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The End Is Just The Beginning With JAKOB NOWELL From SUBLIME · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up, guys. This is Jake Nole from Sublime.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Got a new album, Until the Sun Explodes, coming out
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on June twelfth. We are so excited. Uh yeah. We
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: just had a bit of a tour out in Australia
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: earlier this year in also New Zealand, so we're just
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: super excited. And I came back from tour with a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: girlfriend and an Australian girlfriend.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I don't want to about Australia.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Oh there's so I dude, it's my favorite place to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: be now, are you kidding me? Right next to Long Beach.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: You guys kind of got the best food and the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: best breakfast is and and definitely the most beautiful women
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at. I'm looking at her right now, so
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: I don't want to give her back. Fantastic trying to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: get her to come out to here, to a California now,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but we'll be we'll be going back to visit a lot.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: She's from Sydney, but she she lies in Melbourne right now.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: So those are the two places that I got to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: spend the most time and when I when I'm over.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: There, heantassy Mane, that's a beautiful story. Thanks for joining us.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Did I thank you?
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, brother, As you.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Say, Someblime dropped your new and final album, The Sun
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Explodes his Friday, June the twelfth.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: So how you feeling oh so good when you're sitting
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: on material for a while. It feels so good to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: finally get it out there to the world.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, I far, you've released the singles and sonata
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: and the Turtle track.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Mate, So I think good sunny representation of what do
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: we expect?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I would say so, I would say so yeah, all
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the singles leading up to it. I'm hoping that there
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: will be some still unexpected surprises in the record. But
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: every corner of Sublime's influences and all their records that
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they've released so far, we think we've covered all our
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: bases with this and just given a sort of a
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: celebration of the sound of Sublime, an epilogue to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: legacy of Sublime, and you know, appreciation of the history.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: For me, the album is a big thank you and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the love letter to my father and the fans and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the whole scene that's spawned around Sublime.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Dana, you might.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Be interesting point in my life.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: You pretty much summon up the whole dirty plus stop
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: line with a final album like that couldn't have been
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: an easy thing to do because you guys have done
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: so much over the years. Like did you sit down
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: and like categorize things and what you had to sort
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: of achieve on this funne or was it more of
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: a natural process.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: A little bit of both. You know, there's a lot
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: of study going into it for me and our producer
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: John and our guitar player Zeena. We wanted to really
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: do our work and take this gig seriously. Every single
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: released piece of Sublime media and all of the interviews
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and the bootlegs, and then going back and listening to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: all of their influences, all the bands that really made
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: them excited that they revered. We wanted to factor all
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: this in, so all the sounds we were using had
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: some precedent and the Sublime release catalog, so we weren't
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: just pushing the sound in some random directions for no reason.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: And then you know, bringing budon Eric in and really
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: writing these songs and flashing them out with those two
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: who obviously already know how to make Sublime records. That
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: part was the fun and natural part, and that allowed
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: us to to just you know, not be contrived and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: just throw away any preconceived notions and remember that, you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: writing songs and releasing music is about have fun and
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: so that's what we wanted to say thank you for
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: with this record, and I think we're really proud and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: happy with the result.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: It must have been pretty surreal for you.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: So you just sitting there right with button Arig like
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: I can imagine you're probably there as a kid on
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: your dad's lap years ago, watching them all do.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: The same thing. Yeah.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Man, you know, there's definitely there was a musical household
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: even before my dad. You know, my grandpa was a
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: musician and everyone in the family all played music together.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So this definitely is integral to my family and what
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: we do and what we're like.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's also your first full length album as
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: frontman of the band mate, So how was that experience?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Oh man, Definitely, it's life changing, and it's be a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: little scary at times, that's for sure. But more than anything,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just grateful. You know, there's a life beyond my
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: wildest dreams. Sometimes it's a it's a blessing to be
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed by life. I used to pray for.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: And did you feel much internal or external pressure to
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: get it right.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, pressure abounds for sure, and we all deal
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: with pressure differently, but acknowledging it is a big part
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of the process.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I know how many people love Sublime, and I know
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  Speaker 1: how much my father's legacy and memory means to me,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: and how much the very idea of me even doing
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: this might be kind of like ill advised or fraught
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: with perils. So I think I had to go into
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: it with that amount of respect and the way that
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I deal with all those expectations and fear and imposter cinemas.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I try to remember the end of the day like, Okay,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: this is important and it is deserving my respect, and
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take this job seriously, be professional. But at
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, I always say, we're not
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: curing fucking cancer here, you know, we're making rock and
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: roll me.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: And that is.
