Flower & Seed

Me with Bud Gaugh giving SWR a chance at the Roseland Ballroom back in 2009 

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, among other forms of social media can make people feel as though we're all in the same living room as, not only our own family and friends, but celebrities as well as their family and friends. Fun filled feeds, everlastingly scrolling down seeing posts by your relatives on vacation, following up with your favorite current bands on tour. Before apps, the internet as a whole, has been my main source for reading up on not so current bands. Artists of the past. 27 club. Music I was too young to grow up with, but have always heard growing up. Bands that have been long gone for years, but coming back through their songs as they finally reach the ears of the likes of me. Such bands like Sublime.

Brad performing Seed at House of Blues in 1996
   

As we all know now, with the help of the internet for millennials like myself, the story goes: late great Bradley Nowell, singer and guitar player of the majorly successful Cali ska, punk band Sublime, died in 1996. Before he left the world, he had a baby, Jakob James Nowell, with his soon to be wife Troy, back in June 1995. I'm from The Bronx in New York City (We miss you, 92.3 K-Rock) so everybody in my neighborhood for the most part only heard of Sublime after making it to the big time around 1997 with their self titled album. Bradley Nowell was already gone. I discovered a copy at home. My brother always bought the latest music. He wasn't a big fan, but I really liked it, but I didn't know why right away. I couldn't put my finger on what you would call it. Guess I didn't know what reggae was yet or what sounds I was hearing and why, but I found out eventually. When I was a teenager, I became obsessed because it was an escape from all the emo death rock that was out. I always appreciated Sublime's fusion of California surf rock, punk, ska and reggae as well as dub and hip-hop. It was like finding buried treasure getting into the bands who did songs they had sampled, too. I didn't realize there was a whole online community doing the same. I've been talking with other rabid fans since about 2007 on forums and then eventually Facebook. I was able to friend many fans as well as people who were members of or affiliated with the band.  I remember fangirling, holding conversations with the likes of Bud Gaugh, Marshall Goodman, Opie Ortiz, Todd Forman, and Todd "ZMan" Zalkins. I'll be geeking out when Bert Susanka, Jon Poutney or Dickie of the Ziggens gives me a like.

I was largely surprised when a certain individual came into focus: Jakob Nowell. Aside from some previously released baby pictures, I first saw him when a fan uploaded a video of him with his mom, Troy Dendekker at Westminster Cemetery, visiting Bradley's grave on the anniversary of his death, hanging around fans strapped with 40 ounces and lighters to Youtube about 7 years ago.

Jakob Nowell gathered with fans May 25, 2009 at Brad's gravesite in Westminister Cemetary 

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In 2012, I saw him again on Youtube, at the same location, for the same reason, only this time he was performing songs (that would later show up on his band's first EP, Mild Lawtism) and covers like Burritos with what appeared to be one of Brad's guitars! I was blown away to be seeing him play. I thought how awesome! It's like Hank Williams Jr and Hank III taking up music after Hank the first! Keeping the family tradition. You can see in the video that his style was still developing at the time, and ever since, I've been watching him perfect it. His voice has a similarity to pop's, but it's a sound that's all his. So, you have Sublime and now twenty years later, you have LAW a Cali-punk, ska-esque rock band formed by Jakob Nowell, Dakota Ethridge, Aidan Palacios and Nick Aguilar, but over time, Dakota left and was replaced with Logun Spellacy. They released two EP's and have been touring around California for the past 3 years.

Law performing Flower at House of Blues in 2013

The cover of LAW's 2nd LP Toxic

They're into Facebook live videoing a lot, and it's mainly them giggling and joking around as they practice. As this happens, they encourage fans to comment and ask them questions. Jake calls their fans LAWbsters. LAWL. A lot of them are Sublime fans, so being that Jake is Bradley's son, there are a lot of comments like, "why don't you play us some Santeria?" or "hey, Jake, why aren't you replacing Rome in Sublime w/Rome?" "How come you guys don't have a dog mascot?" "When are you gonna play any reggae?" This usually tends to make the band members smirk and make more jokes eventually rolling their eyes and getting a little huffy, saying "Jesus Christ!" and "Oh, my God!" It could be pretty annoying, but I think most people are just trolling. Essentially, they are their own band. They didn't come together just to live up to Sublime fans' expectations of who would be a good replacement. LAW deserves to be recognized for its own talent. The fact that Bradley Nowell's son picked up a guitar at all is an honor. How he has been coming up with original material is doing Sublime more justice than the likes of SWR. Sure, they have original material, but they're still banking on the name "Sublime". Truthfully, yes. Most of their clout and fan base stems directly from Dad. Production and assemblage is under mentors Mike "Miguel" Happoldt, the founder of Skunk Records, producer for Sublime and the Ziggens and front man of Perro Bravo along with legendary LA punk scenester, Mike Watt of the Minutemen and the Secondmen among other projects.

Vastly, the LA punk scene has changed since its conception and it's been over twenty years since the days of Sublime and No Doubt. A lot has changed. MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore! MTV isn't even a factor. No more are the days of super stardom! No selling of the soul to have superstar punani! Things for music, real music, are pretty much where they should be: local and on social media.  LAW is coming out of an all new music scene of the SoCal region and California in general. They've been playing shows with The Expendables, Hamapple, Bodegas, and even the Ziggens just to name a few. They're all worth looking into as well.

No one's saying he shouldn't cover them. It's expected for people to want to hear Garden Grove or Doin' Time. Back in the summer on Father's Day, Jake appeared on a local radio station based in San Diego, 91X and performed his song Labor, following after with Boss DJ. I found it to be very heartfelt and appropriate.

It must be overwhelming to be constantly asked to play What I Got and Caress Me Down. It shows that you're not really interested in what LAW has to offer. This is one of the reasons why Jakob Dylan (coincidentally also named Jakob and spelled the same) of The Wallflowers didn't want anyone to know he was Bob Dylan's son. I could only imagine what comments would go down if they ever gave Facebook live a whirl.  "Come on, Jake, play us Like A Rolling Stone! Heeeeyyyyyyy, Mr. Tambourine Man!" It's interesting when a sibling of a star or one or two of their children get into show biz like when I mentioned the Hanks earlier. Johnny Cash's brother Tommy had a hit I'm fond of called "Six White Horses." Both John Lennon's sons formed bands. Frances Bean Cobain took a different approach. She makes art, arranges it in galleries for viewing and it has nothing to do with her father being the singer of Nirvana, or her mother being Courtney Love, although it probably does help. You can follow her on Instagram.

A flyer for an upcoming show

It's awesome to be consciously aware of and actually excited for a band presently. I'm patiently waiting for them to make their way to NYC, otherwise I'll have to take a trip out west. So, if you're looking for new rock music, and you happen to like that sound with the California vibe, go listen to LAW. As of now, LAW will release a full length album at some point to be announced and I heard Jake will be working on projects with his old bassist, Dakota Ethridge, Smoov-E and Mickey Avalon. You can check out a cover of Smoov-E's by Jake here: Dick Like Mine by Jakob  

Also! Be sure to watch Zman's film about life in the LBC while sobering up called The Long Way Back. Jake makes an appearance along with most of the old Skunk crew.

Check'em out!
http://lawlbc.band/
www.facebook.com/LAWLBC
www.instagram.com/lawlbc
www.facebook.com/thelongwaybackfilm