From scoring a massively successful No. 1 hit, to playing some of the biggest festivals in the nation, Jakob Nowell had an incredibly eventful 2025. As the Sublime frontman reflects on the year, he seems amazed by everything that happened.
“There is a lot of high-highs and low-lows that stick out,” the singer admits to The Pier. “The first thing that comes to mind is the loss of my cat, Creature. He was my best friend in the whole world and the only person who’s ever understood me even though he was a cat. And I just – the world’s not the same without him, man. I really took his death hard.”
The loss weighed heavily on Nowell, even as he had to deal with his responsibilities to Sublime.
“He died the night before Warped Tour Long Beach and so I hadn’t slept all night ’cause we put him down at around 5:00 AM and we had to go to 9:00 AM soundcheck, so we just stayed up the whole fucking day.”
Despite – or perhaps because of – the emotions of the day, Nowell points out that the performance at the Warped Tour was special.
“It was just the feeling of playing there in Long Beach with my dad’s band,” he recalled. “[It] was one of the best sets I ever played.”
On a lighter side, Jakob mentions a different Warped Tour gig, this time with his solo project Jakobs Castle in Washington D.C., as another of the year’s most memorable moments.
“[It] really meant the world to me. I felt like we sounded how I wanted us to sound. We performed how I wanted us to perform. And there was this massive audience of people. And we were playing after bands that I used to chase after. We were playing after artists on the same stage that I used to chase after. So it felt like a lot of movement for my career.”
Looking forward, Jakob seems excited – not just for Sublime’s continued revival, but for the growth of Jakobs Castle.
“I sing for the band Sublime,” he notes. “I think that leg up is, I’m so grateful and I’m lucky for it. But my goal is to supersede that and and really create a place for Jakobs Castle and the people who you hope will understand it and appreciate it. And I think it’s happening right now. And there’s been so much positive growth forward this year on that tip. So a lot of highs, a lot of lows and a lot of life.”
Watch the full interview with Jakob Nowell Below!
