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Straight from Long Beach Exhibit
at Grammy Museum
March 30th, 2026 by Kevin Gomez
Bradley Nowell, the late-great lead singer and guitarist of Sublime once said, “It’s about coming up and staying on top.”
The seminal group from Long Beach has stayed on top for over 30 years now as the Grammy Museum celebrates Sublime with an impressive exhibit showcasing the band’s storied career.
“Straight from Long Beach” is now open to the public and will run through September 7th, 2026. A soft opening for press took place Wednesday night featuring Bradley’s son and Sublime’s new frontman, Jakob Nowell, and the band’s bassist, Eric Wilson.
The exhibit features everything from portraits of the original trio, including drummer Bud Gaugh, and the new lineup (my favorite being a side-by-side photograph of Bradley then, and Jakob, now playing guitar), handwritten lyrics, Wilson’s bass keyboard, and even a want ad from the ‘90s looking for a new keyboard player. The photos tell the journey of the band’s humble beginnings rooted in Long Beach.
As you first enter the hallway, a large poster details the events of the infamous first live show from Sublime on July 4th, 1988. The event later referenced as “The Peninsula Riot of 1988” took place right outside of Bradley’s Long Beach home on the beach. The concert ended early when police arrived; when all was said and done seven people were arrested.
Before the soft opening at the Grammy Museum Wednesday, Nowell and Wilson had a busy morning as the pair stopped by the KROQ studios to premiere their new single, “Until the Sun Explodes,” the title track from their forthcoming album on The Klein/Ally Show. Fans have been patiently awaiting the new album since the first track, “Ensenada,” dropped last year, immediately climbing to the number one spot on the charts.
The accompanying video for “Until the Sun Explodes” was also released and the album drops June 12th. “We had a lot of fun [filming the video],” Nowell told me, “putting on this backyard party with a bunch of bands from the Southern California music scene playing.” The video captures the classic Sublime party vibe.
As you can imagine a lot of nostalgia and emotion went into curating all of the memorabilia gathered for this exhibit. Nowell mentioned that some of these items, including photos and posters, hung above his childhood bedroom in San Diego growing up. Wilson half-jokingly said, “a couple of these things I thought went to the pawn shop.” I laughed, not sure if he was making a reference to the Sublime song of the same name, and chimed in, “Had to buy some of this stuff back, huh?”
I asked about the Me Gusta Festival, Sublime’s first multi-city music festival rolling through this summer in Fort Worth, Texas on May 9th, Portland, Oregon on June 27th, and Salt Lake City, Utah on July 18th. Nowell confided, “We just always wanted an excuse to hire a bunch of our favorite bands to get together and party.” He then added, “I hope it keeps growing every year.”
Nowell has his own solo project, Jakobs Castle, which will also be playing the Me Gusta Festival. I caught them a few weeks ago in Venice, along with Codefendants, who will be playing the festival, as well as support on several of Sublime’s dates this year. He told me that Sublime crossed paths with Coefendants thanks to mutual management group, Regime Music Group, with a special, “shoutout to Kevin Zinger.” He also credited their manager, Joe Escalante (bassist and founding member of The Vandals) and said he’s looking forward to playing together with Codefendants this year. “Always rad playing with them, and here’s to many, many more.”
I thanked Nowell for playing the oft-forgotten, “Fire Water Burn” by The Bloodhound Gang with Jakobs Castle the last time I saw them. “Oh, wow, you caught that, huh?” Nowell exclaimed. After the song finished he confessed that even his band was not familiar with the song. “More people got to know Bloodhound Gang. That was a formative part of my youth.”
Sublime is such an important part of the California experience. They paved the way for skunk music, a genre that combined elements of punk, ska, and reggae, later inspiring The Dirty Heads, Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, and countless others. Their songs can still be heard three decades later on a daily rotation on KROQ 106.7 and Alt 98.7.
The Grammy exhibit celebrates not just the band but acts as a love letter to the city that inspired their story.
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