{"id":79781,"date":"2023-11-19T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=79781"},"modified":"2023-11-19T09:13:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T17:13:39","slug":"with-his-own-sound-jakob-nowell-hopes-to-live-up-to-the-sublime-legacy-of-his-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/with-his-own-sound-jakob-nowell-hopes-to-live-up-to-the-sublime-legacy-of-his-father","title":{"rendered":"With his own sound, Jakob Nowell hopes to live up to the Sublime legacy of his father"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jakob Nowell turned 28 this year.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t much of a milestone for most, but it happens to be the same age his father, Bradley Nowell, was when he died of a heroin overdose. His dad was Sublime\u2019s original frontman.<\/p>\n<p>Nowell was born at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach on June 25, 1995. Bradley died exactly 11 months later on May 25.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou gotta have a dark sense of humor a little bit,\u201d he said, chuckling at memories of those who have told him they wished they could have met his dad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Hey, me too!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nowell didn\u2019t grow up under the direct influence of his father, but he still found his way onto the music scene in the early 2010s. After a decade of writing music and touring, for the first time, Nowell was signed on to a record label just days after his birthday this year.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, the label that signed Jakobs Castle, Epitaph Records, passed on Sublime in the early \u201990s over the band\u2019s drug and alcohol use.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jakob Nowell, son of original Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_s4PxIhEgDU?start=28&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Nowell is the first to admit that he was hesitant to venture into the music industry for much of his early life. When you\u2019re the son of a music legend, the idea of living up to that name and working to grow out of its shadow is a daunting feat, he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Music) was so saturated in my life,\u201d Nowell said. \u201cI remember growing up backstage. It was always present. And I think I took it for granted as a little kid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until he reached his teens that he would take that fateful step into the music world. Today, he likens the decision to joining the family business, no different than a son who starts working at his dad\u2019s car dealership.<\/p>\n<p>When he first started dabbling in music, Nowell \u2014 a singer who learned to play guitar, piano and bass \u2014 said it provided an escape from an unorthodox life. That life, he said, didn\u2019t include a silver spoon, despite his father\u2019s legendary status.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love my mother and my stepdad, but it was a pretty wild house to grow up in,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a lot of craziness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, cigarettes are his only remaining vice, but that wasn\u2019t always the case.<\/p>\n<p>He learned to roll joints at the age of 12 in a household that did not discourage drug use. Eventually, he was \u201cdoing all of the above,\u201d but alcohol became his greatest weakness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a human garbage disposal,\u201d Nowell, who has been sober for six years now, recalled.<\/p>\n<p>For his family, drugs were a vehicle for family bonding, Nowell said. He also questioned why his dad chose to use drugs and he wanted to find out for himself.<\/p>\n<p>The untimely death of Bradley, as well as their own past drug-fueled lives, eventually led his family to establish the Nowell Family Foundation, a nonprofit that is working toward opening an opioid addiction treatment facility, specifically for musicians. It will be dubbed Bradley\u2019s House.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_79645\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79645\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-79645\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/IMG_3032-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-162x108.jpg 162w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-1568x1045.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150813\/IMG_3032-400x267.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79645\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jakob Nowell, frontman of Jakobs Castle, sings during a show. Courtesy of Epitaph Records.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Early in his career, Nowell rebelled against the idea of regurgitating his father\u2019s sound. He wanted his music to be uniquely his \u2014 not a reproduction of Sublime. In 2012, Nowell started writing music with a friend for their Law. The group played its first show at DiPiazza\u2019s in Long Beach in June 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMainly, the band was just this peripheral thing in my life where I was just trying to figure out who I am and how I can be stable and how I can be a happy, competent individual,\u201d Nowell said.<\/p>\n<p>For eight years, Nowell stuck with Law through member changes and shifts in identity. Ultimately, he had a falling out with the band at the end of 2021, he said \u2014 right around the same time he got divorced after only months of marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just totally at my bottom,\u201d Nowell said.<\/p>\n<p>Before parting ways with his Law bandmates, his uncle Miguel Happoldt, a member of Long Beach Dub Allstars and an unofficial member of Sublime, had sent some songs to Epitaph, Nowell said. The label liked the music, but the sound wasn\u2019t something they were looking for. But they were interested in Nowell as a vocalist.<\/p>\n<p>Nowell says he owes his recent successes to Epitaph\u2019s Chris Foitel, who scouted the singer-songwriter, and set up his first writing session in January 2022. The label brought in producer Jon Joseph and co-writer Tim Armstrong, known for his work in Rancid, Transplants and Operation Ivy.<\/p>\n<p>When he branched out on his own, Nowell said he realized his past aversion to bringing his dad\u2019s influence into his own music was \u201cimmature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe music my dad made was amazing and the fans\u2019 lives it touched are all amazing people and the life it has given me is amazing,\u201d Nowell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only way I&#8217;m ever going to stand on my own two feet as an artist is not by completely ignoring it and also not by completely embracing it,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt lies somewhere in the middle, I think \u2014 that middle path of authenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, when he formed Jakobs Castle, it was with the desire to create his own sound, allowing Sublime\u2019s influence to permeate his writing process, but not consume it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe being related to my dad is a part of me and I can\u2019t ignore that,\u201d Nowell said. \u201cI grew up listening to those songs just like everyone else and was inspired by them like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_79640\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79640\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-79640\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"792\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n-1024x676.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n-768x507.jpg 768w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n-164x108.jpg 164w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/10150435\/294636591_583913516437970_6292424036880384753_n-400x264.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79640\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bradley Nowell performs with Sublime in the early 1990s. Courtesy of the Nowell family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After a year of writing sessions, the small team had created 14 tracks Nowell describes as \u201calternative beach music\u201d for \u201cEnter the Castle,\u201d the band\u2019s debut album.<\/p>\n<p>The first single, \u201cTime Traveler,\u201d dropped on June 28 just after the signing announcement. \u201cLights Out,\u201d the album\u2019s second single, was released Sept. 25.<\/p>\n<p>An album release date has not been set, but the band\u2019s label representative said an announcement is expected in January.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandpa always told my dad to write songs of social significance,\u201d Nowell said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how socially significant my material is, but I was just trying to write anything \u2026 that was meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since writing the album, even before the band name was officially announced, Jakobs Castle has performed across the country with acts including 311, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars, Common Kings, Julian Marley and Sitting On Stacy.<\/p>\n<p>Starting Jan. 11, Jakobs Castle will hit the road with hip-hop blues creators G. Love &amp; Special Sauce for a 41-show national run through March 16.<\/p>\n<p>Early Jakobs Castle would have a \u201crevolving door cast of musicians\u201d perform live, Nowell said. Today, its lineup has been solidified.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s with Jakobs Castle or any other future musical venture, Nowell still acknowledges that to some degree, he\u2019ll always live in Bradley of Sublime\u2019s shadow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s always that ever-present pressure, the expectations of people,\u201d Nowell said. \u201cNo matter what I do, there\u2019s always going to be that comparison. And I\u2019ve learned to live with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_79784\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79784\" style=\"width: 2100px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-79784\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/nowell-family-photos.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2100\" height=\"1025\" srcset=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos.jpg 2100w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-1024x500.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-768x375.jpg 768w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-192x94.jpg 192w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-1536x750.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-2048x1000.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-1200x586.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-1568x765.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/17133623\/nowell-family-photos-400x195.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2100px) 100vw, 2100px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-79784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An infant Jakob Nowell pictured with father Bradley Nowell and mother Troy Dendekker in 1995. Courtesy of the Nowell family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growing up in the shadow of his father, Sublime&#8217;s orignal front man, Bradley Nowell, almost deterred Jakob Nowell from playing music. But 10 years into his career, he has learned to fuse his dad\u2019s influence with his own sound. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":79639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[292],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25820],"class_list":["post-79781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79781"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79788,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79781\/revisions\/79788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79781"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=79781"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=79781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}