Sublime Working With Travis Barker for First New Album Since 1996

Almost three decades after the release of their final album, a newly-active Sublime have revealed they’re currently in the studio working on a new record.

The group, which disbanded in 1996 following the passing of frontman Bradley Nowell, found themselves active once again in late 2023 when it was reported Nowell’s son Jakob was fronting the group. Following live performances at the likes of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2024, the group have now told Rolling Stone the reformation is set to feature a new record.

The 29-year-old explained that he had recently spent a week working with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and producer John Feldmann penning tracks for the new album. Founding members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh will reportedly join for recording sessions soon.

“Travis is an old-school fan and scholar of the Sublime catalog,” Nowell said. “They feel like family members now too, man. There was that feeling from everyone that what we’re doing here is something generational and special on an emotional, spiritual, familial level.”

In a statement, Barker noted that the project was “going to be really special,” with the spirit of the group’s late frontman still present within the band. “Bradley comes through his son Jakob,” he added. “Chills every day in the studio when he sings and plays guitar.”

Cynical fans who might be expecting the album to be a poor imitation of what was once was have also had their fears assuaged somewhat, with Nowell specifically noting that the plan isn’t to create a modern, updated version of the band. “No, just more of a solid respect and homage to the works of Sublime,” he says.

Wilson and Gaugh co-founded Sublime with the late Bradley Nowell in 1988, with the group’s first two albums – 1992’s 40oz. to Freedom and 1994’s Robbin’ the Hood – released on the independent Skunk Records label, which Nowell co-founded.

Nowell died of a heroin overdose in May 1996 at the age of 28, just two months before the release of their self-titled major label debut. The record would peak at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, while lead single “What I Got” would top the Alternative Airplay chart in August 1996. Their sole Hot 100 entry came by way of “Doin’ Time” in December 1997, when it hit No. 87.

In 2009, Wilson and Gaugh reunited under the Sublime name with vocalist Rome Ramirez. Use of the band’s name was denied by the Nowell estate, leading to the creation of Sublime With Rome, which would continue with varying lineups until their official dissolution in 2024.

In May 2024, the reformed Sublime issued the track “Feels Like That,” which features Stick Figure alongside vocals from both Bradley and Jakob Nowell. According to Jakob’s latest comments, this archival discovery process has been integral to his new role up the front of thee acclaimed band.

“We’re combing through and trying to distill down what makes a Sublime song a Sublime song,” he explained. “It’s been this fun learning process to get close to and get to know my lost family member in a spiritual sense. I think we leave so much of ourselves, like this blueprint of our DNA, in the work that we create and put out there. So really it’s been also a fact-finding mission.”

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.