Tim Nelson of Cub Sport on their new album 'J at the Gay Bar' : NPR

Contents:

• J AT THE GAY BAR
• J AT THE GAY BAR
• J AT A GAY BAR
• WHY QUEER BAND CUB SPORT DROPPED 'J AT THE GAY BAR' ON GOOD FRIDAY: 'IT ULD BE READ AS PROVOTIVE/NTROVERSIAL AND I'D BE LYG IF I SAID I DIDN'T LIKE THAT'
• THE 17-YEAR-OLD & THE GAY BAR
• HOW THE IMAGE OF J AT A GAY BAR HELPED ATRALIAN BAND CUB SPORT TELL THEIR STORY
• TIM NELSON OF CUB SPORT ON THEIR NEW ALBUM 'J AT THE GAY BAR'
• J AT THE GAY BAR
• J AT THE GAY BAR
• TRACK BY TRACK: CUB SPORT BREAK DOWN ‘J AT THE GAY BAR’
• J AT THE GAY BAR WAS FED A FIRE OF RELIGN AND LOVE — FOR BOTH OTHERS AND ONELF
• J AT THE GAY BAR
• SUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"J AT THE GAY BAR","SCRIPTN":"ALSO, ATRALIA DAY: A TANGLED RELIG BACKDROP","IMAGE":[{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":"}],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2023-01-26T11:50:57+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2023-01-26T11:50:57+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"ROHAN SALMOND","URL":","SCRIPTN":"WR ABOUT RELIGN, POPULAR CULTURE AND THE TER.","INTIFIER":"ER:10924446","SAMEAS":["],"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"MORN RELICS","URL":","SCRIPTN":"ARTEFACTS FOUND AT THE CROSSROADS OF RELIGN, POPULAR CULTURE AND THE TER.","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":100},"INTIFIER":"PUB:366977","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"SAMEAS":["]}}SHARE THIS POSTJ AT THE GAY COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERJ AT THE GAY BAR
• CUB SPORT’S TIM NELSON TALKS NEW ALBUM ‘J AT THE GAY BAR’ AND “PHORIC BUT PLITED” SGLE ‘KEEP ME SAFE’

J AT THE GAY BAR

After ‘The Backwater Sermons’ me out, this poem om , ‘J at the Gay Bar’, went a b viral, so I thought I’d share some of the basic theology behd poem que obvly riffs off of the below sectn of Mark 5, drawg a parallel between the unnamed woman the passage, and queer people - more particularly, the "boy" the poem, a young LGBT man stgglg wh his queerns, and, is suggted, stgglg wh how that rencil wh his fah. J at the Gay BarBy Jay Hulme. No matter what others tell you that you should be, remember, you are who you are bee God created you that way, whether that is gay or straight, cisgenr or transgenr, male or female, or any of the lors of the rabow, God created you that way.

It happens to be one of my favore morn gay art piec. [POEM] J at the Gay Bar by Jay Hulme.

The rerd, J at the Gay Bar, is named after a work by transgenr performance poet Jay Hulme, and Cub Sport sger-songwrer Tim Nelson — who has procsed much of his childhood relig trma through his mic — tells Yahoo Entertament that readg Hulme’s poem was a lightng-bolt moment for him. “Basilly, tells a story of J partyg at a gay bar, and there's a boy that up to J and wants to touch his robe to be healed.

J AT THE GAY BAR

In a recent Instagram post featurg Hulme’s poetic words juxtaposed wh some trolls’ cel ments (albe not the ments emed particularly “serly sry and vlent”), Nelson clared: “I’m fully aware that the name and release date of our new album J at the Gay Bar uld be read as provotive/ntroversial and I’d be lyg if I said I didn’t like that.

”Here's quick look back at that path, which ultimately led to the exultant J at the Gay Bar: Soulmat/bandmat Nelson and Netterfield met at their extremely relig Pentestal Christian school 20 years ago, secretly dated durg their senr year, broke up, and then formed Cub Sport. However, was only 2016 that they officially me out to each other, to their fay, to their fans, and to the world — when they fally procsed both the external and ternalized homophobia they’d grappled wh most of their liv, realized that they were eply love, and cid to be together.

