Rome is a gifted songwriter getting a little better at the craft every time. Sublime with Rome is an unlikely second act, an expansion of a beloved intellectual property that doesn’t try too hard to change it or to mimic what made it great. Sublime crept up the Billboard 200 into 1997 off the strength of the wistful, summery “Santeria” and “Doin’ Time.” After a two-album stint as the Long Beach Dub All Stars, remaining members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh regrouped with the young singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez as Sublime, settling on “Sublime with Rome” after Nowell’s estate objected to the use of the original band name, of which he was technically the sole owner. But Nowell’s struggle with addiction got the best of him in the weeks before the release of the band’s 1996 self-titled album, leaving it without a frontman at the doorstep of national fame. The sound was catnip for alt-rock radio in the years where acts like Beck, Fishbone, No Doubt, and the Beastie Boys were gaining cultural and commercial cachet across the country for torching rock and roll conventions. to Freedom, blended sharp, irreverent originals with covers and samples of punk-rock lifers Bad Religion and the Descendents, ska greats Toots and the Maytals and the Melodians, jam titans the Grateful Dead, rap vet KRS-One, classical composer George Gershwin, and ’50s rockers the Champs. Before the internet made having good taste easier, back when concerts, liner notes, television, and word of mouth were the main vectors guiding fans to new artists, Sublime was a musical education for the vigilant music nerd. “What I Got” and “Wrong Way” still carry the power to ignite public singalongs at parties from Los Angeles to New York City.

Long Beach punk-ska legends Sublime’s first act ended tragically in 1996 with the loss of singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell, but the music still lingers.

Sublime with Rome (currently: Eric Wilson, Rome Ramirez, and Carlos Verdugo) is an unlikely second act.

Sublime band members