Tim Nelson - Cub Scouts (15/08/2013)
Cub Scouts have just wrapped up playing to their biggest crowd at Splendour In The Grass and are now set to tackle Big Sound and supporting Jinja Safari on their national tour. We talked to lead singer, Tim about his love for Destiny’s Child, meeting James Blake and being mistaken for Flume.
Hi Tim, how are you going?
I’m pretty good, thank you.
That’s good, how’s your day been?
It’s been pretty good, I didn’t have work today so I was catching up on some admin work for the band and running some errands-it’s good to get stuff done.
Yeah, it’s good being productive, can I ask where you work?
I work at an orthodontic practice.
Awesome! It’s been a pretty big year for Cub Scouts especially in the past couple of weeks-playing at Splendour and 4 Walls festival. What’s been some of the highlights?
I think Splendour is one of my highlights of the whole year. It was awesome! It was the biggest crowd we’d ever played to, everyone was really into it-it was more than we expected. It was really fun.
I saw some of your photos from Splendour on you Twitter page, you met James Blake?!
Yeah it was pretty cool; we were just like sitting down with James Blake, his girlfriend and Theresa from Warpaint. Like, it was just mental. We met so many amazing people there!
Wow, and everyone was mates?
Yeah, everyone was really nice.
I read that you were mistaken as being Flume at one point?
Yeah, my cab driver. I was with my friend Ella and she said something about how I’d played at a festival and he [cab driver] was like ‘Oh, you’re Flume?’ or something. I was like ‘Noooo’, I told him I played in a band called Cub Scouts and he hadn’t heard of us, but he still wanted to get a photo in case. It was pretty funny.
You guys released your EP Paradise just over a week ago, have you been playing the new tracks live?
Yeah we’ve been playing the title track Paradise, and we’ve also been playing Pool and Sherbet off it as well.
How’s the crowd reception been for the new tracks?
Yeah, it’s been pretty good. I think Paradise has a different feel to a lot of our other songs. I think it breaks up the set nicely.
Speaking of breaking up the set, we know bands are notorious for playing covers-but you guys did something a little different. Am I right in saying you’re a big Destiny’s Child fan, Tim?
Yep, you’re right.
...and during your set you played a bit of a mash-up, can you tell us about that?
Yeah, it’s been a bit of an evolution. We started working on a cover of Jumpin’ Jumpin’ back on the tour with Ball Park Music last year, and we used to do it as our sound-check song and then about half way through the tour we were like, ‘let’s just throw it into the set’. So we started doing that, and then, it kind of ended up being a bit of a medley and then we started changing up the medley a little bit and the selection of songs in there. It’s a lot of fun to perform those songs that are a little different to our music.
Tim, you’ve featured on the ‘Band-Members-Drawn-Badly’ Tumblr. Is it safe to say that Cub Scouts have officially made it?
Yeah, cool. That’s a bit of a milestone isn’t it? It feels amazing. Zoe (bass) got drawn as well I’m pretty sure.
Your mate Beyonce is on there as well...
Oh, I’m so happy for her.
What’s next on the agenda for Cub Scouts?
We’ve got Big Sound in the middle of September and after that we are heading on tour with Jinja Safari which will be fun. We don’t really have any definite plans for the rest of the year, but I think we’ll probably put a bit of time into working on our debut album. So that will be cool.
What stage is the album at? Or is it still in its formative stage?
We’ve got quite a few songs that we’ve recorded that I think will probably feature on [the album]. It’s definitely already in the process of being put together, but it will be nice to focus on it and give it some more thought.
What have you got planned for your shows with Jinja Safari?
I think we’re going to work on some sort of medley or mash-up, whether that’s another Destiny’s Childs one or whether we work in some Alicia Keys...yeah we’ll see what happens. We’ll also be road-testing some songs for the album as well as playing songs off the new EP.
You’re lined to play at Bigsound, a huge music conference in your home town of Brisbane with over 120 acts playing. Who are you excited to see?
I think it will be really interesting to go to the session that Nick Cave is speaking at and as far as Bigsound live goes; I’m really excited to see Washington and see what her new music is like. It’s been a while now, and I know she’s recording her second album at the moment. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to that.
Cub Scouts always seem to be referred to as a ‘young’ band, can I ask how old you are?
Yep, I’m 22.
22? That’s not that young.
I know, I hate how old I am. I feel like I’m like middle age nearly. But everyone always thinks I’m 16 or something.
Maybe you just have a baby face?
Yeah maybe, I was a bit of a late bloomer.
You mentioned you’re keen on hearing new music from Washington, what else are you listening to at the moment?
I am listening to Snakadaktal’s new album heaps! It came out on Friday and it’s really beautiful, I love it.