J AT A GAY BAR

The two married 2018, shortly after gay marriage was legalized their native album the Cub Sport disgraphy — om This Is Our Vice, whose lead sgle “Come on Ms Me Up” was hdsight the still-closeted Nelson’s sperate msage to Netterfield, through 2020’s Like Nirvana, which was led by the thartic, stream-of-nsc epic “Confsns” — has chronicled the band’s journey of self-disvery. (Another member, multi-stmentalist Zoe Davis, is also gay and om a relig background, and she too me out relatively recently. ) And J at the Gay Bar is Cub Sport’s most celebratory and revelatory release yet, tly the sound of J partyg at a gay bar — the bt possible is how clearly livg his bt life: Cub Sport are about to play Los Angel’s Outloud Pri ncert wh none other than Grace Jon, for stance.

I felt like was God's cisn that beg gay was wrong, basilly, rather than realizg that 's a group of people's terpretatn of somethg that's been mis-translated however many other harmful stuff were you tght — stuff that you had to unlearn? There was a lot of homophobia, and was que misogynistic too, which was always very sry. A lot of people kd of stayed the bubble, but there were a lot of people who had to reckon wh so much shame — not jt gay people, but women beg told that if they had sex before marriage, no one's gog to want them and they're like an unwrapped prent.

But you both spent so many years nyg and supprsg your te feelgs for each other, prumably due to your doctratn, there was a teacher at the school who told some clearly gay stunts: “Don't do .

WHY QUEER BAND CUB SPORT DROPPED 'J AT THE GAY BAR' ON GOOD FRIDAY: 'IT ULD BE READ AS PROVOTIVE/NTROVERSIAL AND I'D BE LYG IF I SAID I DIDN'T LIKE THAT'

”One of the songs on J at the Gay Bar, “Zoom, ” seems to touch on that, when you sg, “I kd of wanna my life…”Y, that was how felt — like, “If I give to this, I'm gog to everythg. I image you get a lot of msag om your fans, the Cubbi, sayg you’ve done jt 've had untls msag om people, om somethg as simple as “You've ma me feel more fortable wh who I am bee of seeg you two” or “I had the nfince to tell my parents that I'm gay bee of you, ” to people sayg, “Your mic has lerally saved my life.

THE 17-YEAR-OLD & THE GAY BAR

The school I went to would never acknowledge , but I thk they're still jt so homophobic and backward that they would rather jt turn away om . But other than that, Northsi Christian College gets not a good word om, you were tght daily lsons there about homosexualy supposedly beg a s. Do you feel any closure wh J at the Gay Bar?

But I feel on the other si of wrg that album, I released myself om a lot of that heavs, and wh J at the Gay Bar, I was fally ready to wre the phoric album that I'd been wantg to — but jt wasn't ready to wre terview has been eded for brevy and more om Yahoo Entertament:Cub Sport and the greatt g out story ever told: 'We were secretly love, but nng away om 'Savage Garn's Darren Hay on his difficult, closeted '90s: 'I was tryg to be outed'Country hmaker Shane McAnally on g out: ‘I was so aaid of what would mean to my reer’Rob Halford rells his ‘Gee Michael moment’: ‘It’s gog to be the papers!

Featurg the viral poem “J at the Gay Bar”“Jay's work not only giv voice and movement to his own story but also, and ccially, to our llective experience. This g-heavy heaven, blsed ground to thk gay & mean we. I want to live on his tongue, build a home of gospel & gayety.

HOW THE IMAGE OF J AT A GAY BAR HELPED ATRALIAN BAND CUB SPORT TELL THEIR STORY

How the Image of J at a Gay Bar Helped Atralian Band Cub Sport Tell Their Story. On Friday, the group members — who clu Nelson, Netterfield, dmmer Dan Puaari, and volist/gutarist Zoe Davis — are releasg their fifth album J at the Gay Bar, an electronic- and hoe-driven LP that ptur the ups and downs of romance and relatnships.

