Earlier this month, host Miles the DJ was joined by current Sublime frontman Jakob Nowell's solo band -- Jakobs Castle -- for a special performance and interview live from the Helpful Honda Sound Space at KROQ in Los Angeles.

Jakobs Castle’s 2024 debut, Enter The Castle, was released in April coinciding with frontman Jakob Nowell’s Coachella performances -- not only with Sublime -- but also a pre-party held with his solo band. “It was a lot of fun out there, Coachella,” Jakob tells us. “Super excited to be playing with my dad's band Sublime and continuing to do Jakobs Castle all together. It's one big family out there, let me tell you!”

“To keep that vibe,” Nowell explains, “every single Sublime show I play, you know, obviously a lot bigger and stuff, I always try to go out into the audience and just have fun and romp around a little bit.” Gesturing off stage to his friend, “My boy Mark over there saved me from drowning on three occasions,” he laughs. “I like to usually like jump in the water if we're playing by a beach or in a pool.”

Following Sublime's second Coachella weekend set, fans may have noticed Jakob screaming to the crowd when the microphones were cut. “I think I was just trying to incite chaos if I remember correctly, that's usually my goal,” he says.

Though both weekends were amazing and “different in their own ways," he tells us of his time with Sublime, “The more we play shows, the more we just get locked into that vibe and we get more comfortable with one another," describing it as “totally a surreal experience.”

“It's so amazing,” he continues, “how many people's lives have been touched by that music and that sound, and this amazing, amazing scene we have here in Southern California, the best place to be in the f***ing world.”

“It's so beautiful because every show I play, whether it's a Sublime show or Jakobs Castle show, people come up to me with amazing stories and ways that that music has affected their life and continues to do it,” Jakob explains. “I think playing with my uncles like that has just sort of strengthened our relationship, and it's challenged me as a musician, and its shown me that music goes beyond just the sounds that we make and the fun events that we do. It's the memories that we create here, you know, all these things that we do -- we do it because those are the memories that no one can take away from us.”

Stepping into the Castle today, a place that would exist “somewhere in the present that's also rooted in history,” according to the band’s bio, Jakob states further, “To be my most authentic self, I have to draw from where I come from -- the sounds of the past. That's sort of referencing the entire Skunk Records scene in Long Beach in general, in Southern California, but with also an eye towards the future, and innovation, and all the amazing musicians in many different scenes, and many different genres, that have also been inspired by that.”

Jacobs Castle, he contends, “is my attempt to create this big collective and mix it up altogether. What we've been doing a lot with our band is putting on all these awesome local shows with some of our friends. There's just so much awesome music that I'm excited about nowadays, and these are people that were not only just inspired by my dad's band, but a lot of the contemporaries from that era. I find myself in a unique position getting to play for a big band like that and I wanna use that platform to just boost up all of these amazing sort of like locally unknown, somehow unseen musicians that are doing really cool, amazing things. So, come on out to some more local shows, man.”

Jakobs Castle is hitting the road for a number of Midwest and East Coast dates this fall with friends Little Stranger providing opening support.

The Castle's dates kicked off in their hometown of Long Beach, CA this Labor Day Weekend on Aug 31 -- International Overdose Awareness Day -- for a charity event benefitting The Nowell Family Foundation to bring treatment to musicians struggling with opioid addiction. Check out their full list of upcoming dates below -- and grab your tickets HERE.

Don't miss a preview of what's to come as the band gives us a special performance live from the Helpful Honda Sound Space at KROQ in Los Angeles above --and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Miles the DJ