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The trios 1992 debut,40 Oz.
Rome is a gifted songwriter getting a little better at the craft every time.
Erics bass is steady and catchy.
The guys seem rejuvenated, and theyre having a lively summer.
Your new song Light On describes the feeling of watching people grow up while youre not around.
Does it sting, having to experience friendships from a distance on the road?Rome:100 percent.
Its different when youre with somebody all the time.
You dont really notice when the wrinkles start to form and shape like that.
People gain weight, lose weight.
They wanna win, win, win, win.
Its at the sacrifice of time.
I like that song because its a song that only you could write.
You sort of grew up in this band, in a way.
You were 21 when they picked you up.
Did it feel like a tornado?Rome:For sure.
It was so fast.
[Laughs] I mean, I felt it before that.
Something about the new album feels different.
Maybe its that you picked up a new drummer, or that you picked up a new producer.
It was just focusing on making the music sound sick.
On the listener end, it feels like a solid lineup clicking into place.
Its not that the band didnt feel like the band before.
But this is a different animal.Rome:We agree!
[Laughs]
Eric:If youre not happy, youre not going to have a good outcome.
Rome: Its like marriage.
You gotta have the right combination.
Eric:Its like being married to three guys!
I wanted to speak a lot about that specific part, and just how thankful I am.
My whole life changed because of Sublime.
It probably will affect my grandkids and kids after that.
Is it tricky trying to balance the bands past while pushing it into the future?
Do you ever feel like theres expectations from the fans?Rome:You cant fuck Sublime up.
Weve been a band long enough.
Weve got our albums down.
Were playing a lot of new shit.
Like, theres no filling Brads shoes …
Eric:Yeah, but we aint trying.
Were Sublime with Rome.
Were doing something there.
So, its not like fans are only coming to see the old-school stuff?
Theyre really on board.Rome: Itwaslike that [where fans only wanted the old songs].
What changed?Rome:Everything.
Eric:I didnt know if I was gonna be doing this a year or so ago.
We werent that happy.
We had a drummer … Im not going to say his name.
Hes a good friend of mine, but in the band, he was like having a terrible girlfriend.
Hes also one of the greatest drummers, supposedly, in the world.
So that had a lot to do with it.
On the plus side, weve got Gabe [McNair], the trombonist for No Doubt.
He plays keyboards, and hes an awesome guy.
I think that Sublime stuck with a lot of music fans because the mentality was ahead of its time.
Right now, theres a lot of people in pop and rock music mixing aspects of reggae and hip-hop.
No one else did that.
No one else was putting kids onto the Grateful Dead in 1992.
New York City kids I grew up with … that stuff expanded our minds.
Theres no other bands that I can think of [who were doing that].
Rome:That was the Sublime formula.
Eric:A lot of people just didnt get it.
We were mixing all our favorite influences, making it ours by putting it all together.
Then you listen to it, and youre like, What the fuck is this?
You got time signatures and dynamics, and the speed of the song changing.
Brad did a cover [of Half Pints Loving].
Hes got legendary hits, Half Pint.
I was a fan, but Id never even heard that song before.
I didnt remember it.
Even after we recorded it, I didnt know it was a Half Pint song.
I found out after Brad passed.
Now, Id say Im really good friends with Half Pint.
I did a long tour with him, hung out in the back of the bus, and talked.
It took you some time to get back to the idea of being in this band.
What was the process?Eric:It just happened, you know?
You guys should restart Sublime.
Okay, but uh … Buds really hard to deal with.
So we went out and started that.
I practiced a lot and it all worked out, so, here I am.
Eric:Hes a perfectionist.
Hes hard on himself because he doesnt think hes all that good.
Whaaat!Carlos:No, no.
I still got a lot of work to do.
Eric:Dont put that on paper!
[Laughs]
Rome:[Air typing] Carlos is not confident.
I started music for a good time, you know?
And for myself and my group of friends.
[Points to Carlos] He always has a fucking smile on his face.
Hes just got a great attitude.
Carlos:We have a good ass time.
Rome:We love our job.
Eric:[Rome] likes to drink, but he knows he cant drink before we go on.
Rome:It took me about ten years to learn that.
Talk to me about your new song Blackout.Rome:Thats probably our favorite record, playing live anyway.
Carlos:Thats my favorite one.
Rome:[Carlos] kind of co-wrote that as well.
It was a demo.
I came across this demo that they did, him and one of my producers I signed.
There was a part that I really liked, and I brought it over to the studio.
It always becomes a whole different song once you put the band on it.
You always have to be on ten and be perfect.
Sometimes you wanna say fuck the spotlight and blackout.
[Laughs]
Rome:You gotta be able to perform.
Sometimes you just wanna fucking pull the plug.
I feel that.Rome:Dont!
Stay in the game, kids!
The producer [Andrew Wyatt] was really good.
He wanted me to play some classic bass.
So we did that.
It went real smooth.
Eric:Now Im different.
Now were buddies again.
Were not fucking each other anymore, you know, musically.
I like him again.
What were we talking about?
I wasnt there when she did it, but it sounded angelic, like a harp should.
She did that instead of the vibraphone part on the original.
I was supposed to meet Del Rey, but I couldnt wait because H.R.
[of Bad Brains] was playing.
You could meet a chart-topping pop star and youre like, Sorry, gotta go to the H.R.
show.Eric:Hes mellow now.
He had brain surgery.
I think the commonality between your music and Lanas music is how California looms over it as a character.
It pulled from a lot of different inspirations.
A lot of East Coast hip-hop too.
And obviously the implementation of music from the Caribbean and reggae and stuff.
But I think it really resonates in Southern California, specifically.
It put that style on the map.
It promoted a lifestyle that people really wanted to be about.
[Laughs] Seems like.
You put those together, and you get Sublime.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