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  Speaker 1: Something yeah, and that is something I believe I know
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  Speaker 1: how to fucking do. So although it is important and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: emotional all these other things, I got to go into
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: it and just and just be real. You know, who
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: can really decide whether I've succeeded or failed besides myself?
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: You know, and I feel pretty damn happy and proud
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of this material.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Damns right, make it on it. There is beautiful quite
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: from you in the Prence relay that I just want
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: to get you elaborate on a bit made, it says
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  Speaker 3: the last of the blind record that will ever be
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: made is self titled Until the Sun Explodes is an
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: epilogue of the single, and the single was an epilogue.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: To the epilogue.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Like I've read through probably a dozen times, mate, and
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I'm still not sure I quite another one it means exactly.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: But it's good, yeah, dude, absolutely. So the way that
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I look at it is that this this record is
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: sort of not even really a true Sublime record. I
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: mean it is by name alone and by virtue of
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: budd and Eric deciding that it is, and then it
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: will be if the fans decide that it can fit
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: into the cannon. But really, the way I went into
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: was not let's make a new Sublime record. I was like,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: let's make a bunch of songs that are just completely
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: inspired by the entirety of the works of Sublime and
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: all of their influences, and let's let's have the theme
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: of it being just a big thank you to the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: works of Sublime for all that it's done for all
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of us, and have it be an acknowledgement of all
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: of that, and have it be an epilogue in the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: sense of that it's after the story is over, looking
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: back on this as a big victory lap. And the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: song until the Sun Explodes is the last song on
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the record before the Banks track, so it is the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: very ending of the epilogue. Looking back at the epilogue,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it's the of the after as a final thank you
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  Speaker 1: and an acknowledgment that I owe my life entirely to
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  Speaker 1: my dad and to all the people whose lives he's touched,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and to me. I needed to get that out of
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: me and put that out into the world so I
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: can move forward now and continue as an artist with
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: my own projects. You know, this is the last time
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I want to do recorded work with Sublime as Sublime,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and this is the last year that I want to
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: be this busy with the band, you know, every year.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll keep playing a few shows here and there,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: but to truly move forward and and you know, discover
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: my own destiny, I need to continue with my project
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Jacob's Castle. I need to continue with my record label,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: sun Burnt Record, as a spiritual successor to Skunk Records
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and SRH Productions. Everything that our forefathers built here in
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the Southern California scene. I want to take all of
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: that in my experience with it and move forward and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: help lift up and exalt the other up and coming
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: alternative bands in the West Coast Southern California scene of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: all genres, all types of West Coast alternative music, fucking
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you know, punk rock and hip hop, ska and garage
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and surf music and just all the stuff that really
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: makes me excited. So the future is uncertain but exciting
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and bright, and through the process of doing this record
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: is what helped me get to that point. I think
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: music is creating music not only therapeutic, but it's communication.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: It's just me talking to the world and myself and
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: trying to make sense of all this crazy bullshit.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: You know, man, that's even more beautiful when you translated.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, killer now.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: The album also features a couple of collaborations, including appearances
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: by Hr from Bad Brains and Fletcher Drake from Pennywise. Mate,
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  Speaker 3: So tell us about the songs that they're on and
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: what they actually brought to the protests.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, man. You know, we know, we knew
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: we wanted the approval of and the acceptance of the Ogs,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: sort of like the gatekeepers. You've got hr probably one
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of the biggest influences to Sublime, the bad Brains man.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: That was huge to get his involvement. You know, we
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: had some tracks so we thought would be good. We
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: sent him some until he just came up with some
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: fun little versus and and fun melodies and stuff that
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: we wove in naturalistically with Fletcher, same thing, dude, penny
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Wise and Sublime, they were fucking always like almost like
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: brother bands back in the day, I would say. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: he came into the studio with us and John and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: we just kicked it. They were all, you know, drinking
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: beers and having fun and just shredding guitar and a
