INDUSTRY REPORT # 47

Catching Up With

SUBLIME

A Conversation with Jakob Nowell

October 13th, 2025 by Traci Turner

Right now it feels like the most talked about band in the rock world is Sublime. After Jakob Nowell, the son of the late singer Bradley, performed at a benefit show in 2023 with original members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson, the band was reborn. The new incarnation of Sublime blew the crowd away with their debut at Coachella in 2024 and have not let up, winning over new fans and reclaiming the old school Sublime devotees. Throw in a number one song and 2025 has truly been all things Sublime.

Of course, Jakob did not jump into his dad’s role simply because of his last name. He is supremely talented in his own right, finding his footing as frontman and songwriter for Jakob’s Castle. (If you have not listened yet, check out “Two Hours Ago” and “Lights Out” now please.)

While much has already been said about how Jakob came to be the new face of Sublime decades after his father’s passing, what about the future?

What happens when your first all-original song, “Ensenada,” becomes a number one hit, 30 years after your band’s previous number one song?

(That was “What I Got” for those wondering.) Where do you go from here? We decided there was no one better to ask than Jakob Nowell himself.

Traci: Hey, Jakob, how are you today?

Jakob: Good. How are you doing?

Traci: Good, although I gotta be really honest.

Jakob: Go for it. I love honesty.

Traci: I stopped giving a fuck two hours ago. [lyrics from Jakob’s Castle track, “Two Hours Ago”]

Jakob: Aaahhhh! Nice.

Traci: I see you are outside. Where are you?

Jakob: I’m eating at Aloha Stacks. Eat here. It’s a good spot. Kalbi rips, dude. Put that in the interview.

Traci: Before we get to Sublime, I love Jakob’s Castle. Besides, obviously, “Two Hours Ago,” I think “Lights Out” is my favorite.

Jakob: Check it out! Yea, I’m still working on stuff as well. Next year, it won’t just be new Sublime stuff, also new Jakob’s Castle stuff.

Traci: Excellent! How was Punk in the Park last weekend?

Jakob: Awesome! It was really great. Love the dudes from Pennywise and they took really good care of us. And people seemed to be really stoked when I walked on up. All the bands that I got to see put on one hell of a show. It was awesome.

Traci: So seriously, how much of an absolute mind fuck has the past year and a half been?

Jakob: It’s been a huge growing process. Yeah, it’s actually been very surreal.

Traci: What has been the coolest thing you have done in the past year and a half?

Jakob: The coolest thing was going to Japan. But that wasn’t even with Sublime; that was with Jakob’s Castle. But everything I do funnels back into itself. I owe it all to my dad anyways. I wouldn’t be here doing this without him or following this path like that. It all happened by accident, I guess. I think a lot of life is just doing exactly what you’re supposed to do when you least want to do it. Sometimes just looking around and finding yourself like, “Oh, wait, I am in this position. I have to just do this and move forward and be brave.” So not just playing music or whatever. It’s anything in life. I think sometimes it’s hard to realize when those things are around us and happening.

Traci: You get together with your uncles, you write a song, and it goes number one. It’s just absolutely insane how all of that has fallen in place.

Jakob: Never thought it would be the case. It’s a very happy surprise.

Traci: Is it difficult to write for Sublime versus Jakob’s Castle? Is it easier because there is a sort of backbone there, or is it just more pressure?

Jakob: I think if you’re trying to write anything good, it’s challenging. If it’s too difficult, then maybe you’re not supposed to be doing this. (laughs) Songwriters, the problem is turning your brain off. There’s so many ideas coming through. It’s funneling through all the shitty ideas and getting the good ones that’s the challenging part. I’ve written for many different projects in many different genres that are asking many different things of me and many different prompts. I take it all very seriously. There’s a method to the madness, and a lot of thought does go into it.

