Badfish

Long Beach-bred punk-ska band Sublime was on the verge of becoming a national success when frontman Brad Nowell died of a heroin overdose in 1996, right after work on Sublime's major-label debut was completed. To help fill the void left by the band, Rhode Island-based quartet Badfish does a very personal tribute to Sublime. Instead of copying the original group, Badfish prefers to honor the music by playing the songs through its own point of view. The opening act is an original band called Scotty Don't, formed by Pat Downes (vocals, guitar), Scott Begin (drums), Joel Hanks (bass), and Ben Schomp (keys, guitar) — which happen to be the same musicians in Badfish. Scotty Don't released a disc in December that was produced by Paul Leary, who also worked with Sublime. For now, though, there are no plans of abandoning the tribute act.