VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A singer has stepped up to continue his father’s legacy, take his place and restore a band to its original name.
The American rock band “Sublime” is headlining the Point Break Festival in Virginia Beach Saturday night, the festival taking place from June 1-2 on the beach at 5th Street. The band released its first new single in 28 years earlier this week titled, “Feel Like That.”
Bradley Nowell was the original guitarist and lead singer in the band, but died in 1996 when his son, Jakob, was a baby. After his death, the band lost the rights to the solo name “Sublime” as it was owned by the Nowell estate. The band rebranded itself as “Sublime with Rome” after Rome Ramirez joined as singer and guitarist.
Now years later, Jakob has inherited his father’s spot in the band and now fronts as their latest lead singer and guitarist. Jakob said things changed for him after performing a charity event with the two original members, Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson, referring to them as his uncles. The trio soon realized they enjoyed performing together.
“And once I got everybody together like that, I realized it was part of my calling,” Jakob said. “Because it is a legacy thing, it is a family thing, it is a multigenerational kind of deal. I don’t want it to go to the wayside and be forgotten. I want it to be something families can go to and relate with.”
Jakob said that while the band was performing as “Sublime with Rome,” the group shifted from the original idea his father and the other original two members had envisioned. The band had shifted to creating a production rather than authentic performances, Jakob said. With Jakob joining his father’s former band, he wanted to bring back the “messiness.”
“Come see a ‘Sublime’ show now,” Jakob said. “I’m sure we can always be more polished and we can always be a bigger production. But we sort of put all that to the wayside to say, ‘Hey come out and have a good time with people who are like family and just have good, messy punk rock fun.'”
Since the new trio was reunited with a Nowell name, they could once again refer to themselves simply by “Sublime,” signifying the passing of torch between the late singer and father to his son.
“It’s funny for me to even say I’m the lead singer of ‘Sublime,'” Jakob said. “I don’t consider myself ‘Sublime’ or the lead singer. I just got asked to fill in on this gig and I got asked to play some music with some people I care about a lot. And because it is this close-knit family thing, it adds such a different element to it that I think people can really key into. And man it’s so much fun.”
Despite not getting to know his father while he was alive, Jakob said he still feels his father’s influence through his music and legacy. However, taking on this role has had its own challenges for the newest “Sublime” member.
“Just turning on the music is an emotional roller coaster,” Jakob said. “You’re trying to be professional like OK what are the chord progressions, what are the melodies, what are the sounds that I’m trying to utilize here. Then, you realize you’re dissecting the work of a family member who is no longer with you. One you never really knew. So it’s a pretty interesting and heavy emotional experience for sure.”
On Sublime’s new song “Feel Like That,” Jakob was able to collaborate and help create a song featuring his father through sampling unreleased material. A chance for the two to sing together even after his father was gone.
Now, Jakob hopes to find more ways to continue his father’s legacy while also staying true and unique to his own artistic visions.
“You’re never going to ‘out moment’ your parent,” Jakob said. “Let that be their thing. I want to do something different and more collaborative. I want to challenge myself and my imagination.”
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.