Jesus at the Gay Bar is Cub Sport’s fifth LP and is about not only growing but thriving.
Following their 2020 release Like Nirvana, Cub Sport focused a lot of their energy on life’s complexities, particularly for the Queer community and the grappling with religious ideations. Jesus at the Gay Bar acts as a sequel to Like Nirvana as it travels from fear and uncertainty in search of comfort and bliss.
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Cub Sport was founded by Zoe Davis on the keyboard, bass guitar, lead guitar and vocals, Tim Nelson on lead vocals and keyboards, Sam “Bolan” Netterfield on keyboards and vocals as well as Dan Puusaari on drums. The album features Cub Sport’s iconic sound with a mixture of genres including house, two-step and UK garage. Cub Sport are known for their dreamy, retro-pop sound and this album combines a mix of dance tracks that meets the powerful ballad like Hold, Magic In U and Beg U.
The album features Shamir on High for The Summer, the perfect dance track about releasing inhibitions, and Yaya features Mallrat, an emotional and intimate track.
Jesus at the Gay Bar also speaks to Nelson and Netterfield’s love story, as the two have grown together not just as individuals, but as a couple. Married since 2018, some of their songs refer to the earlier struggles of their relationship that prohibited the two from sharing their love but now, just like the opening track Always Got The Love they are focused on celebration and euphoria.
Lead singer, Nelson says: “There’s a lot from my life before I came out that has always been shrouded in shame, fear and secrecy. But it doesn’t have to be a secret anymore, and I feel like I can really shine a light on the magic of it and recognise and celebrate for what it was and is.”
Nelson talks a lot about alleviating past feelings, growing up and falling in love but not knowing what to do with all of those feelings. Songs like Keep Me Safe and Zoom perfectly encapsulate this as the lyrics read “they’d hate that I dyed my hair black (hair black), went and got a girlfriend, just to throw them off track” and “someone said to me “push down that feeling, Baby,” that didn’t feel amazing.”
Cub Sport have been singing and performing their story for over a decade now and say that they will continue to do so. Replay and Songs About It are the perfect examples of this as Cub Sport write about where they were and where they are going singing, “I miss it, But I don’t want it back, It’s just a feeling.”
In the words of Nelson, “I think that’s the beauty of writing honestly about my own life – it all fits together and reveals a little bit more of this greater story that’s still playing out, from an ever-evolving perspective but with the same heart.”
You can see Cub Sport perform their new album Jesus at the Gay Bar live this September 8 at the Forum, tickets are available here.
