Cub Sport’s Tim Nelson: 'All I Wanted Was To Sing, Be With Sam, And Write Music'

Cub Sport are one of Australia's most successful and beloved pop bands. 

The Brisbane group initially formed as Tim Nelson & The Cub Scouts in 2010 as a vehicle for Nelson's solo music; they released their first self-titled EP that year. After a line-up change in 2011, the band changed their name to Cub Scouts. The single Evie came out in 2011, and Do You Hear in 2012; both received high rotation airplay on triple j. Their six-track second EP, Told You So, was released in October 2012.

The band changed their name for the final time to Cub Sport in August 2013 after a legal injunction from Scouts Australia. In 2014, Cub Sport became a four piece: vocalist Tim Nelson, Sam "Bolan" Netterfield on keyboards and backing vocals, Zoe Davis taking keyboards, lead guitar, and backing vocals, and drummer Dan Puusaari.

Cub Sport released their debut album, This Is Our Vice, in March 2016. The record was produced by John Castle (Meg Washington, Vance Joy). The third single from the album, Come On Mess Me Up, landed at #24 on the triple j Hottest 100 that year. Cub Sport opened for The 1975's massive arena tour across Australia in July 2016, a time that Nelson describes as "life-changing".

"I came out just before we played those shows, and it was the first time I'd ever sung on a mic without playing guitar or keyboard. I think I've always been so scared of showing myself to people," Nelson shares after visiting his Nana for her 100th birthday. "I just got back from doing a little performance at the old folks home; I did a cover of You Are My Sunshine by Nana's request, and it went off! They were all singing along and everything."

Nelson stopped hiding for the first time during the shows opening for The 1975. "I remember thinking that if I can come out and tell people that I'm gay… that had always been my biggest fear. I was like, if I can do that, then surely being like a front person will be easy. Like, I don't need to be scared of that anymore.

"When we played Come On Mess Me Up at those shows, I was on the mic up the front. At those shows, I was putting my hand up in the air, and that was the first time I'd ever done that on stage. That was a huge thing for me. Those shows really inspired me to keep pushing myself further," he says.

Touring with The 1975 also gave Nelson and Netterfield their first taste of "stan culture". "The 1975 have such an incredible fanbase. The fans started following us on socials and figured out that Sam and I were together when we hadn't actually come out and told anyone that we were together. They were like detectives," he tells. But the fans were elated that this was a genuine, beautiful relationship, and not one of wish-fulfilment - Nelson and Netterfield are now married, after all. "I remember seeing tweets about how it's like the Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson ship - there are all of those conspiracies and fanfiction and people being like, 'It's like that, but like, it's actually real,'" Nelson laughs.

Cub Sport released the club-ready banger, Replay two weeks ago. An energetic track, Replay signifies a shift in songwriting Nelson has wanted to explore for a while. "It was my vision for the next era to find a way to keep capturing the heart and emotion that has come to define Cub Sport, but also find a way to bring a bit more joy and something more uplifting to it," he says, satisfied with the direction of the band. "I think Replay is one of those songs that sits exactly in that spot for me."

Replay was written with Aussie producer Styalz Fuego (real name Kaelyn Behr), who also produced the song and has worked alongside Imagine Dragons, Khalid, Troye Sivan, Tate McRae, and more renowned modern pop and alternative artists. "We had two days scheduled in the studio, and all the writing on Replay was the first thing we did," Nelson confirms. It wasn't long until the group and Fuego began working on more music together. "Working with a producer like Styalz is just amazing. We worked on something, and it sounded like world-class music.

"I found it a bit more challenging to sing just because it's melodically in a new space. Replay is in this middle space that's half falsetto, half chest voice," he shares, and you can hear that singing style in the track. Now that Cub Sport have performed the song live a bunch of times, it's become second nature.

Earlier this year, the band released their first song in almost two years, Always Got The Love, which was co-written and co-produced by KLLO's Simon Lam. On Nelson's goal of achieving "emotional purity" with the song, he says, "I think you have to be very open, receptive and honest with yourself about how you feel." He adds, "There have been a lot of songs that I've written over the last couple of years that have been left aside. And my reasoning is that something about a song didn't feel as pure or aligned, or the energy didn't fit that uplifting, energetic feeling I've been envisioning for this next era. Always Got The Love had that purity and fitted into how I wanted this next era to feel."

Nelson can't confirm what Cub Sport are planning for 2023 just yet, but there will be new music and a lot of shows.

Some of the new music on the way reflects on the days when Netterfield and Nelson started dating as teenagers. "Our relationship was very secret, and I definitely held a lot of shame around that. It was like this perfect little world, just for the two of us. But the idea of anyone else finding out about it was my worst nightmare," Nelson admits. He is now in a place where he's separated far enough from those memories and can mine them for art that can help others.

"There have been a lot of experiences and emotions that I never really felt like I could share, and I think at the time, I probably didn't recognise just how important and special it was as my first-ever relationship," he continues. Nelson didn't have a reference point for what relationships were supposed to feel like, so he assumed that the shame and confusion were par for the course with any romantic relationship.

Now, though? "Oh my god, we're soulmates," Nelson laughs. "I didn't even understand it at the time; I've gone back and tapped into things I avoided talking about. I feel like I'm finally shedding light and celebrating the beauty of that time.

"There is some really special stuff on the way in that world. Other big things have been happening in my life over the last couple of years that I've also been writing about. So, our songs will span a decade and fill in little gaps in the story that's been told over our last four albums. It feels like an evolution into the future of Cub Sport."

A musical and personal hero of Nelson's released a project that spanned decades recently. Darren Hayes released his fifth record, Homosexual, last month and explored the memories of 10 and 12-year-old Darren in the album highlight, Music Video. Cub Sport worked with the retired-at-the-time Savage Garden singer on their 2019 track; I Never Cried So Much In My Whole Life.

"It was one of those things where I was like, 'I can't believe that this is happening,'" Nelson starts with a smile, recounting how Hayes followed him back on Twitter. In 2016, Nelson asked Hayes if he'd like to collaborate with Cub Sport, but Hayes wasn't working in the studio.

A few years later, Nelson reached out again when the band were working on I Never Cried So Much In My Whole Life. "I sent it to him and asked if he would want to feature on it, and he said that the song made him cry, and he was super keen to do it," Nelson says. "I'll never forget getting the recording of him singing sent to us. We were on tour in Europe, driving to Paris, and I put the song on the AUX and listened to it in the van. It was one of those moments where I was like, 'How is this real? How is this our life?'"

There's one song that Nelson recently wrote that made him bawl his eyes out immediately after listening to the demo. Things have changed gradually in his life, but life is pretty beautiful at present. 

"Sometimes, I just can't believe that all of my dreams I had at 17 have happened," he says. "All I wanted was to sing, be with Sam, and write music, and I had no idea if any of those things would actually happen. It's been really special to relive these moments. I'm not necessarily reliving the trauma of those times, but looking back and celebrating something that I didn't realise at the time should be celebrated."

Stay tuned for more Cub Sport music and upcoming shows.