Thanks for chatting with the 59th Sound, Tim. Good luck with the tour, the EP and everything else in the future.
Thanks heaps.
Samantha Caldone
Hi Tim, how are you going?
I’m pretty good, thank you.
That’s good, how’s your day been?
It’s been pretty good, I didn’t have work today so I was catching up on some admin work for the band and running some errands-it’s good to get stuff done.
Yeah, it’s good being productive, can I ask where you work?
I work at an orthodontic practice.
Awesome! It’s been a pretty big year for Cub Scouts especially in the past couple of weeks-playing at Splendour and 4 Walls festival. What’s been some of the highlights?
I think Splendour is one of my highlights of the whole year. It was awesome! It was the biggest crowd we’d ever played to, everyone was really into it-it was more than we expected. It was really fun.
I saw some of your photos from Splendour on you Twitter page, you met James Blake?!
Yeah it was pretty cool; we were just like sitting down with James Blake, his girlfriend and Theresa from Warpaint. Like, it was just mental. We met so many amazing people there!
Wow, and everyone was mates?
Yeah, everyone was really nice.
I read that you were mistaken as being Flume at one point?
Yeah, my cab driver. I was with my friend Ella and she said something about how I’d played at a festival and he [cab driver] was like ‘Oh, you’re Flume?’ or something. I was like ‘Noooo’, I told him I played in a band called Cub Scouts and he hadn’t heard of us, but he still wanted to get a photo in case. It was pretty funny.
You guys released your EP Paradise just over a week ago, have you been playing the new tracks live?
Yeah we’ve been playing the title track Paradise, and we’ve also been playing Pool and Sherbet off it as well.
How’s the crowd reception been for the new tracks?
Yeah, it’s been pretty good. I think Paradise has a different feel to a lot of our other songs. I think it breaks up the set nicely.
Speaking of breaking up the set, we know bands are notorious for playing covers-but you guys did something a little different. Am I right in saying you’re a big Destiny’s Child fan, Tim?
Yep, you’re right.
...and during your set you played a bit of a mash-up, can you tell us about that?
Yeah, it’s been a bit of an evolution. We started working on a cover of Jumpin’ Jumpin’ back on the tour with Ball Park Music last year, and we used to do it as our sound-check song and then about half way through the tour we were like, ‘let’s just throw it into the set’. So we started doing that, and then, it kind of ended up being a bit of a medley and then we started changing up the medley a little bit and the selection of songs in there. It’s a lot of fun to perform those songs that are a little different to our music.
Tim, you’ve featured on the ‘Band-Members-Drawn-Badly’ Tumblr. Is it safe to say that Cub Scouts have officially made it?
Yeah, cool. That’s a bit of a milestone isn’t it? It feels amazing. Zoe (bass) got drawn as well I’m pretty sure.
Your mate Beyonce is on there as well...
Oh, I’m so happy for her.
What’s next on the agenda for Cub Scouts?
We’ve got Big Sound in the middle of September and after that we are heading on tour with Jinja Safari which will be fun. We don’t really have any definite plans for the rest of the year, but I think we’ll probably put a bit of time into working on our debut album. So that will be cool.
What stage is the album at? Or is it still in its formative stage?
We’ve got quite a few songs that we’ve recorded that I think will probably feature on [the album]. It’s definitely already in the process of being put together, but it will be nice to focus on it and give it some more thought.
What have you got planned for your shows with Jinja Safari?
I think we’re going to work on some sort of medley or mash-up, whether that’s another Destiny’s Childs one or whether we work in some Alicia Keys...yeah we’ll see what happens. We’ll also be road-testing some songs for the album as well as playing songs off the new EP.
You’re lined to play at Bigsound, a huge music conference in your home town of Brisbane with over 120 acts playing. Who are you excited to see?
I think it will be really interesting to go to the session that Nick Cave is speaking at and as far as Bigsound live goes; I’m really excited to see Washington and see what her new music is like. It’s been a while now, and I know she’s recording her second album at the moment. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to that.
Cub Scouts always seem to be referred to as a ‘young’ band, can I ask how old you are?
Yep, I’m 22.
22? That’s not that young.
I know, I hate how old I am. I feel like I’m like middle age nearly. But everyone always thinks I’m 16 or something.
Maybe you just have a baby face?
Yeah maybe, I was a bit of a late bloomer.
You mentioned you’re keen on hearing new music from Washington, what else are you listening to at the moment?
I am listening to Snakadaktal’s new album heaps! It came out on Friday and it’s really beautiful, I love it.
Thanks for chatting with the 59th Sound, Tim. Good luck with the tour, the EP and everything else in the future.
Thanks heaps.
Samantha Caldone