Fans of the '90s ska-punk band Sublime may find themselves a bit confused these days. The remnants of the platinum-selling band, known for such radio and streaming hits as "What I Got," "Santeria," and "Wrong Way," has split into two different camps.
Sublime With Rome, as the band became known in 2009 when former Sublime members bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh began collaborating with singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez, just announced their final album. Love Is Dangerous will be released on May 10. According to a rep for Sublime With Rome, the new album features Wilson on bass. The title track of the album was released today (April 5).
Sublime With Rome starts a tour on April 11 at the Hard Rock Live Tulsa in Catoosa, Okla. that features Ramirez backed by Joe Tomino on drums, Brian Allen (Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown) on bass, and Gabrial McNair (No Doubt, Green Day) on trombone/keys, but no actual members of Sublime.
Meanwhile, Wilson and Gaugh are set to play the Coachella Music and Arts Festival as Sublime (over the weekends of April 12-14 and 19-21) with Jakob Nowell, the son of Sublime's original singer/guitarist Bradley Nowell, fronting the band. Bradley Nowell died of an accidental heroin overdose in May 1996 at the age of 28, the same age that Jakob is now.
"I call Bud and Eric my uncles, and I'm happy they've accepted me into their band," Jakob told the Los Angeles Times. "I'll never look at it as my band. Sublime is my dad's band, and I'm helping out, that's all."
Wilson added, "This is like a second beginning," apparently not counting the years he spent as a member of Sublime With Rome. He didn't announce he'd left that band until Feb. 26 of this year, just before the reformation of Sublime with Jakob Nowell was announced.
For the record, Gaugh left Sublime With Rome back in 2011 and he was replaced by a series of other drummers, including current Foo Fighters member Josh Freese.
While Sublime With Rome enjoyed success as a touring band playing the original band's hits, those close to the group seem to feel the reconstituted Sublime with Nowell's son on vocals is closer to the real thing.
"It's so surreal," Troy Nowell, Bradley's widow and Jakob's mom told the L.A. Times. But this really is Sublime." Joe Escalante, a member of veteran Orange County, Calif. punk band the Vandals, who is acting as one of Sublime's managers, added, "It's like Walt Disney getting unfrozen."
Sublime -- with Nowell, Wilson and Gaugh -- has a number of other festival dates lined up this spring and summer, including a stop at the punk-heavy No Values Festival June 8 in Pomona, Calif.
Sublime With Rome, meanwhile, wraps up their final tour on Sept. 14 at Power & Light in Kansas City, Mo.
