Last year, Jakob Nowell, the 28-year-old son of late Sublime vocalist-guitarist Bradley Nowell, officially stepped in to be the frontman of Sublime along with original members bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh.
The number 28 is significant for Nowell: It’s not only his current age, but it’s the age his father was when he died of an accidental overdose after playing a show at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma on May 25, 1996. Two months after his death, the band’s mainstream self-titled debut was released, launching the band to superstardom thanks to songs like “Santeria,” “Wrong Way” and the lead single, “What I Got.”
Jakob had just celebrated his first birthday.
ALSO SEE: ‘Sublime’ at 25: Remembering Bradley Nowell and the Long Beach band’s massive hit album
Rising from the Phoenix
In the years since, Nowell grew up to be a musician, too. Whether he liked it or not, he drew comparisons to his father’s singing and guitar playing. And much like his father, Nowell struggled through his own addictions.
He got sober in 2017. Even that seems to share a little connection to his late father. While on tour opening up for Orange County group Common Kings in Northern California last year, Nowell stopped by the Phoenix Theater.
“Whenever I’m up there, I do sort of a little spiritual pilgrimage,” Nowell said during a recent phone interview while out on tour in Florida with his other band, Jakobs Castle. “Now, it’s like a little community center and I walk in and there’s skate ramps and kids hanging out and I’d been there a million times it feels like. I walked up on the stage and I was just kind of soaking it all in and stage left, there’s these double doors and a production room, and I hear clapping. I walked through the doors and there’s a big meeting, like an NA or AA meeting, happening and I’ve been sober for seven years.”
Nowell randomly happened to show up during this gathering, which also got him…
Read the full article here
