Brad's personality?

Answer:  How's it goin'? Good looking out keepin' sublime alive over there in the UK...

Alright, so, with Bradley... You asked a BIG question. It's real hard to answer that. But, I'll try....

This might be a LONG answer!!  lol   I hope you don't mind.

He was both extroverted and introverted depending on the situation & what he had ingested.

Without drugs (and/or alcohol) he was introverted and shy but still magnetic & noticeably intelligent.  With drugs, he was completely extroverted to the point of being obnoxious; until of course, he got too high or wasted & then he would just become childlike & either want to be OR need to be taken care of; which I suppose could be considered a reversion to introversion.

For instance, Brad was one person on alcohol... but that person had several different drastic personalities; so he was really like 4 people. The same with each drug with him.. speed, coke, crack, heroin, whatever... Except for Pot. He was the same funny, smart, witty, quick, universally like-able guy on weed.... JUST weed! When he was just stoned, he was your typical Southern California surfer dude & so, so funny man. And, a lot of love there.... for everyone... guys, girls, parents, kids, etc..... everybody. And, he would attract people just the same. People were instantly drawn to him. And, there was a feeling about him to strangers like: "I wanna hang with that guy". It was cool as shit & he WAS that guy that all the girls wanted to be with & all the guys wanted to be. Point Blank. Again, when he was JUST on weed.

Now, with alcohol, he was super mellow if he was just buzzed; say two beers, but he did have a smart mouth at all times.. real quick to jump in there with an opinion or share some knowledge. He was very well read & would drop some information of shit that you had no idea about & he'd just blow your mind. He ALWAYS had a book in his hands.

But, then you would get the kinda drunk Bradley & that one was pretty bad because he would become a real smart ass & an instigator, etc. It could get dangerous cause he would shoot his mouth off at people or chicks that were with other guys.. you know... Had to kinda watch your back.

Then, you had the DRUNK Bradley,(as opposed to the WASTED Bradley who would just pass out) and THAT'S where he made most of his enemies. He would become very belligerent and rude sometimes. Remember, we all had friends or a posse hanging out at all times so, shit would be handled if it went down, but he would just get rude mostly to chicks and also to guys who were posers & such & really become an asshole for no reason... just to be a "smart-ass" really but he would be wasted so it would come off wrong, ya know? Just, very little concern for others when he got drunk. Before they got "Big" locally (like in 95') he had all kinds of people who said he was an arrogant dick & hated him, but as soon as "sublime" became "THE BAND", all that shit went out the window & most everyone thought he was cool; even if he was hammered cause he was becoming a star. Close friends, though, just didn't deal with him when he was like that... even till the end.

So, all of this (above) is pretty much prior to any of his "hard" drug use. Around here, we all "tried" coke.. did a few lines (all we could afford! lol) in our teens but nothing drastic. Brad was like anyone else on Coke,.. talkative, fun, sporadic,.. erratic.. but still a cool guy. He'd just play guitar all night & we'd all just listen.

It was more so when Crack came in & then Speed that he started getting weird. Well, everybody got weird; especially on Speed. Crack was big in the early 90's around Long Beach and South Central... Compton, Watts Areas... which is right up the street from L.B. & the Crack was flowin' up there. Down South, like San Diego and shit, Speed was starting to be produced widely and brought up North. So, first we all started doing Crack & that was cheap & crazy cause we could get a bunch (with money from our parents) and do it and have a party... play music... whatever. But, after a while that shit took a hold of Brad and he would hole up on his own (or with his girl) and get high, not come around, be missing... blah blah blah. Those were bad times. So, the band and everyone talked to him & was like: "that shit is whack & it's too expensive & it makes you weird" so [from there] no one would pitch-in cause they didn't want Brad doing it.

He was very neurotic during that period & "introverted" would be an understatement.

Bro, the thing that you have to know about Brad is that he took EVERYTHING to the extreme. So, by the time everyone was "over" Crack, he was just starting to take it to another level. See?

So, as we all know, Crack became whack but Speed came on like a freight train. It was cheap, you got A LOT of it for your money, you could even make it yourself, you were never tired, etc. To us, it was just like the perfect drug in the beginning. When you're playing shows every night; sometimes driving for hours to get there, it's perfect & you can sleep all day, so when you get up, you just doing some dope & you're off and running again. BUT, it made people NUTS. Completely psychotic in some cases. At this time, Brad was extroverted but in a BAD way. Loud, Obnoxious, Mean, rude, just an asshole sometimes on that shit. It makes you edgy, irritable & in Brad's case, egotistical. He didn't really have a big ego when sober, he just knew he was good. But, when he was high on that shit, he [sometimes] thought he didn't even have to "play" to rule because his band was "sublime"... you know? He just didn't "care"... he didn't "give a shit" when he was strung out on that shit. AND, he got WAY too skinny. That period as well was kinda scary. He took that shit way too far as well.

This is a good example of what I'm talking about here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvSbZrhaCNI

Don't get me wrong,... he was,.. they WERE, the coolest & deserved to have an ego. Really, they did. For a long time, like 5 years in So. Cal, there was just NO ONE cooler than "sublime". But, at the same time, no one who was out in the audience knew that Brad was strung out so he came off as a pompous ass sometimes, you know? Like: "Who the fuck is this? We came to hear some music!"

Having said that, and looking at this clip now, what Brad does EVEN THERE is genius.

In any case, he did that shit till it drove him into the ground. It enlarged his heart & he had several either "heart attacks" or heart attack scares. At that time, he was both introverted and extroverted depending on the time of day, but mostly, he was just a mess during that period. (Like late 1992 through early 1994). He quit for a while and/or "tried" to quit, but instead he started his "1 year experiment" with heroin.

He started doing that shit for two reasons,... well, 3 really.

He would use it to come off of Speed.
He thought it would make him more creative
& It was widely available in L.B. after like 1990.

I don't really like to go into that period because we all know how that turned out, but during that time, you couldn't even "describe" him. He was all over the place. The mellowest, the meanest, the sickest, the funniest, entranced quite often-not there, persistent [in a bad way], evil, sad, miserable, disgraceful.... and all at the same time as being PURE Genius, a rising star, an awe inspiring performer... So, he became a living dichotomy . Almost a walking controdiction.

This is a period where he was neither extroverted or introverted; he was just "there". Like an exhibition of "good" and "evil" right there before you.

And, then,... he would quit. Then, it was the Brad that we all knew. No one "knew" him when he was on heroin; except for maybe Troy. He was just a weird heroin addict... again, extreme.

So, hard to explain, that I just don't try to.

But, then when Jake was born, we all thought he was done with that shit just like he did with Speed. He was just done. And, for a while, he did quit. He was "done". Until, he started using again. Then, he stopped and this time, EVERYONE would have bet that it was for good. He was marrying Troy, Jake was 1, etc. Believe me dude, most people thought those days were over & that he was finally done & was gonna grow up.

But, again, we all know how that turned out.

In any case, we can ALL be assholes & we all don't have to contend with fame, so who knows how WE'D act, but all in all, Brad was an Angel of a human being. When Brad was just being Brad, he was the most gentle, kind, caring, intelligent, brilliant, genius of a man that you'd ever hope to meet. If you knew him, you would see why he is THE example of why drugs are bad, evil, whatever because they possessed a brilliant soul & took him from this world FAR too early.

Sorry to go on for days Bro...

I hope this helps.

"All Sublime All The Time"

Peace,
GMan