Shuffle Aces: SoCal Summer Sounds – Sublime & Long Beach Dub Allstars

There aren’t many bands that make me feel as “summerish” as Sublime. Maybe it’s their SoCal roots; maybe it’s the whole ska-punk thing. Of course naming your box set Everything Under The Sun also helps. I bought this a while back (remember when people used to buy CDs kids?) and for a band with such limited output, the idea of listening to their weird studio outtakes and the like creates a very personal kind of relationship with the band. Yeah, there’s some pretty weird stuff, but also a bunch of gems although it’s the total 3CD package rather than any individual parts that makes it work for me. And given it’s a while since I bought a box set, it was fun to get stuck into the “book” that came with it, the ultimate in super liner notes.

As the temperatures climbed into the 40s (Celsius) in Sydney a couple of days ago, it was very pleasing to have one of my favourites emerge on the shuffle – Badfish. Great bassline and a great vibe.

Hearing it made me search out Sunny Hours from Long Beach Dub Allstars – not surprisingly they work well together given that following the very sad 1996 death of Sublime frontman Brad Nowell, surviving bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh formed the band.