We had the pleasure of interviewing Cub Sport over Zoom video! Check out their latest album 'LIKE NIRVANA' at https://ffm.to/likenirvana Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠 “I’m prepared to tell everybody everything.” This statement from Cub Sport bandleader and songwriter Tim Nelson, so clear-eyed and headstrong in its intent, is at the heart of the beloved Brisbane four-piece’s new album. Across the course of three beautiful and increasingly complex records, Nelson has made sunny, bright-eyed love songs and neon-tinted daydreams of love, desire, and friendship. LIKE NIRVANA, the band’s upcoming fourth record, embraces every side of Nelson: the angelic lightness as well as the multiplicitous, haunted darkness. It recasts them and their bandmates — multi-instrumentalists Zoe Davis, Sam Netterfield, and Dan Puusaari — as fearless innovators, experimentalists willing to blow up everything about the Cub Sport of old in order to create this dazzling and daring new chapter. http://www.cubsport.com/ https://www.instagram.com/cubsport/ https://twitter.com/cubsportmusic https://www.facebook.com/CubSport/ We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #foryou #foryoupage #stayhome #togetherathome #zoom #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwork
We had the pleasure of interviewing Cub Sport over Zoom video!
Check out their latest album 'LIKE NIRVANA' at https://ffm.to/likenirvana
Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠
“I’m prepared to tell everybody everything.” This statement from Cub Sport bandleader and songwriter Tim Nelson, so clear-eyed and headstrong in its intent, is at the heart of the beloved Brisbane four-piece’s new album. Across the course of three beautiful and increasingly complex records, Nelson has made sunny, bright-eyed love songs and neon-tinted daydreams of love, desire, and friendship. LIKE NIRVANA, the band’s upcoming fourth record, embraces every side of Nelson: the angelic lightness as well as the multiplicitous, haunted darkness. It recasts them and their bandmates — multi-instrumentalists Zoe Davis, Sam Netterfield, and Dan Puusaari — as fearless innovators, experimentalists willing to blow up everything about the Cub Sport of old in order to create this dazzling and daring new chapter.
We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com
www.BringinitBackwards.com
American Songwriter Podcast Network
#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #foryou #foryoupage #stayhome #togetherathome #zoom #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwork
0 (5s):
1 (27s):
American songwriter. We had the chance to talk to Tim Nelson of the band Cubs sport.
0 (33s):
We'll talk to Tim over zoom video, check out Cubs, sports, new album. Like
1 (38s):
You can watch the video on our YouTube channel and Facebook page app, bringing it backwards and follow us on Instagram and Twitter at bringing back pod.
0 (49s):
I appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts,
1 (55s):
We're bringing it backwards with Tim of Cub sport. Hello. Hey, what's going on? Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Perfect. I love your lighting. It looks great. Yeah. So how are you?
2 (1m 12s):
Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. I just woke up probably about 45 minutes ago, having feeling good. Where are you in the world? I am in Brisbane in Australia, on the East coast. Very cool. What time is it? There it is 9:30 AM.
1 (1m 31s):
Wow. Well, thanks again for doing this. We really appreciate it. Our podcast is of course our podcast is about your journey in the music industry and forming Cub sport and how you kinda got to where you are today. Cool. Cool. Yeah. So are you born and raised in Brisbane?
2 (1m 55s):
Pretty much. I was actually born in New Zealand in a town called Deneden and my family moved to Brisbane when I was like six weeks old. And I've been here ever since, so yeah, pretty much born and raised in Brisbane. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah.
1 (2m 14s):
How did you get into music originally?
2 (2m 17s):
My mom played the piano and a bit of guitar when I was little and I used to really love that. So when I was like six, I think she said I could get piano lessons too, if I wanted to. And so I started and yeah, I just got really obsessed with, I guess, learning piano. And around the same time, I got really obsessed with like pop music and watching rage, which is kind of like, it was like MTV here in Australia. Like the free MTV.
1 (2m 52s):
I remember I've seen the name like on YouTube and stuff like videos. I'll see it.
2 (2m 59s):
Yeah. And then I kind of just, I played piano that all through school and then I started singing when I was like 14 and then I started writing songs and then, yeah, I've kind of just never stopped.
1 (3m 15s):
Wow. So 14 you're writing songs. Did you start like a band or anything in school?
2 (3m 21s):
Yeah. I had a band with a few of my friends, I think went on it's like 15 or something, but like, we didn't actually do anything. We like played songs together, but never had like a gig or anything. Sure.
1 (3m 40s):
When was the first time that you had it, like a giggle is your first experience of playing music in front of people or stuff that you've written?
