Badfish

Long Beach-bred punk-ska band Sublime was on the verge of 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 group, Badfish honors the music by playing the songs through its own point of view. The bandmates open their act as original group Scotty Don’t, formed by Pat Downes (vocals, guitar), Scott Begin (drums), Joel Hanks (bass), and Ben Schomp (keys, guitar) — who happen to be the same musicians in Badfish. Scotty Don’t released a disc last December that was produced by Paul Leary, who also worked with Sublime. For now, though, there are no plans of abandoning the tribute act.