Today (July 18), the Long Beach, California-born band Sublime has released their latest single, “Ensenada.” But while day-one fans of the ska punk band know it as a project fronted by vocalist Bradley Nowell, the group today is actually fronted by the late Bradley’s 30-year-old son, Jakob Nowell.

But this isn’t some sort of arrangement to grab a little cash based on Jakob’s name and family lineage. The dude can SING! He not only sounds like his father in the best of ways, but he might even be better. Anyway, comparisons aside, Jakob is the real deal. And fans can check him and the band on their home turf in Long Beach on July 26 during the Warped Tour.

Here below, we caught up with Jakob to talk about his relationship to Sublime’s music, the new single and what his hopes and dreams are for the future.

VICE: What was your relationship to Sublime growing up—when did you hear your first song or album or find a favorite aspect of the band?

Jakob Nowell: My mother always played me Sublime’s music growing up. So I think my relationship has evolved—it was always this thing in the background of my life. My feelings towards the music and the role that my father’s work had in my life would grow and evolve over time. When I was younger it was nice to have a little piece of him that I could hear, then when I was a teenager I had my own separate, objective relationship with the music. Like any kid would, when they’re looking for bands to listen to when they’re hanging out or getting high, it was just like, “Oh yea, I like this music.” And didn’t even think about the fact that I had a relationship to it.

Then through my young adulthood and the early stages of my career, I was always trying to distinguish myself from it and be as different as possible. Then truly coming into adulthood, I think especially recently in the last few years, I’ve been accepting my role in it, allowing myself to feel pride for everything my family has accomplished and it inspires me to continue onward and try to add to the legacy while still working on my own music. None of it is separate its all one big thing that I feel grateful to be apart of.

VICE: Were there any songs from the band you didn’t love but maybe grew to over time?

JN: Nah, never dude. Are there any songs anybody doesn’t love from Sublime? The music is somehow so enjoyable while still being challenging. If you listen to like a really easy-listening pop band, you might not it like but you might be like these songs are pretty inoffensive and easy to listen to. Sublime is the farthest thing from that style of a band—they’ve somehow threaded the needle where they never had any songs that are just like this is hard to listen to, this isn’t me—Sublime is a very interesting band no matter what.

VICE: What has it been like filling in for your father—what parts did you try to keep the same, what parts did you know have to stay different?

JN: I try to not think in those terms usually, because then you’re going to beat yourself up a lot, feeling that imposter syndrome or this never ending psychological battle. For me it’s more about first-off having a good time, taking the gig seriously, seeing what the songs call for learning the material in earnest. I think people are interested in hearing me sound as close to the original as possible if I can. So every day I try to work harder to do that. I’m never trying to do my own thing purposefully unless it’s certain choice notes or licks or runs that reoccur that I’ve always heard a different way in my head since I was little.

So, I might sing the melodies with slightly different note choices just because I think its more interesting for me. But for the most part, I want to do as pretty close a 1:1 as I can or at the very least where I would imagine an evolution of that style might continue onward today. My Dad was one of the best singers and guitar players of all time. I don’t think I am that—but what I am is an entertainer who takes performing very seriously. And storytelling and all of that stuff—that’s where I excel. The part that needs to stay the same is a bunch of dudes from Long Beach having a good time in front of an audience.

VICE: When you were in the studio recording new music, were you surprised by anything you felt or anything that showed up on a track?

JN: Absolutely. I’ll let it speak for itself—I almost don’t want to even talk about it and give away the magic of people discovering it, but we felt like we really nailed it and got close to that original Sublime sound, where we didn’t think that would be possible. The writing team of me, Jon Joseph, Zane Vandevort and my uncles working with Eric and Bud gave it that legitimacy. I felt that if we couldn’t nail that aspect of it, getting that classic Sublime sound, then there wouldn’t be an album, I wouldn’t want to release new music.

VICE: What excites you about the new single release, “Ensenada”?

JN: I’m excited because it has so much authenticity to it. I know it’s funny and goofy—like that line about the president and strippers in it. I don’t want to take myself too seriously, but I want to take my responsibility seriously. Part of making a Sublime song is that you have to be sincere and irreverent at the same time. Sincerely there are feelings of wanting to detach from reality, like, its not literally you want to go down to Ensenada and have sex with a prostitute. I think the lyric about not wanting to be someone’s man anymore can be like a metaphor for wanting to give up, or rather wanting to escape into fantasy—like the fantasy of making love to a prostitute.

We’re not looking to win the fucking Pulitzer here, but I think there is some heart in there. We also wanted to make ourselves laugh and entertain ourselves with some funny awesome lines. I hope that people will put “Ensenada” on in the Summer time and dance around.

VICE: When you think about a future as the frontman for Sublime, what gives you butterflies?

JN: Reaching more fans and making the next generation happy. Reaching young audiences is what alternative music is supposed to do—it’s supposed to give you an escape and a purpose, and let you know that there’s someone tending the light at the end of that big long tunnel, or something like what Hunter S. Thompson said. We want to be that sound that’s tending the light. If we keep doing it and doing it big, like making this new record, putting out these new songs, then maybe they will flock to the light. But if not we had at least had a good time doing it. What makes me most excited is the prospect for the future and building with Sublime an entire new resurgence of west coast alternative music—a scene here in Southern California. Something really tangible. And I think it’s already starting to happen.

Photo by Joshua Kim / Courtesy Beachwood Entertainment Collective