New York Disco Clubs and Riding Motorbikes with Cub Sport
Cub Sport have become known for their powerful, must-see live show and their ardent fanbase, as well as ARIA Platinum-and Gold-certified singles like “Come On Mess Me Up,” “Chasin,” and “Sometimes.” Prolific and profoundly influential, Cub Sport are one of Australia’s most significant pop exports. They recently released their new single and music video for “Always Got The Love” last week.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What is the inspiration behind your newest single “Always Got The Love?”
[CUB SPORT:] I wanted to create something that felt euphoric. Sam and I went on a road trip in early 2021 and we had this magical afternoon at one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, ‘Hyam Beach.’ I just felt really good and I was like ‘I wanna capture how I feel right now in a song’ and a month later I ended up doing that with “Always Got The Love.”
[UNPUBLISHED:] What do you want listeners to feel when they listen to your new song?
[CUB SPORT:] I want them to feel good and feel uplifted. I hope it makes people wanna move.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What was the process like for making this song?
[CUB SPORT:] On March 23, 2021 (the day after Sam’s bday) we flew from Meanjin (Brisbane) to Naarm (Melbourne) for my first ever session with one of my fav producers Simon Lam. I was a bit sleep-deprived and I think that almost gave me this super-clarity in a way. Lana Del Rey had just released Chemtrails over the Country Club and I was so obsessed with her super breathy vocals on “White Dress” and that lead to me trying my own breathy falsetto in the choruses. The song just flowed and at the end of the session Simon and I were kind of like ‘wow… this is really good.’ We kept working meticulously on the production for over a year after that first session. The demo had a midi piano in it so Dan and I re-recorded those parts on my piano at home, Zo recorded backing vox in the second verse/pre-chorus too - there were a bunch of little tweaks along the way that took it from feeling really good to feeling perfect. Earlier this year we sent it to Andrew Dawson for mixing and it really reached a new level. I remember getting the first mix when we were at the Brisbane airport and I was just floored, I think I listened to it on repeat for basically that whole flight.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How do you think your sound has evolved from when you first started making music?
[CUB SPORT:] It’s evolved so much it’s kind of hard to cover the whole journey succinctly but I’d say the sonic evolution is kind of intertwined with personal evolution and the music has always been a reflection of what I needed to hear at different times in my life.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I loved the video, do you have any favorite scenes you shot for it?
[CUB SPORT:] Thank you! I’m so proud of it. The scenes where I’m riding on the back of the motorbike were really fun - it was was my first time on an actual motorbike! It was wild actually - we had a police escort who cut off traffic on a semi-major highway/bypass in Brisbane so we could get the shots. When I was editing the video, later on, a bunch of the shots were not useable ‘cause I had this stupid little smile - turns out the helmet visor was much more transparent than I thought.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What was the inspiration behind the video?
[CUB SPORT:] I’ve always been obsessed with pop music videos from the late 90s/early 00s and I wanted to move in that direction visually. I was really inspired by photos from New York Disco clubs in the 1970s as well as Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus which inspired the giant shell set design
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any favorite lyrics from this song?
[CUB SPORT:] I think ‘riding on the highway, my hand on your thigh, feels so right’ is really nice. It paints a picture of something simple that stands for something much bigger
[UNPUBLISHED:] What artists do you draw inspiration from?
[CUB SPORT:] For the music I’ve been working on recently… Fred Again, Kaytranada, The Blaze, Charli XCX, Britney Spears, Jayda G, Robyn, Dua Lipa, Rosalia, Calvin Harris, Bladee, and Daniel Bedingfield.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What artists are you currently listening to?
[CUB SPORT:] Mallrat, Phoebe Go, Bladee, Charli XCX, The Blaze, Rosalia, and King Princess.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have anything in the works, any future projects, or anything you’re excited about and want to tease?
[CUB SPORT:] There’s lots in the works but nothing I can say much about right now!
Photo by Mia Rankin