2 (3m 49s):
I played at the fundraiser and yeah, I think, I think I was 17 and that was the first time that I'd like played my own songs in front of people and yeah, I, and I play, I remember playing an image and hate cover at that as well. But then my first time playing, like with the band that we have now was at this little venue called the hive here in Brisbane and it doesn't exist anymore, but it's just like this tiny little room at a PC YC.
2 (4m 32s):
It was like a gym that had like an upstairs room that had gigs in it sometimes. But yeah, we played our first show. The, it would have been like 11 years ago or something now. Oh my gosh. Wow.
1 (4m 50s):
And how did you meet the people that you ended up forming your bandwidth originally?
2 (4m 55s):
Well, Sam and I went to school together. We were in the same grade and Zoe was in the grade below us at the same school and yeah, my brother and Zoe's brother were best friends. So we, like, we knew of each other, but we weren't actually friends until after school. We started playing music together. And when you Dan through other school friends, so all kind of just through high school and high school friends. Wow.
1 (5m 26s):
And then you wrote like a solo record, right? In the beginning. It started just as Tim Nelson and the Cub Scouts, right?
2 (5m 35s):
Yeah. So that was, that was like the same people. There were a couple more of us back then, but Zoe, Dan and I were all there on that AP and then, yeah, we like, we released stuff first official AP in 2012 and we changed our name from Tim Nelson and the Cub Scouts to just Cub Scouts. And then the next year we released another AP and Scouts, Australia told us that we needed to take the word scout out of our next name.
1 (6m 12s):
That's funny. So they, they actually, you guys got, you know, started getting enough attention to where the Scouts of Australia had to shut you down.
2 (6m 24s):
Yeah. I think we were like the top Google result in Australia or something. Oh, really? Hmm. So then we changed the name to Cubs sport and then we, we put out our first release as Cubs sport, like our debut album in 2016.
1 (6m 42s):
Wow. So not too long ago then. Wow. Okay. So, so you put out the first CP release was just yourself and the Cub Scouts was the original one. Then you just went by the Cub Scouts, how to change your name. And then you put out your first full leg as Cubs sport. And what has this all been done independently or did you have like a record label? Like, tell me how about how you kind of were able to sort stuff out with the, with the Scouts Australia.
2 (7m 21s):
So we put out the, the first couple of EPS independently and we were self managed at the very start and then brought on management around the time of the second AP. So we had, we had like a legal team and managers who helped us navigate the, the situation with Scouts Australia. And then we signed a record deal shortly after that. And that was like the label that we put out our first album through. And then, yeah, we kind of felt really strongly that for our second album, we should go back to being self managed and put it out throughout our own label.
2 (8m 14s):
Cause in 2016, Sam and I both came out as queer and admitted that we were in love with each other. And I kind of been writing about that whole situation through throughout those years. Cause there was, there were a lot of delays of putting the debut album out. So I actually wrote most of that in like 2014 and then through 2015 and 2016, I was like slowly coming to terms with the fact that I was in love with Sam. And we, we grew up in like pretty religious households, like went to Christian school and everything.
2 (8m 57s):
So there was a lot of internalized homophobia and just a lot of fear and shame around that to work through. So I was kind of like coming to terms with that and writing all about it. I thought I was being, I thought I was keeping it under wraps, but Sam is like, I was like hearing the songs you're writing and like he knew exactly what was going on. So then he, he like finally brought it up with me and we were like, yeah. Okay. Let's let's be together. So yeah, I was like, it was that second album kind of like told all my dogs just come down here,
1 (9m 41s):
My dog's in the other room.
2 (9m 43s):
Okay. But yeah, so that second album just like, it felt so personal and like so important to us. And so we really felt like we needed to kind of like hand pick the team that we were going to be working on it with. And so we kind of went back to it being just us and then started breaching out to publicists and we managed to pull together like a really amazing team who understood our vision. And yeah, we've kind of, we've been releasing through our label Cubs for records ever since and still self-managed very cool.
2 (10m 29s):
Wow. What a,
1 (10m 30s):
I'm sure that had to be a pretty amazing moment once you finally, like, you know, were able to talk to Sam and get everything out there and how you both kind of felt the same way. That's pretty, that's really surreal. I mean, what, what are the odds? You know what I mean? That's pretty, yeah.
2 (10m 48s):
That's cool. Yeah. It's quite incredible. And then we got married like two years ago. Oh, wow. Congratulations. Thank you. And so then our third album was kind of, I was kind of riding that throughout the time that we got engaged and they were like, it kind of felt like HubSpot was starting to like take off in a way that it hadn't really done before. And that was kind of like more waves starting to, to internationally pretty regularly. And yeah. That's and then, yeah. Now we're about to put out the fourth, fourth album
1 (11m 32s):
Between the first album you said was out on a label and then the second record bats, that's the one that you were kind of writing about Sam kind of, and he was kind of figuring it out at that point. Yeah. Okay. And then Cubs, the self-titled record was the first one. That was, that was the, the change is that you said?
