Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson of the Long Beach Dub Allstars have been friends for years, so they understand the irony of their band's current success

As members of Sublime, it was the tragedy of frontman Brad Nowell's death that brought their new project together. Following Nowell's 1996 heroin overdose in a San Francisco hotel room, drummer Gaugh and bassist Wilson helped put together the "Enough Already" benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium. Featuring No Doubt and Pennywise, the concert helped raise money for Nowell's baby son and the Musician's Assistance Program. Gaugh and Wilson also wanted to honor their late friend, and put together the Dub Allstars as a tribute band. The band received such a rowdy reception that they began lining up West Coast gigs, opening up Sublime's blend of dub and punk to include more traditional reggae. Now, the band that rose out of Sublime's ashes is set to release its first album, Right Back, on DreamWorks, on Sept. 28.

For Wilson, there was never any question whether to keep playing music � the question was merely what type of music to play. "For a while I was thinking of just going back to garage punk," he says. "I didn't really think we'd be able to get it together and make the magic happen again. Not many people can play it right, you know."

But the more gigs the Allstars played together � in addition to Gaugh and Wilson, the band features Sublime backup players "Field" Marshall Goodman (percussion and turntables) and Mike "Miguel" Happoldt (guitar), along with Opie Ortiz (vocals), Ras-1 on (guitar and lead vocals), Jack Maness (keyboards), and Tim Wu (saxophone) � the more it became clear that there was some magic there. And while the memory of Nowell is a constant (his dog, a Dalmatian named Louie is still the band's mascot), the Dub Allstars are creating a sound that's their own.

"On the other side of the country people will still call us Sublime," says Wilson. "The part that's most frustrating is that posters will say 'featuring Bud and Eric from Sublime.' There will always be a connection, but we feel that we should go on and do our own stuff that's worthy of us.

"We're always gonna wanna play songs people want to hear," Wilson adds. "But we can pick which songs from that time we want to play."

Recording and releasing Right Back wasn't a speedy affair, but the past years haven't been a toe-tapping, thumb-twiddling time. Wilson and the Allstars were more interested in playing live and honing their songs than rushing into the studio prematurely. "We were doing everything on our own and weren't looking for any major labels," he explains. "We felt like if we could kick back and let it go slowly, we could produce a better record."

And Right Back lives up to that. The album steps back a bit from the musical freneticism that set apart � but also scarred � Sublime's three albums. A lilting, happy groove travels through reggae tracks like "Righteous Dub," "Kick Down," "Pass It On," and "My Own Life," while harder driving guitars occasionally appear throughout the disc's other tracks. Reggae master Barrington Levy guests on two tracks, including the Nowell-altered version of Levy's own "Saw Red."

For Wilson, working with Levy was a dream come true. "Playing with Barrington is like playing with Elvis. That voice is just unreal. And from what I heard, he was telling Ras that he'd been listening to the Sublime album even before we met him." Other reggae stars like Tippa Irie and Half Pint also appear, along with a rare appearance from former Bad Brains frontman HR.

Wilson is excited to get back on the road, but even after the death of his musical colleague and close friend, the Allstars feel no need to make this tour an ode to the "Just Say No" mantra. "I myself will never go near anything like that," says Wilson of the drugs that killed Nowell. "But I don't think it's going to do much good speaking out to kids � they're going to do what they want to do. You can tell them all day that it's not cool, but that's not going to change their minds."