Watch Bradley Nowell’s Son Front Sublime At Benefit For Bad Brains’ H.R.
Sublime’s Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh performed with the son of their late bandmate Bradley Nowell at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on Monday night. Jakob Nowell, who is 28 and currently plays in Jakobs Castle, fronted the group at a benefit show for Bad Brains vocalist H.R., who has been unable to tour due to his battle with SUNCT (Short-lasting Unilateral Neuralgiform with Conjunctival injection and Tearing). It was Jakob’s first concert with the Sublime members and marked bassist Wilson’s reunion with drummer Gaugh, who left Sublime With Rome in 2011.
Their set featured eight songs including “April 29, 1992 (Miami),” “Wrong Way,” “What I Got,” “Santeria,” and “Same In The End.” “Bad Brains has inspired me since I was small so it’s an honor being asked to perform in a benefit for the legendary HR,” Nowell shared in a message afterwards. “Gonna be playing some Sublime songs with my uncles Bud and Eric, feels like the timing is right…”
Shortly after leaving Sublime With Rome, Gaugh shared his mixed feelings about performing Sublime songs after Bradley Nowell’s death. “In hindsight I would not have used the name. I didn’t want to in the first place, I was talked into it and I would like to apologize to certain people and the fans for trying to justify or talk them into it as well,” he told SWRfans.com in a 2012 interview. He added, “It was really good for the first few months, after that, it just felt wrong. Not playing the songs but playing them with the name Sublime, without Brad.” However, Billboard now points to a new business relationship between Jakob Nowell’s manager and the Sublime estate, hinting that more collaborations between the musicians could be in the works.
Other performers at Monday’s benefit included Dave Lombardo, Fred Armisen, Money Mark, Fishbone’s Angelo Moore and Norwood Fisher, former Bad Brains vocalist Ras Israel Joseph I, and more. Watch footage of the Sublime set below.