2 (11m 55s):
Yeah, it was like that, that was the first album that I'd written entirely on the other side of coming out. So I think I went into writing all those songs kind of feeling just like a lot more free. And I think I, I held like a lot less fear around what people were thinking of me and that kind of thing.
1 (12m 22s):
And with like, what was the term, do you know, can you pinpoint like a specific, like turning point in the band, like where you saw, you know, real change in like popularity or streams or people coming to your shows?
2 (12m 39s):
Yeah, we've kind of, it feels like every album has kind of had like a song or a moment that has sort of, it's just, it feels like it's been like a pretty steady build on our first album. We had a song called comma mess me up that we put out as the third single. And that was kind of against the advice of our team that we had around us at the time. But it was a song that we felt very passionately about and the label, I wouldn't release any funds to do a music video. It kind of felt like everyone was like, this is done dislike, forget about it.
2 (13m 22s):
Right. So we made a music video for, with one of our friends, Joe, and we just shot it in our living room. I think we spent like a hundred dollars on hiring lights and that was like, that was the video. But we put that up a couple of months after the album came out and it had been pretty quiet, like in the lead up to the album and the album coming out. But when we put out that video, the song got added to triple J Alec national youth broadcaster here in Australia. And it really connected with a lot of people and it ended up getting into triple J's hottest 100 of that year, which is kind of like, it had always been a dream for us, but always felt kind of impossible with the, with our situation.
2 (14m 19s):
But yeah, people started coming to our shows here in Australia and that kind of felt like the first sort of breakthrough. And then on our second album, like it was about a year after we had put the album out, we made a music video for one of the songs called Hawaiian party with YouTube is Ethan and Grayson Dolan. So they, we didn't realize that they're like, they'd been Cubs sport fans for awhile and they yeah, one day Grayson DMD me and I like, I hadn't heard of them yet.
2 (15m 4s):
I think I had like seen them on, like my I'd seen them on social. It's like popping up and stuff, but I didn't really know like what they did or anything. And yeah. Then we invited them along to our LA show. And I kind of, before we played one of our songs off that's called crush, I kind of like told Sam's and my story cause the song crush is about like the night that we finally had the conversation and they were really inspired by that and wrote this idea for a music video that was kind of like three couples.
2 (15m 44s):
And it's like all about like inclusivity and love is love. And yeah, so we shot that music video for the song Hawaiian party and it, like, it kind of like exploded it, it got like, I think like 3 million views in the first day. And we were in like the billboard, like next big sound chart or something. And it was like chatting. It was in like the viral fifties on Spotify, like all around the world and like in the iTunes charts and stuff. And we saw a huge spike, you know, without like socials and sort of things.
2 (16m 24s):
So that was a pretty huge moment for us, especially in the us, but yeah. And then, and then we put out our third album and kind of like just off the back of that, cause I sort of, I had it ready to go and we'd go out, we'd kind of wrapped up the bats album campaign and then the Hawaiian potty video happened and it kind of just like boosted things to a whole new level.
1 (16m 50s):
He kept it going, kept that second record kind of going, wow. And it was that, how did you get like what, when was the first time you guys toured and stuff like outside of Australia?
2 (17m 5s):
So in 2016 we did a us tour and we played some shows in the UK as well. Again, that was kind of against the advice of our team. They're like, you've got nothing going on. Like it's a waste of money. So they, they didn't want to release out to a fund. So we just like paid for it ourselves. Oh my gosh. And then it was at the end of that, to that it was like the last night of that tour when Sam and I finally had the conversation. Oh cool.
2 (17m 46s):
We were in Vancouver. Yeah. Yeah. So it kind of, there have been a few moments like that where we've sort of just had to like keep believing in ourselves and like follow up and yeah, it hasn't really let us down so far. That's good.
1 (18m 9s):
When you toured here in the States, did you, like, how would you, how'd you put that tour together? Did you have another band you were going with or like how would you put a whole different,
2 (18m 20s):
We have, we have, we'd had a booking agent in the U S I came on board around the time of our second EAP and yeah, he's like, he's always been a big champion of ours. And so when we said that we wanted to do this tour, he was like, yeah. And like booked it. And it was kind of a mixture of like club shows, support slots, and just like some little headline shows as well. Wow. That's cool here in the United States. No, we played at CMJ in 2013, so yeah.
