Fri. Dec. 17

Every kid hears a band that makes perfect sense. For Roman Ramirez, growing up in the ‘90s in California’s Bay Area, that band was Sublime.
   He’d been listening to his father’s old punk rock and reggae records, but they didn’t quite click. Then, when he heard the Long Beach ska-punk trio Sublime it all fell into place.
   Skip ahead to today.
   At 21, Ramirez is called Rome and he’s the lead singer-guitarist of Sublime with Rome, which plays House of Blues Friday Dec. 17. It includes Sublime’s original rhythm section, drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson.
     The original Sublime existed from 1988-1996. Their main man, singer-songwriter-guitarist Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose. Sublime promptly went on the shelf, though the two survivors later formed the Long Beach Dub Allstars, which lasted through 2002.
     Sublime, it seemed, was history.
     But then Wilson met Rome.Denver. “I met Eric through a mutual friend. We developed a friendship and started jamming.”
    Wilson introduced him to Gaugh.
    “I was really impressed by his musicianship,” Gaugh said from Chicago  “I decided to have Rome come up and jam and see if we all got along. It fit like a glove. Rome is such a cool guy.”
   Gaugh added that he and Wilson, both in their 40s, were old enough to be Rome’s father.
    Was there anything weird about it?
    “The only weirdness,” Gaugh said, “was in our minds prior to jamming. Once we jammed, it relieved all doubt. This is real. It works. … Eric and I had a few rough few years after Brad passed away. We had to go through what we went through to be able to do Sublime justice, develop in our own ways.”
    “The way it came about was very organic,” Rome said.
   The band’s name, added Gaugh, came after they played a sneak gig last year in Sparks, Nev. Fans posted videos calling the group Sublime with Rome. It stuck. Also: Nowell’s widow Troy Nowell-Holmes, did not want them to play as Sublime. Lawyers got into the fray. Gaugh it was all a miscommunication and it’s been resolved. He added they got a warm message from her after their recent Denver show
     “I didn’t want to call it the same thing anyway,” Gaugh said, “because my take on it is if you change one ingredient you have a whole different muffin.”
    Sublime’s music has been kept alive over the years partially through the Rhode Island-based Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime. (They played the House of Blues recently.)
      “I’ve played a couple of shows with them with my other band Del Mar,” Gaugh said, “and they’re a bunch of cool cats and good musicians, More power to ‘em. Thanks for keeping the candle lit for us.”
    Gaugh’s Del Mar opens the show. Next up, Dirty Head who have a hit single with Rome, “Lay Me Down.” From Sublime, fans can expect “Santeria,” “What I Got,”  “Smoke 2 Joints” and “Garden Grove.” Also, some songs Sublime never got to play live with Nowell, such as their version of the Grateful Dead’s “Seed” and “Jailhouse,” plus one new tune, “Panic.”
     Rome’s vocals will most certainly evoke Nowell’s.
    “But he’s himself and that’s what we needed and he needed,” Gaugh said. “This is just another chapter in the same book.”

Doors at 8. Opener: TBA Tickets: $30-$20. (This is a variation on a story I wrote which ran in the Herald in April.)

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