Europe 2026
Codefendants are a genre-smashing punk collective blending alternative, hip hop androck to create a sound they call Crimewave. Formed by Fat Mike (NOFX), Julio ‘Ceschi’Ramos and Sam King (Get Dead), the band fuses raw punk aggression with sharplyricism, dark humor, and street-level honesty. The Codefendants—three dangerousbastards with criminal records and musical ambitions—landed like a Molotov cocktailthrough the window of an industry built on lip-syncers and safe bets.
Meet your suspects: Sam King, a punk-rock lifer with ink-stained fists and scars from athousand wrong turns, and Julio “Ceschi” Ramos, a poet, ex-con, and undergroundhip-hop ghost who once sold weed to pay rent in a world that charged interest ondreams. Both born of Bay Area chaos, they met in the hallowed, graffitied walls of 924Gilman St.—a punk rock church with no pews and plenty of sinners.
Both had extensive rap sheets—felonies, court dates, and enough bad decisions to fill aNetflix docuseries. Fat Mike, by comparison, once spent 24 hours in Disneyland jail forcausing a scene—hardly hardened, but criminal enough for punk rock credentials. Itwas a match made in legal hell, but the chemistry was undeniable.
In 2023 the trio recorded their first album, This Is Crime Wave, at Baz The Frenchman’sstudio in Echo Park. The first single was “Fast Ones,” a bullet of a song featuring The D.O.C., Death Row royalty back from the crypt, lending his voice to the chaos for the first time in two decades. Codefendants took the chaos on the road, from the punk-soaked shores of Punk Rock Holiday and Bay Fest in Europe to the sunbaked concrete of Rhymefest in Los Angeles, where they shared the stage with legends like Xzibit, Dilated Peoples, and DJ Quik, to supporting NOFX on their recent farewell tour.
Jakobs Castle
The new project of Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell’s only son Jakob Nowell, Jakobs Castle is the sound of two worlds colliding in perfect union – the insouciant sounds of California’s past with the fresh mystery of internet underground culture.
Recording under Epitaph Records, Jakobs Castle is old meets new. Beach meets the internet. 90’s Underground does Hyperpop. Imagine laying face up on the beach as waves of retro synth melodies wash over you like static, your body slowly dried by the heat of the emerging sun and skank guitars. It’s both pretty and gritty.
Active since 2022, Jakobs Castle has toured the country with emerging young artists like Sitting on Stacy, legacy musicians Jason Devore and Slightly Stoopid, as well as G. Love & Special Sauce, Common Kings and Long Beach Allstars. Standout tracks from ENTER: THE CASTLE include “Time Traveler” and “Catch Me”.
With the burden of purpose and expectation held proudly, Jakobs Castle and its enigmatic frontman seek to break all convention and usher in a new era of California music.