Sublime Working With Travis Barker and John Feldmann

Travis Barker

Sublime are working on a new album with Travis Barker and John Feldmann. From the recent Rolling Stone interview:

Nowell, 29, just spent a week in the studio with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and producer John Feldmann to write songs for the project. “Dude, those guys are awesome,” says Nowell, who plans to start recording with Wilson and Gaugh soon. “Travis is an old-school fan and scholar of the Sublime catalog… They feel like family members now too, man. There was that feeling from everyone that what we’re doing here is something generational and special on an emotional, spiritual, familial level.” (“This is going to be really special,” Barker added in a statement. “Bradley comes through his son Jakob… Chills every day in the studio when he sings and plays guitar.”)

Nowell, who also records alt-pop under the band name Jakobs Castle, isn’t interested in modernizing Sublime’s sound. “The goal is not to create something that is, like, ‘This is what Sublime would be today in 2025,’” he says. “No, just more of a solid respect and homage to the works of Sublime.”

Rome Ramierz Departs Sublime

Sublime With Rome

Rome is leaving Sublime with Rome.

Briefly, in 2009, Wilson and Ramirez toured under the name Sublime but were sued by the Nowell family and eventually reached a legal settlement and license agreement with Nowell’s wife, Troy Dendekker, to tour under the moniker Sublime with Rome.

While Wilson and Ramirez were touring and performing, Jakob was developing his own musical talents, forming the Long Beach band LAW in 2013. Earlier this year, Jakob and his mother agreed with Wilson and Gaugh to relaunch Sublime with Jakob at the helm under the management of Kevin Zinger and Joe Escalante.

What this development means for Rome Ramirez is not totally clear. In a statement, the singer announced that “after almost two remarkable decades, I am announcing my departure from Sublime with Rome at the close of 2024. The upcoming performances over the next year will allow us to reflect on countless incredible memories together!”

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20 Years Ago: Sublime Frontman Passes Away

Sublime

Brendan Manley, writing for Diffuser, remembers Bradley Nowell, the Sublime frontman, on the 20-year anniversary of his death:

After the album was released, it became a runaway success and spawned four hit singles (“What I Got,” “Santeria,” “Wrong Way” and “Doin’ Time”) on its way to multi-platinum status. It also helped define the ’90s third-wave ska scene (which also featured genre-bending bands like No Doubt and 311) and the album placed a global spotlight on Nowell’s evocative lyrical imagery and his unflinching portraits of the seedy side of SoCal.