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I moved to Bellmont Shores in the summer of 1979, that same day I met Eric. Around this time I let my dad know I was no longer interested in sports and that music was my calling. I was 12 and Eric was around 10, I told Eric that I had a drum set and wanted to start a band. Eric's dad was a professional jazz musician and gave me lessons, while Eric played trumpet and learned guitar. Eric eventually played bass and at that point we formed Helpless Condition, a full-blown teenage punk band. Eric and I played music together off and on for years while I moved between my mom & dad's homes, Eric later formed the Juice Bros. (which I played in later) and I played in Resistance- we recorded for Long Beach Punk News compilation #1. During the times Eric & I weren't in a band together, Eric met Brad and they began playing music together. When I moved back into the area and wanted to jam again, Eric told me about Brad and thus SUBLIME was formed. Brad was going to school at UCSC at the time, & we got together and jammed the whole week of spring break. We were all still teenagers but during that week we wrote the majority of the songs that were on our first demo, "Jah Won't Pay the Bills," some of those songs were "Date Rape," "New Realization," "Don't Push," etc. It was an amazing experience, we jammed every day & clicked from day one, both Eric and I couldn't wait for Brad to get back from school to keep the music going. That summer we played numerous backyard parties & realized this band was something special, in the meantime Brad decided to go to school at Cal State Long Beach so we could continue to play. The ironic thing is, I can remember a number of times Eric & I refused to practice until Brad bought us cigarettes & beer... Brad was always against smoking & other drugs when SUBLIME initially started out. At this time SUBLIME met Miguel as a recording engineer student & because we got no love from radio or labels, SUBLIME and Miguel formed the Skunk imprint. Eventually, the band was interfering with Brad's school work and Eric and I were constantly struggling to get Brad to practice. In the end, SUBLIME won out over school (not that we're recommending dropping out, I'm just sayin'...) We began playing at small clubs & the on-campus pizza & beer bar, the kids seemed to dig us from the get go. As the band found more success, I found more trouble and eventually landed myself in rehab in 1990, shortly after recording many of the sessions that would later become 40 oz. to Freedom. Brad and Eric continued to play with a couple of other drummers including Marshall Goodman while I continued to try to get clean. I can remember one instance, however, Brad and Eric tried to spring me out of rehab so I could join them on a tour of the South, I asked what happened with the other drummers and they said it just wasn’t working out... I couldn't leave rehab though due to the potential pitfalls of the road. I left rehab in '91 and Kelly Vargas had been playing drums with SUBLIME for about nine months. At this point I was again approached by Brad & Eric to jam with them for a day & after jamming for about an hour Eric & Brad asked me to play drums in SUBLIME again. It was around this time I noticed Brad had began to experiment with a number of different drugs which made me uneasy, but I swept those feelings under the rug to focus on music. SUBLIME then began to tour and immediately began recording sessions for Robbin' the Hood, all the while looking for label support. In 1992 we approached Bret from Epitaph and he said "Come on down," we laid down some tracks at West Beach studios. During this time, Mr. Bret was involved with a major deal with Bad Religion and was unavailable to hear the tapes- although he was interested, he let us take our music and signed Voo Doo Glow Skulls instead. Now we had a half recorded album & needed to get this shit finished- we were against going the major label route (releasing only a few songs per album) and ended up recording in secret tweaker pads all over Orange County. Infamously, Robbin' the Hood was born. We printed Robbin' the Hood & 40 oz. ourselves and sold over 30,000 copies out of the trunks of our cars & to mom & pop shops- thanks Zed's! SUBLIME toured back and fourth across the country playing venues & trying to get a label deal. We began talking with Gasoline Alley in '94, had a meeting with the CEO & basically (also typically) the thieves were trying to pay us at Cambodia slave-labor wages, so we politely declined & then commenced in defacing the assholes' Mercedes & Bentleys with SUBLIME bumper stickers. Fuck those fuckers. Jon Phillips (A&R of Gasoline Alley) convinced his Uncle Randy Phillips to sign the band in 1994, and magically, overnight, "Date Rape" was being played on KROQ- 4 years after it initially was sent repeatedly to radio. With our radio success we began to play larger venues and