2 (19m 7s):
And we did, we played a couple of shows on the East coast and the West coast. I think it was like a four or five date kind of like just one off shows in 2014 just after we signed with the label. Cool. Yeah. So we've kind of been like in and out, but then from 2016, like two of the U S twice in 2018, and then again in 2019 and we would have just finished another us two. And now if it hadn't happened,
1 (19m 45s):
Was this record, like, did you record this record? Was it any different than the first or the previous albums?
2 (19m 55s):
It was a little, yeah. I, I wrote and recorded most of it, like right here in this for. Oh really? Yeah.
1 (20m 4s):
What about the previous albums? Were they done in India?
2 (20m 8s):
Kind of like half he, and then half with one of my friends. Who's a producer here in Brisbane as well, but yeah, I guess the period that I wrote this album through was full of nonstop touring and promo and stuff. And so it was sort of like the, the moments that we had at home was kind of like, it was kinda my way of processing everything that was happening and kind of like trying to stay connected with myself through, I feel like I was borderline like burnt out and we had kind of just been like going as hard as we could for years.
2 (20m 57s):
I think after we had the delays, putting out our first album, when we were with a label since then, we've just been like, well now where in control of the timeline. And like, we've got this music here that we want to put out and just like keep going. And so I feel like, yeah, this, this album, it's funny. Cause it's like, I guess when you're a musician writing and recording music is like part of your job, but it also kind of becomes a way for me to like process and deal with and like, yeah, it's like, it's like my it's like my release as well as being my work, which is like kind of weird, but yeah, so that is kind of like my release for like everything that was happening and kind of like staying, staying connected.
1 (21m 57s):
Nice. Nice. And the first that you've put out two songs so far from the, from the record, right dry
2 (22m 5s):
Three, three now three fashions drive. And I feel like I am changing.
1 (22m 12s):
Well, the first one you put out was confessions. Why was that the first single you chose? Do you remember?
2 (22m 22s):
I think I was just so excited for people to like hear such a different sound from us. I was one of the last songs that I wrote that went on the album. I think I've read it in like November last year. And that was one where I was just feeling kind of like weird and frustrated and I think like burnt out and kind of just a bit disconnected. And I couldn't, couldn't quite figure out why I was feeling like that.
2 (23m 2s):
And then I was in here recording and then I was just holding this mic like this and kind of just like S like saying and singing, like whatever popped into my head. And then when I listened back to, I realized that I would like perfectly articulated all the things that were kind of like making me not feel good, like all the things that I was too scared to like really admit to myself or say out loud. So it felt like a huge release to me and like sonically, it just like excites me so much.
2 (23m 46s):
There's like a section at the end that kind of gets pretty like abrasive and chaotic, but it's like, it's still really beautiful. Like it's got like these like really lovely organs and Samso though. And I recorded like choir pots through that. So I feel like it's, yeah, it's just like really exciting to me. And that was one song that I like just couldn't wait for people to heal.
1 (24m 15s):
Awesome. Very cool. So how, like, I know you said you were supposed to be on tour for the new record. Like have you guys been doing anything like the Instagram live stuff? Are you doing any of that?
2 (24m 29s):
Yeah, we did quite a few of those towards the start of the isolation period and were working on kind of like a higher production live video playing the album start to finish. So, yeah, so we're shooting that next week. We, we like didn't think that we'd be playing the songs live for quite a while. And then a couple of weeks ago we decided that we wanted to do the live album video start to finish. And so we've spent the last few weeks learning how to play the album live.
2 (25m 10s):
And it's really exciting. Like it feels incredible playing the songs live. So it's just making me so excited for when we can actually like play shows. But in the meantime, I think like doing this live video is going to be really fun.
1 (25m 27s):
That's cool. That is cool. I know it's, I mean, obviously nobody imagined we'd be in this situation that we are in, but I feel like because it's going on so long, it's like even our docs are kind of getting burnt out on doing the, the live videos, you know, it's like you got to even expand your creativity and the next step further, because it's like, what's next? You know, it's crazy. Lots of adjustments. Oh yeah. Does that, I mean, you, I know you guys already pushed the record back, but are you okay with releasing it during the quarantine?
2 (26m 7s):
Yeah, I like, I feel like now is the right time for it. Like once we made the decision to push it back to July 24, cause it was originally coming out around the start of may. And I think we made the decision just a couple of weeks out to push it back. And I like, felt like peaceful about that. And now that it's like getting towards the time, like I'm feeling like more excited about the album, then I have the whole time and I'm just like, it just feels like it is the right time.
1 (26m 42s):
Awesome. Really exciting. So about two weeks now, the new, the new record will be out. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today. I really appreciate it. Yeah. I have one more question. I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists,
0 (27m 1s):
I would say always follow your gut. And I would just always make sure that you're making something that you love and that you believe in, because I feel like if you're doing that, then you can't fail because if you're creating something that