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The eclectic crop of 40 albums spans everything from Quebec's avant-garde to breakout debuts and past Polaris champs.
Jakob Nowell Is Building His Own Empire
The Jakobs Castle frontman—and son of Sublime’s Bradley Nowell—turns cosmic weirdness and punk spirit into a legacy of his own.
By Johnny Papan
Photos by Josh Kim
- Published on
There’s a thread to the story of Jakobs Castle frontman Jakob Nowell. The universe is weird, life is short and to him, everything means something, even if it seemingly means nothing at all. Nowell is a self described “weird kid from Long Beach trying to find other weirdo aliens to tune into his frequency.” His personality is a balance of deep, meaningful introspection and somewhat absurdist humour.
It’s a typical hot summer day in Long Beach, California and Nowell is wearing a black tank top as he drives to the gym. Palm trees wave by as he coasts down the road with boxes in the back seat. He pulls over to witness a falcon that sits on top of a sign, a sight that incites both amusement and amazement.
“I respect you, good falcon,” Nowell comically shouts at the bird, exiting his vehicle to take a closer look. “Maybe this is a sign from the universe.”
This charmingly strange spontaneity is exactly what fuels Jakobs Castle. The genre-bending solo project, which was named after a joke one of his friends made before a Dungeons & Dragons session, serves as an outlet for sonic experimentation and telling stories. While Jakobs Castle blends modern genres like hyperpop and bedroom pop with ska, indie and alternative rock, Nowell also brings punk rock’s ethos into the project.
“For me, punk was always that DIY spirit. Following your own path no matter what,” he says. “I don’t think our sound is very much similar to what punk rock is, but as far as sharing that spirit, I think it’s there. Just trying to make music that I find interesting, maybe a little subversive and fun. I’m trying to work with a deck of cards that feels like late-night Adult Swim, weird infomercial energy.”
While today is a pretty normal day for Nowell, his lifestyle has been anything but since birth. He is the son of Bradley Nowell, late frontman of iconic ska trio Sublime, who took the ’90s by storm with their soul-jiving mix of punk, reggae, dub and hip-hop. Cementing themselves as one of ska’s most influential acts, Sublime’s sun-kissed sound was a sonic metaphor for California vibrations. Though the remaining members continued making music with different projects after Bradley Nowell’s passing, Sublime officially returned in 2023 when they recruited Jakob to take on lead vocals and guitar. Jakob Nowell found himself in a balancing act, trying to honour his father’s legacy while simultaneously building one of his own.
“It was a truly indescribable experience. Both good and heavy,” Nowell says. “For so long I tried to separate myself from that comparison. But the more you run away from who you are, the more it sticks to you. You’ve got to face the music.”
The experience was as incredible as it was anxiety-ridden. Being the new singer of a classic band already carries a lot of weight. Comparisons to the previous vocalist will, without a doubt, be enforced by the public. The addition of being in the family adds an extra layer of complexity that not many people can understand.
“For the first year of playing with Sublime, it was very challenging,” he says. “I was very anxious. 99 percent of things were good, but your mind focuses on that other one per cent. It’s not my band, it’s my dad’s band. No one’s ever going to sound as good as the original singer, but there’s a huge youth base that wants to experience that music. It’s about the story. I’m just here to bring energy that’s sufficient. I have to do a good job. It’s important to me.”
Joining Sublime was a deeply personal, complex return to something he was born into, but that he long avoided. Bradley Nowell passed away shortly before Jakob’s first birthday. Involvement in the band would bring Jakob closer to a dad he didn’t have much time with.
“I feel 100 percent closer to him,” he says. “From having trippy dreams to hearing stories from his friends, it’s been healing. It’s like coming back from exile into your home kingdom.”
It seems that Nowell has since found solace in his place on the planet. He’s worked through challenges and come to terms with a side of himself that he tried to outrun. It’s become a source of strength, something that he now integrates into his own artistry and daily life. He’s embraced his story and how it shaped him, and is now building his own castle brick by brick.
“The sun’s gonna blow up someday. So what’s the big deal? None of this will have mattered, but in a weird way, it’ll have mattered more than anything,” he concludes. “Our lives are only as good as the stories we can make out of them.”
Jakobs Castle performs on June 21 at the Victoria Ska & Reggae Festival
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