Though the original Sublime may have ended with the death of singer Bradley Nowell in 1996, its music continues to reach fans all over the nation through the Sublime tribute band, Badfish. The band will be performing Sublime’s hits as well as its own original songs on Feb. 13 at the Wiltern Theatre.
Since its first show in 2001 with original members Scott Begin, drummer, and Joel Hanks, bassist, Badfish has gained a huge following. They changed vocalists in 2007 to current member Pat Downes and went from performing at bars near their college to playing at huge venues, turning the outfit into a full-scale, nationwide gig.
“We were doing this in Rhode Island and it was getting very big, so we kind of felt like if we can do that here in small-town Rhode Island, why couldn’t we do that anywhere?” Hanks said. “I think we felt like we could do something big, but maybe not necessarily this big. We definitely exceeded our expectations.”
With 152 shows in 2006 alone, Badfish has generated tremendous excitement from audiences. Part of the reason why the group has been so successful is, of course, thanks to Sublime’s music.
“Sublime’s music is the type of music that at any given house party you go to or anyone’s car you hop into, everyone’s always listening to it,” Begin said. “They crossed a lot of boundaries. They were one of those reggae-ska bands that kept it going when a lot of the rest of them quit.”
By mixing punk, ska and reggae, Sublime was able to reach out to a wide array of people, from fans since its start in 1988 to those who have recently discovered its music.
“When we were playing the bar scene, we’d get kids our age, college-Âaged kids. But now that we’re doing lots of tours at these all-ages places, we find that a lot of our fans are younger, even high-school-aged, which is really cool to see with Sublime’s music,” Begin said. “A band that hasn’t produced any new music in 15 years at this point and there’s still people interested in that music being performed. … I think that’s a credit to how good their music is and how it’s endured over the years.”
Though Badfish is a tribute band, the members still like to add their own spins to songs while replicating Sublime’s sound. Like any band that plays the same songs over and over again on tour, it extends jams and instrumental parts as the mood fits.
“You don’t want to do it beat for beat, note for note exactly because that would get a little bit boring. But you want to get in the head space they might have been in so you can emulate the style of playing, and I think we’ve done a great job of doing that. That makes it fun because we get to play around with it a little bit without it being a strict note for note replication of the original song,” Begin said.
Sounding just like the recordings may be what some fans want to hear, but without energy and personality, live music won’t come off with the same effect as Sublime’s original performances.
“You have to show some emotion while you play, or you’re not going to connect with the audience,” Downes said. “We’re still playing real instruments, the audience is still there picking up what we’re playing, so you have to give some of yourself every night, no matter what tunes you’re playing.”
Not only does the band perform Sublime covers, but the members also act as their own opening band, Scotty Don’t, in which they perform all original music. Doing so allows them to experience both the popularity of being in a successful group that everyone knows about as well as being in a band that’s struggling to get a start.
“People generally come for the songs they know more,” Hanks said. “But with Scotty Don’t, you’re trying to win them over with your music, stuff they’ve never heard before. You have to try to win them. For Badfish, it’s already won.”