was one when his father, the frontman of Sublime, passed away from an overdose. Now 28, the same age his father was when he passed, Jakob is joining the original members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson, who he considers his uncles, for a Sublime revival.

A couple months after Bradley’s death in 1996, the band released their self-titled album, including hits “What I Got” and “Santeria,” which reached critical acclaim. Inactive until 2009, Rome Ramirez joined the remaining members of Sublime for a spin-off project called Sublime with Rome. The Sublime revival doesn’t plan on playing Sublime with Rome songs and instead will focus on playing original Sublime songs and remixing unreleased original music.

After their 2024 Coachella success the group is playing one-off shows across the country and has released a new song “Feel Like That,” which samples unreleased Bradley vocals.

Sublime will play Cervantes on July 26 and will join Stick Figure and Ziggy Marley at Fiddler’s Green on July 27.

Jakob Nowell joins original Sublime members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh for the band’s revival. Photo courtesy of Joshua Kim.

What inspired you to revive Sublime?
“The reason why I wanted to continue on with Sublime is because of my family. Seeing how happy it has made my uncles and the other dudes in the band. I think we’re always looking for our family in life. It’s the effect of what we’re doing here. Beyond that, every show we play I look out in the audience and I see families. Not just older crowds. I see tons of young people who were influenced by Sublime. I will never think of myself as the lead singer of Sublime. I think my dad Bradley Nowell was and is the only frontman and lead singer of Sublime. I’ve been asked as his son to step in and fill some pretty big shoes for the time being. While I’m doing that, it feels so amazing and gratifying to be in this position to bring a lot of people together and to have a good time doing that.”

Did you always want to join Sublime?
“It’s never something I wanted to do. I never wanted to feel like I was unfairly using opportunities that other people didn’t have. I’ve toiled in nameless bands for the last 12 years of my career. It’s so crazy to think about that now, cutting my teeth, wanting to learn how to do everything the correct way and living in obscurity. I would have been content to keep doing that for forever, but so many converging factors led to me doing this. I find it’s a very challenging gig, not just because of the material, although the material is challenging. I’m not much of a guitar player. I just never will be. I’m a passing singer. I’m able to give a performance that’s in key and have fun up there while I’m doing it. I like to look at myself as less of an artist and performer and more of a facilitator. I think that all of my fears and anxieties and emotional challenges wash away when I see people having fun when I’m up there having fun with my uncles.”

How does Sublime fit into the SoCal music scene now?
“We just did a local event with a bunch of cool bands over this past weekend. I see all of these amazing young musicians who are passionate. When Sublime was first putting on shows, my manager Kevin, who first managed Sublime and me nowadays, was one of the first dudes to put on Sublime shows in San Diego. He said that initially it was really tough because people were like ‘what the hell is this band.’ They play reggae but they also play punk. They’re also ska and hip hop. People didn’t get it at first. They were able to pass the acid test.”

Can you see Sublime’s legacy in the music scene today? 
“You can mix so many things together. I feel like the era we’re in today is the perfect era for that. We all might have these different genres, but the average listener transcends scenes or cliques. If you ask the average music listener what they listen to they say I listen to a little bit of everything. The scene Sublime has helped start is this alternative music scene, alternative to the expected, alternative to the overproduced or the norm. It’s creating music we think sounds good and tries to blend together a bunch of different genres.”

Who are you as a musician?
“I’m doing my band Jakob’s Castle, and bringing together a new generation of people. Since I’ve gotten sober I have had a more comfortable and stable life. For me this is not about becoming as famous as possible or trying to prove I’m some better musician or artist. I don’t think I’m ever going to win that race. I do this because I see the people that it does make happy. I want to continue doing that for them. It’s such an emotionally challenging, taxing ordeal. It’s not what people might think that it’s crazy fun and rewards all the time. It is stressful, anxious. It’s imposter’s syndrome. It becomes worth it as soon as we finish that set and I charge the crowd, and everyone’s having a good time and having fun. It’s what makes it all worth it for me.”

What is the sound of your other musical project Jakob’s Castle?
“It definitely doesn’t sound like Sublime, but it’s inspired by Sublime and their contemporaries. We take all of that inspiration and mix it together with all of the music I see happening in Southern California’s current-day, underground scenes. Those are the people we try to work with.”