in '95 secured a main stage spot on Warped Tour. Our first major bus tour- sex, drugs, and ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL followed. SUBLIME was told we couldn't bring our dog along so we had some friends bring Lou Dog out to NY where we smuggled him into the venue. Unfortunately he bit two skaters & we were kicked off the tour. Kevin Lyman (one of the last of the music biz's good guys) tried his hardest to keep us on the tour but his partners wouldn't have any of it. When fans heard we were removed from the tour, West Coast fans demanded refunds, eventually we were asked to rejoin the tour in B.C. During the '95 tours & recording sessions, Eric and I became increasingly concerned with Brad's health. There began to be overdoses & hospital trips to save Brad's life, we started to feel that it was no longer "if" he'd die from drugs, but when. SUBLIME then had to come up with a record- a bitchin' record, for Gasoline Alley, we began to look for producers. Being long-time fans of the Butthole Surfers, we approached Paul Leary after hearing his work on Too High To Die by the Meat Puppets. After securing Paul for producer the band headed to Austin, Texas to record at the infamous Pedrenales- home of Willie Nelson. Before the album was completed, Paul was highly concerned for Brad's health & sent him home to clean up for a few days. Brad mellowed out eventually and the record, SUBLIME, was complete. After getting the rough draft and blasting it all over town in my Blazer- knowing it was the greatest thing ever to be recorded- we encountered problems with the label. Gasoline Alley just didn't seem to "get" SUBLIME, they demanded re-recordings & wanted pop producer David Kahne to step in, this is why there are two separate versions of "What I Got," which was a big waste of money, due to the fact there is hardly any difference between the versions. (Just to let everyone know, the people who run the music industry are always very wise and are never out to rip off musicians. That is why there is so much brilliant music on radio today and MTV rocks so hard. You should call & write to these labels and let them know how much you appreciate their hard work.) After the self-title mixes were complete, it was back to the van for a full-blown U.S. tour. SUBLIME began playing a number of radio shows, recorded our first MTV video for "What I Got," things went fucking nuts. This was the first time Brad had cleaned up on his own, was a new dad to Jakob Nowell & husband to Troy. The band had secured its first European tour and were finishing up the West Coast leg of our cross-country tour. SUBLIME played a show in Chino, CA where the promoter offered us a veritable smorgasborg of every drug under the sun- Brad came to me and said he wanted to "party just one more time." I told Brad it wasn't worth it, but after our show in Petaluma Brad & I got a hotel room on the beach outside of San Francisco. Brad tried to convince me we had all the reasons to party & it was worth celebrating, "We owe it to ourselves," I can remember him telling me. It was 2:00 am & I declined, falling asleep, Brad left to go walk on the beach with Lou Dog. When I woke up the next morning, I saw my best friend, naked, laying on the bed with his feet on the floor. I remember laughing, thinking he had gotten so drunk the night before he couldn't make it into bed, but when I got no response from him I got up to see what was going on, and that's when the world came to a screeching halt. I tried to resuscitate him, but he had been dead for hours. I began crying out loud for help, ran down stairs & down the road looking for the rest of the guys. This was the worse news I ever had to deliver in my life. After being interviewed by the police I was told by the EMTs that he had been gone for hours and there was nothing I could do. This was the longest bus ride of all of our lives. Still in mourning over our best friend & business partner's death, we decided to leave the release date for SUBLIME open, because Brad deserved it, and so did we. We won the MTV award for "Best Alternative Video" the next month, Billboard awards, and others followed. In memory of Brad & SUBLIME, Eric & I continued on with Long Beach Dub All-Stars and played the songs we never had a chance to play for our fans, this was our tribute to all that was SUBLIME. SUBLIME continues to sell CDs in record-breaking numbers, even out-selling Nirvana's catalogue (Nirvana happens to be one of our favorite bands- Go Krist! Rock on Dave! Fuck you Courtney!) And is currently at over 13 million records sold- mind you we haven't toured in over a decade. SUBLIME was the most amazing thing to ever happen to me. I still mourn the death of Brad and the band, it's a shame something so precious could be taken away by something so evil. SUBLIME will always be the greatest band to ever live, and thank you for making it so. SUBLIME FOREVER! Much Love, Bud Gaugh |
