The slate of spring semester concerts is set to kick off with a bang this Saturday as Sublime with Rome comes to The Sylvee.
Preparing for their upcoming June 7 album release, the group is dedicated to performing a wide variety of their repertoire on their tour. Rome Ramirez, lead vocalist and guitarist for the group, notes fans can expect music from all eras of the group at every performance.
“We always keep the integrity of the band as the focal point. With new music, we try to keep the integrity and introduce new sonics to take the band one step further,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez is joined by original Sublime member Eric Wilson on bass and Carlos Verdugo on drums and percussion.
Famous for tunes such as “What I Got” and “Santeria,” the original Sublime group effectively disbanded when vocalist Bradley Nowell passed away in 1996. As Ramirez notes, the group reformed in 2009 after several jam sessions between Ramirez and Wilson.
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“I met Eric Wilson at a studio in 2007 and started to play his house parties. We ended playing Sublime songs since people requested them,” Ramirez noted. “After a couple of years of that, he asked if I was interested being in Sublime. I told him I was so down. We just took it on the road and went for it.”
Sublime with Rome will be accompanied by Tropidelic, a Cleveland-based group whose self-described blend of reggae, hip hop, and funk will lend more elements of fusion into the night’s music.
Sublime with Rome’s current sound culture can be described in a similar manner.
“It’s a reggae culture mixed with punk rock that’s created its own subculture. Bands like Sublime really popularized that, ‘Do whatever you want’ mentality,” Ramirez said. “When it came to reggae, you didn’t really see that. You would see that in pop or in other genres of music, but in reggae, it was just reggae. Sublime started to bring in punk funk and hip hop. It really opened doors to this subset of music.”
Over 30 years of tradition in musical experimentation will continue this Saturday to rile up the Sylvee’s crowd.
Sublime with Rome performs at the Sylvee Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance on The Sylvee’s website and $30 at the door.