Jakob went on: So yes, starting the writing process for this last project was very different than what I normally do, because usually when you’re writing for one of your own projects, that just you started yourself, you’re just trying to write a good song. Maybe you’ll put some thought into what this says about the genre of your project. But if your first album was pop and then all of a sudden you and your bandmate start playing punk for the second record, it’s like you’re just going to be like, “Okay, well, we had an album, we had a shift.” So here I am sitting with the Sublime dudes and my friends, Jon Joseph and Zane Vandevort, trying to come up with good new jumping off points for Sublime songs.

Jakob paused and said: I had to have this reverence. Whereas before, we’re just going to make cool music. This is like, “For the love of God, I can’t fuck this up.” At first it was nerve-wracking. It was more emotionally challenging working with material that my father had done before or hearing his voice, singing with his voice. It’s very eerie, spooky. But finally, once we got into a groove, it actually has been one of the greatest writing challenges in my life. And one of the most rewarding, truly one of the most rewarding. Literally, it has come with rewards. I almost wish it wasn’t over, you know what I mean? But it’s not because I can keep writing, but it’s just unlocked this part of my brain I didn’t know it was there. I don’t know if that is a hereditary or genetic thing, but pushing myself out of my comfort zone is how it got there. We’re not curing cancer here. We’re trying to make stuff that makes other people happy. And I think you get a lot better at doing that, getting out of your comfort zone. From a guy like me, I’ve been far out of my comfort zone the last couple of years, and I’ve benefited from it.

Traci: You have 18 songs on the Sublime record that’s coming out, correct?

Jakob: That’s right.

Traci: But you make it sound like there’s a whole lot more. Do you guys have the future planned?

Photo Courtesy of Coachella Music & Arts Festival

Jakob: Oh, yeah, we got a plan. It’s mainly secret, but we’ll definitely have another single out probably before the record drops. And then we’re looking to put it out next year. I’m hoping it’ll come out by early summertime. It’d be cool to have this album be some songs of the summer. And I’m really excited about this whole brand new next generation of Sublime fans to get an album that’s really their own.

Traci: Speaking about the generations, I’m Gen X, and my son is 20, and we went to Nine Inch Nails together because we’re both fans.

Jakob: He appreciated it, huh?

Traci: He loved it and it gave us so much to talk about and dive into together even weeks after the show.

Jakob: They’re a huge influence to me, even though I’m not a fan that can necessarily name every track off a record. They toured with Tool, which is a band that I could name every track off the record. That’s probably one of my favorite bands of all time. But Nine Inch Nails for Jakob’s Castle, I take more influence from them. Reznor was one of the first to really merge really cool, exciting new rock music with electronic elements in a way that didn’t feel like… I don’t even know. You can listen to some of that first record, and you could still feel a lot of that ‘80s glitz, but somehow is so different and timeless, too. It just keeps going through the years. It still sounds new. It’s very unique.

Traci: I love the “Song Exploder” podcast and they had Trent (Reznor) and Atticus (Ross) describe the creation of “The Lovers” and it was so awesome. I’m fascinated by everything that goes into songs.

Sublime at Warped Tour 2025 Photo by DarkroomRebellion

Jakob: I’m fascinated by the process as well. I love hearing about the process from other musicians and just any art creator in general, because you’ll find that there are some common threads, but there’s a lot of differences. Some people are like, “Well, I can’t write until I go out for a walk and I sit by the ocean and I let the muses take me.” Everyone’s so different. For me, the process usually is for songs that I’m really connected with. Did you see that movie “Walk Hard?” There’s this running gag in it because they’re making fun of the movie biopic tropes. He’ll be in an argument with this chick and she’ll say a line and then his eyes will get big. The whole thing is like, he hears some random line, “Wait, say that again. Did you just say ‘walk hard?’” And then it becomes the song and it is top of the charts.

He went on: But literally that experience is how it is for me, though. Someone will say something and I get it in my head and immediately I have to run and go start writing because it’s just super. It’s just super exciting and you’re always worried it’s never going to happen again. To me, that’s that feeling of being taken by the muses or whatever. In the process of writing the Sublime record, it really wasn’t like that because we had to sit down and get a bunch of songs ready for my uncles to come in and finish the writing process. I’ve done prompts before and I’ve done session work and I’ve done work for other artists and other projects, so I know how to just sit down and create.