What has been the reaction of fans? Any touching moments?
“I’ve had fans that have physically touched me. I jump into the audience and I kick it with everybody out there. Everybody goes crazy and nutty and they start swarming me. I just do that to make sure everybody’s having a good time. I can encourage people to do more bad things like smoke more cigarettes and stuff. I think that people don’t do enough bad things. We just played Virginia Beach, and I jumped into the crowd knocked down some fences and me and hundreds of people all charged into the fuckin Atlantic Ocean. To me that’s what it’s all about: connecting with the fans so they don’t know me as this foreign, weirdo interloper trying to increase my career’s viability with Sublime. None of that ever mattered to me. It’s about having fun. How crazy is it that a bunch of goofball, funny punk rock dudes from Sublime actually made this huge thing that touched people? How tragic is it that my dad died before they got to enjoy it. Seeing my uncles enjoy it and seeing the fans who deserve to enjoy it having a good time, that’s what it’s all fucking about.”

What was it like for you growing up?
“That’s what makes my position unique. A lot of those nepo-kid types grew up with living famous parents. I didn’t grow up with that shit. I had my mom and the man who raised me, my step dad Kiki. It was hard times. It was crazy, weird and scary. They were good people doing the best they fucking possibly could. I love them for it. It taught me a lot about life. The help I had was through my family. I realized that’s what a lot of people don’t get. The payings of fame and fortune and the lights oftentimes tend to change people. In the absence of all of that I had my family members, who at times seemed crazy and I didn’t get it. Ultimately I realized I had people who were looking out for me in a way that maybe they didn’t even know. Moving forward into this stage of my life and my career, playing these songs that are my dad’s songs is incredibly emotionally taxing. At the same time, even though it’s challenging, the greatest challenges have the greatest rewards.”

What was headlining Coachella like? 
“It was insane. Biggest crowd I’ve ever seen. It was weird. Where did all these people come from? Playing Coachella was crazy. Dude 10 years before playing Coahella I was working at Coachella as a stagehand. That wasn’t because of any opportunity. That was because I had a friend whose boyfriend worked there. I was so stoked to do a weekend’s worth of work and come home with a $700-dollar check.”

What does it feel like to play with your uncles?
“It’s been awesome. I’ve never felt more connected to them in my life. We’re always trying to create our family and mine have always been here but it feels like we’ve finally brought it back together. We’re tighter than ever.”

What can we expect from newly released Sublime music? Will it be similar to “Feel Like That”? 
“That’s my plan right now. I don’t want to speak too much on it. That song was brought to us by Stick Figure who put it together. I did my vocals at my studio where I do all my Jakob’s Castle stuff. Me and my producer John Joseph were messing with unreleased Sublime stuff, bootlegs, samples, and trying to create a new sound using unreleased stuff with my vocals on it and Bud and Eric in the instrumentation. It’s been a lot of fun so far. I don’t think I’d ever want to release new Sublime material. What I’d like to do is remix some of the old stuff and use that to collaborate with current-day musicians in their scenes, both big and small, to help give visibility to the bands coming up that I know are really killing it out there and also to collaborate with the established bands that maybe were inspired by Sublime. Any new music we do work on and release, it needs to feel like this big, collaborative family, Southern California effort. That was always the big M.O. of Sublime. It seems like that’s what their vibe was.”

Do you feel like you’re breaking generational curses by your choice to be sober?
“It’s never fully broken. I’ll always love drugs and alcohol. It’s been seven years since I’ve used anything. I never preach it’s my way or the highway. Everybody has their own path. That’s the takeaway. I’ve found a path that has led to me feeling good and being able to feel useful to other people out there. My family’s story is one of generational trauma, but also generational solutions.”

What should Colorado fans expect from your Colorado Sublime shows?
“Fans should expect a wild and crazy time. Afterwards I’m going to jump into the audience and we’re all going to take to the streets and go knock things over. I can’t wait.”

Is there a Red Rocks show in the works? 
“Let’s just say Red Rocks may happen sooner than you’d think. We love Colorado. We love Denver. I can’t wait to be out there.”

Any plans to get another band dog like LouDog? 
“Oh no because I have my band cat, Creature the hairless sphynx cat. He’s pink. He’s chubby. He’s my mascot for Jakob’s Castle.”