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: couple of tracks we found what was right. And also
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: G Love. Oh that's awesome, dude. The first show I
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: ever remember going to. My mom took me to a
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: G Love and Special Sauce show and I was like
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: three or four years old. And he's also taken Jacob's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Castle out on tour and helped me launch my career.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'd even be in Sublime if he
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: hadn't had a part in my career. So a huge
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: shout out to G Love and just personal on a
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: personal level. G Love's music is something that I listened
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to all the time. It's a big part of what
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: inspires me. I love his his take and his alternative
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: hip hop and just him being foundational at to hip hop,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and so having him involved on a track was awesome.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: He sent in an amazing verse and just like totally
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: blew us away when we asked him to do it. It
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: was awesome. And then we also not only the Ogs,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: we wanted some new fresh faces on there as well.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: We have a fid Lar on this. We have Zach,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the singer from fid Lar. You know, he's spent his
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: whole life being influenced by Sublime and his own music.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: He's got a song called forty Ounce on repeat. Like
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: what a cool way to tie this whole story of
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: music together, you know. And then and then Bam Benny
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: from Skeggs. There's our Australian brothers, you know what I mean,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Like so much surf culture is shared with Australia, so
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: much of California culture is shared, but between us that
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: it was just so amazing to get a rad indie,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: alternative surf kind of punk icon to us because we
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: worship that dude's music. He's like a big brother to us,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and same with Zach, so having them on it was awesome.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: And getting to work with the musician like Zano who's
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: from strange Case and up and coming fucking southern California
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Ventura band who's been my best friend, and through the
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: process of making this record, my guitar Attack is now
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: essentially the sixth member of the band and playing guitar
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: for me on stage because I prefer to just sing,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: so he plays guitar alongside Trey Pangbourne. It's just all
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: naturally there you go. It's the old generation of the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: new generation, the passing of the torch, and I think
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that's been the most beautiful and unexpected part about this
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: era of Sublime.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: Nice Bright Sublin recently did two shows at the Red
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Rocks Anti Theater as well. Man Like, I've only seen
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: videos of bands, so I can't get rich the stuff
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: performing there, but I can imagine actually playing would be
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: one of the most humbling experiences ever.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Oh totally humbling. Yeah, that that venue rocks. It's so
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: cool and it was like snowing and blowing wind. It
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: was all crazy. I was like, oh cool. If we
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: were playing a metal set right now, it looked pretty
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: intense and nearly it was a fun set.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: I think one enduring feature of Sublime is your musical versatility. Mate, Like,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: over the next few months, you're playing festivals with everyone
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: from Cypress Hill, j Pennywise, Iron Made, and the Olympus.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Get the sabotage, Like, what is it do you think
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: it is about Sublime that makes you say universally accepted? Oh?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I I'll never truly know, but I know I am
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: grateful for it. I think the sound, the original sound
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: of Sublime is just it proves to me all this,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: all the what you just mentioned proves to me that
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: it has been accepted into the canon of rock and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: roll music. You know, I don't want to use the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: word mainstream, but at least well known rock music. And
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: for me to be the steward of something like that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: in this current era, there is a lot of responsibility
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and I'm deeply humbled and grateful for the opportunity.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: To do that.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now I'm going to change sacked on this question.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Normally I ask fans if they remember the first time
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: they heard one of their songs on radio, But I'm
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: going to ask you if you remember the first time
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: you heard a Sublime song on radio and way way
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: and how.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Did it make you feel?
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Wow, Yeah, definitely. The first time I heard one would
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: have been when I was a baby. The first time
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that's memorable is I don't know, probably some one of
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the times that you know, it came on during a
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: significant moment with my mother and she'd always say, look,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that's him, you know, that's that's him wanting to be
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: part of this conversation. That was always kind of a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: cool part of growing up for me.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool man. Alright, well, thanks very much for
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: you job, Jacob, being an absolute pleasure. Chalk with you brother.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Flights out June the twelve, Best of luck with everything.