So..what I get asked frequently is what was it like hanging with Sublime back in the day? Well, the first time I saw them was at The Pub at CSULB. Mike Happoldt who was in the Ziggens at the time ( and remains a close friend and loyal confidant to this day) lined us up to play a set before or after his new friends called Sublime. At the show, I remember thinking “hmmm, white boy reggae”..not sure I like it. That day all their songs kinda sounded the same to me but I noticed more than anything how handsome their singer was and that they might do well just based on that. Especially since there were more than a few Long Beach hippie girls with their stomach’s exposed with belly rings dancing in front of the stage. Bradley told me some months later that he really didn’t even notice our set so I guess musically neither side was doing much for the other. Boy did that change. About 2 weeks later Bradley approached me wearing a fanny pack and told me “ In this fanny pack is your cassette. I keep it here so no one can steal it.” He said “My favorite of yours is “ All the fun that we missed”. I was embarrassed because my singing on that initial demo cassette was really wimpy sounding and tentative. ( a problem that would never quite go away, much to my chagrin). On the flip side, the Sublime cassette that I had in MY possession was gritty and raw. I had begun to know the Sublime songs individually and they DID NOT all sound the same. I was a fan!
As time passed, Mike Happoldt (now called Miguel) was so aligned with Sublime that we wished him well and he went to work with them full time. He changed their career with his musicianship, production and business grit. Both bands worked a lot together in terms of recording with Miguel, and playing the same gigs together. Eric and Bud were 2 cool cats. They befriended us which was kinda weird because there wasn’t a lot in common musically or socially but there was a BOND. Brads friends were cool to me because Sublime liked us and I appreciated it. I’ll never forget the time on the warped tour when the event coordinator they called Mitchell Mud Stripe ( who didn’t know me) started shoving me away from the stage area and Eric Wilson flew over to him and said “ Hands off.. these are the Ziggens.” It felt really good.
As time passed I’d hoped we could build up our own following instead of riding the Sublime coattails. And we did.. but on a much smaller scale than Sublime, of course. Their fans were super cool to us but kinda didn’t know what we were all about. Who can blame them? When we started out we played weird novelty songs and country ballads. That’s just how I wrote. It was like I was trying to find every wrong influence and embrace it. Something about my style though seemed fine to Bradley because as you know his musical mind was WAY open. Somehow he heard the catchiness and the harmonies and ignored the nerdiness.
As I mentioned, the bands were very different socially. Miguel and I were close but within a few minutes after the shows I would go quickly as I had little interest in substances of any kind. I wanted to sit and really get to know the Sublime guys better ( I knew Miguel well) but there was always a crowded party or some libation or substance that would prevent any time to pick Bradley, Bud and Eric’s brains. I do remember asking Brad if he would consider cleaning up. That’s how naive I was.. if only it was that simple! He did tell me that he gave his life to Christ at a retreat when he was younger and we discussed a few Bible passages. I’ll never forget how he organized getting a giant congratulations card for me when my wife and I had our second son
Musically I always marveled at Eric’s bass lines. So inventive and so booming on stage. And Bud created that drum style. It was his calling card.
I haven’t much of a memory but I do remember the night Bradley showed me a picture of his newborn son in a motor home as we chatted after a No Cal show. Man was he excited! We said our goodbyes and I got out of there fast as the substance behavior was beginning. Truth be told it’s not that I’m such a holy roller, ( ok I guess I am) …it’s just that whole scene kinda gave me the creeps. Not the people were creepy (they were all very respectful to me) .. Just the chaos and suffering aspects of addiction. Plus I’ve suffered from an anxiety disorder since I was 19 and I’m not into crowds. So after the show. we went to drive to a friends house to sleep on his floor and Sublime went to their hotel, eventually.
The next day we drove to the venue and a guy in the load in area told us the show was cancelled. We asked why and he said “ Because the singer of Sublime died last night. I said “that’s not possible! We were with him last night! He said “ Sorry, dude, I don’t know what to tell you…” We wept and I cursed drugs as we made our way back to Huntington Beach in silence. After Brads memorial service the Ziggens had a gig at Knotts Berry Farm that night and we played bad fish for the first time. Bad fish is the song Bradley fashioned after listening to my song “All the Fun that we Missed”. The performance of our unrehearsed live version of bad fish is here on this website. I’d like to thank Brad, Bud, eric and especially Mike (Miguel) for letting a couple nerds like myself , brad Conyers, Jon Poutney and Dickie Little tag along.
Finally, in response to other questions: 1. I don’t know why Bradley said in song that I made him drink but if I recall, I think it’s because he had been listening to one of my sad country songs. 2. Yes it’s cool for me to have been sampled on smoke 2 joints and mentioned on greatest hits etc but the coolest thing is the memories. Oh, another real treat for my days with Sublime is it lead me to become friends with Dr Todd Forman, the Sublime sax guy and we’ve been friends for years now. Dr. Todd, Bud and I even made a couple kids cd’s and a band called Jelly of the Month Club. After some years Bud and I turned the band over to Dr Todd and some younger cats but the CDs are out there. Check it out if you have kids. Love Berto ( LLTZ).
If you want an example of Bradley Nowell personality….He was walking down the street and a guy was wearing a purple Sesame Street shirt that said “Bert.” Bradley asked the guy if he could trade his own shirt on his back for the Bert shirt the fellow was wearing. The guy agreed and Bradley kept the shirt as a gift for me. He was beaming when he presented it to me.