Jakob continued: So that’s what I would tell kids out there is just don’t be too precious about your time in that way and your process. Always be unafraid to try new things. And for me, when it came down to it, my fail safe because I don’t get high no more. Getting high can help, but like Ernest Hemingway said, “Write drunk and edit sober,” so just don’t get high. But since I don’t get high anymore, I’m sober. I have to sometimes to reach altered states of consciousness, there’s other methods. So I’ll try to stay up for days at a time and then come into the studio, and then I’m like, light the candles and shit like that. And you pray to Apollo and shit. And you’re just like, beam of light comes down. All of a sudden we’re all jamming. We’re like, “This is it. This is just going to be good.” And that’s just all a bunch of fun, whatever. But the process, it’s definitely something. I love talking about that shit.

Traci: As you mentioned with multiple generations, I assume you’re seeing that from the stage; the people my age, but then the people your age and my son’s age.

Jakob: Yeah, it’s fantastically multi-generational. I think we’re incredibly blessed in that regard. I think that’s why we’ve had this resurgence recently. To say nothing of the contributions of all the bandmates and myself. Really, I think it’s because of the youth and because their older brothers and sisters and parents and aunts and uncles and sometimes even grandparents passing on this music and it’s sticking. They said when we got this number one song, we broke a record most years between number one songs. I was like, “Why would you tell us? That’s not something to celebrate. Isn’t that bad?” Until I realized, no, what it really means is that most bands, frequently, when they have a number one song, it’s evidence of that’s where you stop. Maybe you get a few and you peak. That’s how most people do it.

He continued: It’s very uncommon when you see 30 years of time in between your big peak and then all of a sudden another big peak. It means that between those 30 years, there’s been an active and present fanbase that has been eagerly passing on that music and that has just been waiting for new stuff. Without that young generation and without the previous generation to pass it on, we’d be nothing. And look at me, our band is multi-generational, too. It’s like you got me and Zane playing up there, in our 20s, 30s. And then you got all of our uncles from Long Beach and stuff, in their 50s, and then the audience reflects that. So I think that’s what makes this whole scene and project and experience special for everybody. It’s true all ages, but cool all ages. You can still say fuck. (laughing)

Traci: I like seeing your uncles – being closer to my age – up there onstage, still being cool, still playing.

Jakob: They are cool, man. It breaks down a lot of boundaries. And it was cool at Punk in the Park; it was a similar vibe. So I just think it really makes me happy when I see the youth interested in this music because it reminds me of how I grew up. Any way that I can be helpful is what I want to do.

Traci: You guys have Mission Bayfest coming up this weekend.

Jakob: Yeah, that’ll be a hometown show. I consider my hometown San Diego and Long Beach. I got dual citizenship because I went to school in San Diego, but I’d spend the summers up here in Long Beach doing junior lifeguards and stuff. It’ll be fun. Bayfest is always a good time every year.

Traci: So the album is on the way, you have a bunch of shows, and what else is going on, because that is not enough! (laughing)

SVN/BVRNT

Jakob: I have my record label, SVN/BVRNT Records, the spiritual successor to Skunk Records. Me and my partner, Zane Vandevort, are putting on local shows here in Southern California in the spirit of the original Sublime shows in that whole era, and people are responding to it. Although it’s starting off small, it’s quickly and rapidly growing, and we just want to bring together a community of excited young musicians and music enjoyers and celebrate the spirit of punk rock music and alternative culture with the eye towards the future and innovation. No gatekeeping, just fun and everybody boosting each other up and having a place where true weird freaks can congregate and be together.

Traci: Every video I’ve seen, you look like you’re having a blast, so just keep that going.

Jakob: My life depends on it!

Catch Sublime at Bayfest, or any of the bazillion shows they are doing now through the rest of the year, plus grab “Till the Sun Explodes” in 2026, the first new Sublime album in 30 years!

TO FOLLOW

SID 251012 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR