Mr. Bean II"Sublime"
November 9th 2009 02:17
On February 28th 2009, Sublime reunited to play a show in Nevada with Rome Ramirez taking Bradley Nowell's spot on vocals. (Nowell, of course, died of a heroin overdose in 1996.) It was later announced that the newly reformed Sublime would play Cypress Hill's October 24th Smokeout Festival with several other amazing bands. The day before the concert, Nowell's estate attempted to file a temporary lawsuit to prevent the band from using the Sublime moniker. They were unsuccessful, and Sublime performed what was, according to fans, an incredible show. Stephanie, some lady that Rolling Stone interviewed said she was afraid “that they would replace Brad with someone who wasn't worthy. I had heard good things about Rome, but I didn’t want to listen. Then today, I was blown away.”
Then, on November 3rd, the Nowell estate again filed suit against the band, and unfortunately, they were successful this time. The two surviving original members, Eric Wilson and Floyd "Bud" Gaugh, were barred from using the name Sublime.
This is ridiculous. Plenty of bands go on playing after an original member dies or gets kicked out of the band. Look at Alice and Chains. Layne Staley also tragically died of an overdose. No one is freaking out because William DuVall took his spot. Look at AC/DC. They did the same thing as well, and look how well that turned out.
The Nowell estate said: “It was Brad's expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him.” I highly doubt Brad Nowell ever explicitly said that no one could use the name Sublime for a band he wasn't in. And sorry for being blunt, but he's dead, it's not like any of this really matters to him anyway.
I'm sure Brad Nowell was a pretty chill dude. And Wilson and Gaugh were his compadres. If he had any say in the matter, there's no way he'd be filing lawsuits against his best friends.
And along with Brad Nowell, Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson were the founding members of Sublime. If anything, they were in the band before Nowell, because before forming Sublime, Gaugh and Wilson were in a band called The Juice Bros. In a way, I guess you could even make the argument that Sublime was around before Nowell joined, they just changed the name upon his arrival. And if you really think about it, how does it make any sense that the family of a former member of a band has more of a say in the fate of said band than the two remaining members? If two-thirds of a band wants to do something, that's a majority. They should be able to do what they want with their band.
Most importantly, its not like the band is disrespecting Nowell in any way. At the Smokeout, Sublime dedicated their first song to Brad Nowell. And according to Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge “they were there for him and they’re not trying to do anything but pay Bradley homage... We’re talking about 20,000 people that heard Sublime tonight, that never saw them live, sang every fucking word and had a great time.” And that's exactly what they're trying to do. Pay Brad homage. According to Gaugh, “One major project under development that we're psyched about is code-named 'Brad's House.' The idea is to provide free addiction recovery service to underprivileged teens in Brad's honor. The entire Sublime family was devastated by Brad's loss and we would like to help prevent that from happening to others. The band has agreed to allocate proceeds to get this started. We'll begin with one facility but our hope is that we can get other bands and organizations to join us and we can eventually scale it all across the country.” I wonder if the Nowell estate will file a lawsuit against the band if they try to use Brad's name in founding an addiction recovery center. Or would that dishonor his memory too?
I wish I were the judge that sided with the Nowell estate. Because then I wouldn't have sided with the Nowell estate. Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson deserve just as much credit as Nowell for their contributions to Sublime. They should at least get to use the name.
Then, on November 3rd, the Nowell estate again filed suit against the band, and unfortunately, they were successful this time. The two surviving original members, Eric Wilson and Floyd "Bud" Gaugh, were barred from using the name Sublime.
This is ridiculous. Plenty of bands go on playing after an original member dies or gets kicked out of the band. Look at Alice and Chains. Layne Staley also tragically died of an overdose. No one is freaking out because William DuVall took his spot. Look at AC/DC. They did the same thing as well, and look how well that turned out.
The Nowell estate said: “It was Brad's expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him.” I highly doubt Brad Nowell ever explicitly said that no one could use the name Sublime for a band he wasn't in. And sorry for being blunt, but he's dead, it's not like any of this really matters to him anyway.
I'm sure Brad Nowell was a pretty chill dude. And Wilson and Gaugh were his compadres. If he had any say in the matter, there's no way he'd be filing lawsuits against his best friends.
Sublime (original lineup)
And along with Brad Nowell, Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson were the founding members of Sublime. If anything, they were in the band before Nowell, because before forming Sublime, Gaugh and Wilson were in a band called The Juice Bros. In a way, I guess you could even make the argument that Sublime was around before Nowell joined, they just changed the name upon his arrival. And if you really think about it, how does it make any sense that the family of a former member of a band has more of a say in the fate of said band than the two remaining members? If two-thirds of a band wants to do something, that's a majority. They should be able to do what they want with their band.
Most importantly, its not like the band is disrespecting Nowell in any way. At the Smokeout, Sublime dedicated their first song to Brad Nowell. And according to Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge “they were there for him and they’re not trying to do anything but pay Bradley homage... We’re talking about 20,000 people that heard Sublime tonight, that never saw them live, sang every fucking word and had a great time.” And that's exactly what they're trying to do. Pay Brad homage. According to Gaugh, “One major project under development that we're psyched about is code-named 'Brad's House.' The idea is to provide free addiction recovery service to underprivileged teens in Brad's honor. The entire Sublime family was devastated by Brad's loss and we would like to help prevent that from happening to others. The band has agreed to allocate proceeds to get this started. We'll begin with one facility but our hope is that we can get other bands and organizations to join us and we can eventually scale it all across the country.” I wonder if the Nowell estate will file a lawsuit against the band if they try to use Brad's name in founding an addiction recovery center. Or would that dishonor his memory too?
I wish I were the judge that sided with the Nowell estate. Because then I wouldn't have sided with the Nowell estate. Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson deserve just as much credit as Nowell for their contributions to Sublime. They should at least get to use the name.
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