It has been 30 years since Sublime released their iconic self-titled album. And that was the last thing they ever put out. Until now. Today, June 12, 2026, the band has unveiled their new record, Until The Sun Explodes. It features Jakob Nowell, the band's new frontman, on vocals and guitar.
Jakob is the son of late Sublime frontman, Bradley Nowell, who passed away in May 1996. Jakob was just a baby at the time. I debated with myself over whether or not I was going to bring all this up. For one main reason: you probably know it all already.
Every article from every media outlet for probably most of his life has reduced Jakob to being his father's son. Now, I didn't grow up with a famous father, per se, but I did grow up with a popular one. It's demoralizing when people only find value in your identity because it's tethered to someone else. Even if it's not that person's fault.
Something happened while I was chatting with Jakob (via Zoom) this week, though. Listening to him talk about Sublime and hearing how much his father's legacy means to him was transformative. He recognizes the importance of Sublime as evangelists for Southern California culture, and he's proud to be part of it. And that's where the band's new album comes in.
“You know, it started to sort of just become that naturally,†Jakob told me of Until The Sun Explodes clearly being a summertime record. He also pointed to “the sun symbolism in Sublime†and how they're a Southern California-associated band, “which is sort of like the land of Always Summer,†he quipped.
“I'm just hoping that kids of all ages out there, hanging out in San Diego and San Clemente and Los Angeles and Ventura and all up and down, just having a good time, will be blasting this record driving around, skating, and surfing, and all that good stuff,†Jakob continued. “Or even staying inside and playing video games with their friends, and everything else in between. That's California to me, man.â€
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Jakob's California is something he's been taking to the rest of the world for years while playing in bands. Now, though, he gets to do it as part of the most Southern California band ever. Sublime co-founders Eric Wilson (bass) and Bud Gaugh (drummer) invited him to join the band in 2024.
“There's shared culture in places like Australia, Hawaii, and Japan. These places that have some of this, like Southern California, have extreme sports and niche hobbies. And f***ing nerdy conventions, and stuff like that, too,†Jakob asserted. “This is all stuff that was born from California, so that makes sense.â€
It's when the band has turned up in places like “South America or the UKâ€, as well as Holland, that Jakob has been shocked to see the sheer magnitude of Sublime's resonance. “Like, what the hell? And they were some of the most lit crowds that were so appreciative of us,†he explained. “So, I think that Sublime, and my dad, and all their music, they portrayed, very honestly, this unique niche subculture lifestyle.â€
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Jakob then interrupted himself with a thought that really hit the nail on the head. “Also, the songs turned out to be pretty f***ing good,†he said. “People connected with that, and man, that is just so great to get to see. It's a beautiful part of my father's legacy and his memory, to know that the music he made is still out there, and people are connecting with it all over the world.â€
As someone who was won over by the new Sublime album, it keeps Bradley Nowell's legacy alive, while also giving the band a chance to start an exciting new chapter. The songs are intrinsically sublime, but there are some clever elevations and distinctive sounds that will please longtime fans and captivate new listeners.
This is the part where I do some weak transition like “speaking of new listeners†so we can hit the third act of the feature, which I had little to do with. See, my 13-year-old daughter, Torunn, and her best friend, Lorelie, are huge Sublime fans. When they found out I was going to be talking with Jakob, they asked if they could each give me a question to ask him.
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Frankly, it became immediately clear that they were better at this than I am. “I literally wish I was asked questions like that in every interview, because that's actually thought-provoking,†Jakob replied after I posed Torunn's question: “Does the generation gap between you and the other guys in Sublime have an impact on the way that you guys write and perform?â€
“Yeah, the generation gap is 100% a factor,†Jakob began. “It starts with respect, first off, because a big part of me growing up, you know, my mom's half Indonesian, and so her father, my grandfather, came here from Indonesia, so a lot of that culture is respect for your elders, and I think that that also matches nicely with the SoCal alternative culture as well.â€
Jakob's strong cornerstone of honoring the Old Guard made it very easy for him to work with Bud and Eric, but didn't make him less nervous early on. “Starting with Sublime, I was like, ‘Alright, let's do this. I gotta kind of prove myself.' So, I did earn their trust and respect, and I have it now. And we're much more comfortable nowadays.â€
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“But going into the studio, it was sort of like it was a big part of this record,†he continued. “Like a sub-theme of it is multi-generational music, and the tradition of that. Which is so interesting, because alternative culture, by its very nature, is like the dissolving of traditions a little bit, and just the crazy anarchy of everything.â€
Jakob also noted that Sublime, being a band shared down through generations, is something that benefits from the age difference between the band members. “When you come up to the shows, it's overwhelmingly younger people,†he said.
“I think that it's not only that Sublime is the music that you connect with when you're first smoking weed for the first time,†Jakob continued, “but it's also just good music that reminds people of fun times with their parents. And their parents could let loose and be cool, and talk about some of their own experiences.â€
What he said next really struck a chord with me, and I've thought about it a lot this week. “Seeing that branch be gapped, I mean, that's helping me heal by connecting with my lost father, who's no longer with us,†Jakob said, referring to how just being in Sublime is essentially a form of therapy for him.
“Getting to see living parents and kids finding common ground over something that my late relative had created. I mean, there could be truly no greater story than that metaphor, right there,†Jakob added. “So, yeah, the multi-generational nature of this current iteration, Sublime, is integral to the sound, our performance, and the audiences that we perform for. So, yeah, great question.â€
But what does Jakob Nowell think about dinosaurs having feathers?
Finally, I got to pose Lorelie's question to Jakob, and it was certainly a left-field kind of inquiry. “Do you have an opinion on the reformed understanding we now have of dinosaurs, and that they may actually have been more feathered than scaly?†Again, it became instantly transparent that I must be bad at my job and should probably be asking 100 percent more dinosaur questions.
“I f***ing love Vice, dude. This rocks! I have so much to say about that! I f***ing love dinosaurs. Hell yeah! I'm a weird motherf***er, and I have many niche interests,†Jakob enthusiastically responded. “My favorite is the Quetzalcoatlus, the closest thing we ever had to a real living dragon.â€
“I guess that's more of a pterosaur, though,†Jakob added. He then joked that he feels like a “fake Dino fan†or “more of a dabbler†than a dedicated dinophile. “I am a feather truther, dude. I'm a feather believer,†he admitted. “I think the dinosaurs look cooler with plumage; I think it's more plausible. I think they had tufts of like that plumagey kind of downy down and fluff and floof and feathers. Trust me, they still looked ferocious and fearsome.â€
Jakob also noted that he'd been reading a “speculative zoo book†about how aliens might think humans would look if all they found were our bones in the ground. This creates space to understand that maybe we don't have it all figured out about dinosaurs.
“I think the feathers and the plumage are really plausible. And frankly, I think it's a more badass design for your dinosaurs,†Jakob concluded.
