When Sublime set sail this fall for their upcoming Sublime Cruise, it won’t just be another nostalgia-fueled getaway. For frontman Jakob Nowell, it’s shaping up to be something closer to a floating extension of the chaotic, community-driven spirit that’s defined this new era of the band.
On paper, the cruise reads like a fever dream: concerts, DJ sets, Q&As, hot tub hangs, art exhibits, shuffleboard, and a side stage curated through Nowell’s SVN/BVRNT Records collective. In reality, he promises something even looser — and possibly weirder.
“It’s going to be fun,” Nowell says simply. “We’re going to be out at sea with a bunch of musicians and a bunch of rad fans just having a party. Something crazy is bound to happen.”
Before the boat even leaves port, though, there’s one small domestic hurdle: his cat, Fluffy.
“I wish I could pack Fluffy. But she don’t like boats,” Nowell says, breaking into affectionate commentary mid-interview. “The cat fucking understands what we’re saying. ‘It’s okay. You don’t have to go on the boat, baby. Give me a kiss. Okay, little miss kitty.’ Even thinking about boats is wigging her out. She doesn’t want me to go.”
With Fluffy staying home, Nowell’s packing strategy is characteristically practical — and slightly chaotic. “Three pairs of sweatpants, three tank tops, five pairs of fucking chones,” he says. “It’s always good to pack extra underwear on any trip because you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Same goes for socks. Probably pack like one point five times the amount of days for your underwear.”
And because even punk-rock heirs need downtime: “My Game Boy Advance — or my Steam Deck, which will just emulate all the Game Boy games. That’s probably the move.”
But the cruise isn’t just a vacation. It’s another opportunity to build the kind of musical ecosystem Nowell has been obsessively cultivating — one where legacy acts share space with rising bands and genre walls feel irrelevant.
Asked what he’s most looking forward to onboard, Nowell initially fires back with absurdist humor: “Probably the sawdust eating competition or the sheet metal snorting event. Mud wrestling. Kevin Zinger’s teaching MMA.”
Then he gets serious. “The Sunburn stage — that’s going to be rad,” he says. The side stage will spotlight up-and-coming artists alongside established names, including DJ sets from DJ Product and Mama Troy. It’s the same philosophy driving his Me Gusta Festival and SVN/BVRNT Records: use the platform to spark discovery.
“I hope while people are there listening to some of their favorite artists, they get a wild hair up their ass and want to go discover something new,” he explains. “This era is all about the nostalgia for the nineties and early two thousands and passing the torch and seeing that there’s still so much authenticity in music and art out there.”
That blend — punk, reggae, hip-hop, alternative rock — is pure Sublime DNA. And there’s something fitting about celebrating it in international waters. “Why not go fucking honor Dionysus and have crazy Bacchanals out at sea in international waters?” Nowell says. “Seems like a pretty smart idea to me.”
For fans climbing aboard, the Sublime Cruise won’t just be a floating concert series. It’s a communal experiment — part family reunion, part discovery lab, part pirate radio broadcast in motion. And if Nowell’s right, it may just be the wildest chapter yet in the band’s second life.
Watch the Full Interview with Jakob Nowell:
