The Story Behind Sublime
From: Skunk Records
It's been a long and wild ride since
sublime's first gig way back in 1988 in Long
Beach, California. The explosive debut not only
set off a small scale riot, but also marked the
beginning of a rare, genre-busting collaboration.
Once known as the “below average garage punk band
that every kid wanted to play at his party,”
sublime steadily escalated from a group of
backyard beer buddies to a renowned musical
entity. Blending a love of dance-hall and
rock-steady reggae rhythms with an aggressive
punk ethos, sublime ammassed a nearly fanatical
Southern California following that would do just
about anything (or anyone?) to catch one of their
blistering sets.
....In 1992, realizing the hysteria they were
creating, Brad and co-conspirator/producer Miguel
pawned the band's equipment and founded their own
label, Skunk Records, to release and
self-distribute their now cult classic, 40 oz to
Freedom. “Basically, we created Skunk Records so
that I could have a business card,” explains
Miguel, “and so we could say `Skunk Recording
artists sublime'.”
....40 oz to Freedom, which was originally
recorded for under $1,000, has gone on to sell
thousands of copies with the first 30,000 being
sold directly from the trunks of the band
members' cars. 40 oz to Freedom was not only on
the Billboard Alternative New Artist Albums Chart
for over 50 weeks, spending the last 30 weeks in
the top 20, but also broke into Billboard's
Heatseeker (Top 50 New Artists Chart) while
spending 5 weeks as the Billboard Pacific region
#1 new artist top seller. The album became an
indie icon exemplifying the synthesis of life and
art. Utilizing samples off of everything from old
Minutemen records, hip-hop and conversations with
street denizens to just plain old bong sessions
in the garage, sublime so much embodies the
D.I.Y. ethic that has come back to haunt them at
times. Much like the problems that De La Soul and
other early Native Tongue artists experienced
with using samples, sublime has was forced to pay
up or remove samples from their albums. In fact,
their signature sounding track, “Get Out,” which
lyrically dictates the bands approach to making
music, unfortunately had to be cut from 40 oz.
....Robbin' the Hood, the experimental
masterpiece released in 1994, also on Skunk, was
recorded on a shoe string budget, partially on
houses around LBC as well as with some charitable
free time from Mr. Brett (Epitaph) at the
legendary West Beach Studios (whose past
occupants include The Minutemen, Bad Religion,
and The Descendants). This subversive album,
woven together with punk, dub and crazy spoken
word, was never meant to be a follow-up to the
conceptually classic 40 oz; it served as a
precursor to the untapped possibilities of
sublime. Robbin's eclectic bouillabaisse of sonic
manipulation has now gained thousands of
listeners.
....Sublime's D.I.Y. ethic and intensity has
garnered them shows with local and national music
icons such as Firehose and Mike Watt, HR of Bad
Brains, The Melvins, The Vandals, Rage Against
The Machine, Avail, Ramones, Supernova, Greyboy
All-Stars, No Doubt, Butthole Survers, The
Mentors, The Ziggens, and of course, Duran Duran.
....Over ten major tours, three vans, and one
motor home later, the band sas spread its
garage-hall gospel all across America, creating a
rabid grass-roots following everywhere they go,
especially among the surf/skate/snowboard
constituency best exemplified by sublime's
co-headlining gigs on last summer's inaugural
Warped Tour, a hybrid of punk and skating with
L7, No Use For A Name, Fluf and others that were
organized by Warp Magazine. Also furthering the
group's natural connection to the board culture
was the Sno-Core Tour–with Guttermouth and
Skankin Pickle–which destroyed ski resorts (and
hotel rooms) throughout Utah, Colorado, Wyoming,
Idaho, and California.
....The 3 Ring Circus tour, a scary three-headed
beast of a show, was conceived and released by
sublime and its Skunk Records' employees on the
unsuspecting West Coast in 1995. The 20-plus sold
out shows on the Circus tour featured not only
sublime, but the amazing and shocking talents of
The Wesley Willis JFiasco and the Lordz of
Brooklyn. The tour's diversity is a direct
refelction of sublime's ability and drive to
combine seemingly disparate forms of music and
cultures.
....Sublime and Bad Religion were the featured
artists at the Band Aid III benefit show for
Lifebeat (a fundraising organization for AIDS
research) at Bear Mountain, California. Sponsored
by Warp and Snowboarding magazines, the bibles of
the boarding culture, the show spotlighted the
top board athletes and organizations that support
that subculture.
....In April, 1996, High Times and Skunk Records
teamed up to bring a Legal Defense Fund Benefit
Show to the House of Blues in Los Angeles and
Wetlands in NYC. Sublime headlined all three
sold-out nights, which also featured the likes of
the Greyboy All-Stars, Wayne Kramer, Weapon of
Choice, Slightly Stoopid, DFL, the Wesley Willis
Fiasco, and the Lordz of Brooklyn.
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