Sublime’s latest single “Ensenada” has hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. The track, which is set to appear on the band’s upcoming album Till The Sun Explodes, is their first to achieve this milestone since “What I Got” topped the chart in 1996.
Guitarist/vocalist Jakob Nowell commented:
“A Sublime song at #1 again? Crazy. In the studio we weren’t trying to write songs with radio in mind. During the process all I wanted was to do was make music that reflected and celebrated the classic Sublime sound. It blows my mind that ‘Ensenada’ has done as well as it has. The lyrics were all throwaway inside jokes just to make each other laugh. Now a lot of people laughing and smiling along with us and that is a truly beautiful thing.”
Notably, “Ensenada” was handled by an independent team. It was released through Nowell’s SVNBRVNT records, Regime Music Group, and distributed by Create Music. Sublime’s management team at Regime Music Group handled marketing and promotion. The latter company’s co-founder Kevin Zinger said the following about that:
“Sublime is like family to us. It was important to us that this single was done right. We also wanted to keep the ownership and control in the bands hands to set a tone for future deals. It was a ton of late nights and extra work but to get them #1 makes it all worth it.”
Drummer Bud Gaugh added:
“We have a bunch of deals on the table for our upcoming album. We wanted to release Ensenada and get the fans some new music this year. And honestly, we made some mistakes when we were younger with some of the deals we got into. We didn’t want to rush into anything. Our managers have the staff and tons of label experience. They offered to do it themselves so we didn’t have to rush a decision. We have total confidence in them and they delivered us another #1 after almost 3 decades. We are stoked.”
Congrats to Sublime for carrying Bradley’s spirit forward and making history again!