Sublime reunion under fire

As we told you early last month, '90s surfer reggae rock group Sublime will reunite at the Cyprus Hill Smokeout Festival in San Bernandino, Cali., this weekend. The group has been broken up since 1996, and there's just one little snag preventing a full-on reunion: frontman Brad Nowell passed away from a drug overdose 13 years ago.

So this reunited Sublime actually consists of  two thirds of the original members. Sublime's bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Floyd ‘Bud’ Gaugh and the newly added singer Rome Ramirez (a.k.a. Todd Rundgren) are the new Sublime. And Nowell's family is not very happy about this reworked version of the band.


In a statement on Sublime's web site, Nowell's family said they do not condone the use of the name Sublime by the trio of Wilson, Gaugh and Ramirez.  Backing up this decision, the family also said, "Prior to his untimely passing, both Bud and Eric acknowledged that Brad Nowell was the sole owner of the name Sublime. It was Brad's expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him, and Brad even registered the trademark ‘Sublime’ under his own name."

The family also stated that although they support Wilson and Gaugh in their musical endeavors, they want o respect Nowell's wishes and will take legal action against the use of the name Sublime.

-Kristen Callihan
currently listening to "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" by Bright Eyes

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