In 1988, Sublime was formed in Long Beach, California. The band’s line-up, consistent throughout its duration, consisted of Bradley Nowell (vocals and guitar), Eric Wilson (bass), and Bud Gaugh (drums). Lou Dog, Nowell’s dalmatian, was the mascot of the band.
Frontman Bradley Nowell passed away in 1996 after a fatal heroin overdose, which resulted in the band breaking up.
They released 3 studio albums, the first of which, 40oz. to Freedom and Robbin’ the Hood were moderately successful, the band didn’t see major success until 1996 with their self-titled third album, released two months after Nowell’s death.
In 2009, singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez began performing with Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson (formerly of Sublime) and where they played under the name “Sublime” until Nowell’s estate issued a legal challenge to the use of the trademarked band name since Nowell was not involved; being deceased. As a result, they changed their name to “Sublime with Rome” in January 2010.
In 2023, Sublime announced that Rome Ramirez would be departing the band at the end of 2024 and would be replaced with Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob. Jakob was just 11 months old when Bradley passed away due to a heroin overdose.
Fun Fact: Sublime had a hard time booking gigs due to their different style, so singer Bradley Nowell created Skunk Records solely for the purpose that he could tell California music venues that he was a Skunk Records recording artist in hopes the venues would be more open to booking them. It worked.
Singer Bradley Nowell. died a week after marrying his longtime girlfriend, Troy Dendekker. Bradley never saw the success of Sublime’s final album, which was originally going to be called “Killin’ It”. He died two months before its release, and it seemed more appropriate to give it an eponymous title.
Discography
