Sublime's Rome Ramirez Flattered to Be Compared to Bradley Nowell

Rome Ramirez, the singer/guitarist who is now teaming with Sublime's Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson for Sublime With Rome, has only done a few shows fronting the new trio, including last year's SmokeOut Festival and a surprise appearance at KROQ's Almost Acoustic X-Mas in L.A. last December. But with the new lineup heading out on the road for a tour starting, appropriately, on April 20 (aka 4/20), Rome knows that he'll now forever be linked with the late Bradley Nowell.

"I get this question all the time -- 'How does it feel to know that you'll be forever compared to Bradley?'" he tells Spinner. He's fine with that, thank you. "I'm 21 years old. I'm not that old. My biggest inspiration as a kid was Bradley, so when you're constantly comparing me to Brad you're comparing me to one of the greatest. Nothing wrong with being compared to one of the greatest. You can compare me to my favorite all day long."

At the same time, Ramirez wants everyone to know this is a different Sublime and he's not trying to be Nowell. "We still riff on really similar Sublime music, but it's different now cause it's 14 years later, there's a new singer," he says. "I may sound similar to Bradley, but I'm not Bradley. Whatever I put out is gonna be different."

He assures fans that the music that will eventually come from the trio will still be worthy of the Sublime moniker. "Once it runs through Bud and Eric's hands, I promise you that song sounds like a Sublime song. I witnessed it when I was skeptical myself," he says. "In Reno before our very first performance, I had this idea for a song, and I was like, 'This is a real Sublime-sounding song. Let's put it together.' I showed it to Eric and Bud, and it's our new song, 'Peg.' The most recurring question is, 'What album is this off of?' It is because of that feel, that Sublime stamp that Bud and Eric put on it. They won't put it out unless it sounds like a Sublime song."

There will be new music down the line, but right now the trio wants to enjoy the chance to play the old hits. "First and foremost, what we wanted to do is play a lot of the old material, for just the beginning at least. I think it's safe to say about 95 percent of the fan base has never even seen these guys live and those are the songs they want to hear right now," he says. "They want to hear 'Santeria,' "Wrong Way,' 'Doin' Time,' 'What I Got.' Bud and Eric haven't really played a lot of them either. A couple of tracks the first time they even played them live was with me. Now that's surreal as f--- right there. Trip on that one."

There is one old song though that is off limits out of respect for Nowell. "'Caress Me Down' is the only song I don't feel comfortable playing and it's because the first lyric, 'Mucho gusto, me llamo Bradley,'" Ramirez says. "And I don't feel comfortable saying my name is Bradley cause I'm not Bradley, nor do I feel comfortable changing it cause that's a song he wrote. It's his song."