Beachfront In Reno

In case you haven’t been keeping up with Sublime, the band’s name has been coming up a lot lately. Unfortunately, it’s been in the context of a courtroom as drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson have battled with Brad Nowell’s estate over use of the Sublime name.

To quickly bring you up to speed, Wilson, Gaugh, and singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez performed last month as Sublime at the Smokeout Festival in California. They were immediately hit with a threatened lawsuit from Nowell’s estate. “Out of respect for Brad's wishes," Nowell's representatives said in a statement, "we have always refused to endorse any group performing as ‘Sublime,’ and now with great reluctance feel compelled to take the appropriate legal action to protect Brad's legacy."

Despite efforts from Wilson and Gaugh, earlier this month a Los Angeles judge shut down an effort by the new lineup of Sublime to perform under the name.

Regardless of pending suits around Sublime, the two founding members have been staying busy with other projects. They worked together in the Long Beach Dub Allstars, and Bud Gaugh has just released an album, After the Quake, with his latest band, Del Mar.

Del Mar formed in 2007 when Mike Martinez and Matt Bode, who had been involved in the Reno music scene, decided to start a new band. Nicole Hutcheson, Gaugh’s wife, found out about the project and also wanted to participate. When the band needed a drummer, it was only natural to include Gaugh.

The music combines the sound of the harder Sublime songs with traditional surf music and just a touch of ska-punk. “I want to have an arsenal of punk music for the young fans and surf music for the older fans,” Bode says.

The band has foregone the usual record industry hassles, choosing to distribute the album independently, and taking a direct-to-fan and DIY approach in marketing and touring. For information on getting the disk, click over to Del Mar’s website. And on an unrelated, but cool, note, the album’s cover art is by Dennis “Lil Daddy” Roth, son of legendary hot rod cartoonist Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Check these guys out.

Reno.mp3

Labels: new stuff, ska-punk

posted by aikin @ 5:24 PM