The album is named after a powerful poem by Jay Hulme that imag J Christ as a clubgoer wh his “rob hched up to His kne to make easy to sp, ” who reassur a gay man at the bar that “nothg this heart of yours ever needs to be healed.

The poem’s msage was a great fort to Nelson and Netterfield, who both grew up as members of a Pentestal church wh “super nservative, very homophobic teachgs. Speakg om his at-home stud Atralia, Nelson broke down five key songs off J at the Gay Bar and explaed how the album celebrat showg your tt self to the world.

TIM NELSON OF CUB SPORT ON THEIR NEW ALBUM 'J AT THE GAY BAR'

Their new album - a mix of spirualy, self-reflectn, and joy - is lled "J at the Gay Bar. At the gay bar, acrdg to the pop band Cub Sport.

"J At The Gay Bar" is the tle of the Atralian group's fifth album. Their synth pop sound offers a dreamy look to a young gay man's pilgrimage to love and acceptance.

NELSON: Thank you so much for havg So let's start wh that tle, "J At The Gay Bar. It was spired by a poem by a guy lled Jay Hulme, and basilly picts J at a gay bar. A boy up to him askg to be healed of his gayns, and J tells him, my child, there's nothg this heart of yours that ever needs to be healed.

J AT THE GAY BAR

NELSON: I thk was jt kd of the homophobia that I grew up was very much ternalized.

I'm, like, really glad that I'm gay now, which I never thought I would Did you feel like, you know, your now-hband Sam, that he kept you safe? Their new album is lled "J At The Gay Bar. The band explas a Yahoo terview that droppg ‘J at the Gay Bar’ on Good Friday “uld be read as provotive/ntroversial”.

J AT THE GAY BAR

Basilly, tells a story of J partyg at a gay bar, and there’s a boy that up to J and wants to touch his robe to be healed.

After ‘The Backwater Sermons’ me out, this poem om , ‘J at the Gay Bar’, went a b viral, so I thought I’d share some of the basic theology behd . The three sorrowful l that beg this article also nclu a poem by Jay Hulme, a poem that hugely spired – and directly lend s tle to – Cub Sport’s new album, J at the Gay Bar. J at the Gay Bar is Cub Sport unburned and unbridled, Nelson gleefully swappg shame for elatn, wh pure love permeatg the entire rerd.

And for anyone who listens to Cub Sport’s new album and relat, or at least fds a versn of who they want to be the songs, there is also genue tharsis; J won’t be at the gay bar, but salvatn might. Cub Sport’s J at the Gay Bar is out now.

TRACK BY TRACK: CUB SPORT BREAK DOWN ‘J AT THE GAY BAR’

Sam was the first person I ever told that I was gay and he was the one person I uld be my whole self around.

I wanted J at the Gay Bar to feel upliftg all the way through, and I thk “Songs About It” is probably one of the most phoric moments on the album. J At The Gay Bar.

J AT THE GAY BAR WAS FED A FIRE OF RELIGN AND LOVE — FOR BOTH OTHERS AND ONELF

Released on Good Friday and named after Jay Hulme’s poem, J At The Gay Bar, the Atralian band anticipated their sixth project would have an impact. “Back 2016, when we put out our first album, I uldn’t have imaged even tellg anybody that I was gay, let alone dog so publicly, ” Nelson tells me over Zoom, a week before the rerd’s Easter release.

Nelson scrib J At The Gay Bar as “the most phoric chapter of the Cub Sport disgraphy. Nelson and Netterfield on Cub Sport’s J At The Gay Bar album ver.

It was really COMFORTING for my younger self, who so sperately wanted to be HEALED of beg GAY. As for the tle, Nelson explaed felt tied both sonilly — “like beg set at a gay bar, kd of like dance mic” — as well as symbolilly.

J AT THE GAY BAR

“And I thk was like, really fortg for my younger self, who so sperately wanted to be healed of beg gay — like I would like pray, like every day for years that I would wake up the next day straight — so I thk namg this album after that poem feels like the perfect meetg pot of all of the ti and thgs that have kd of been g to this pot for years. “People have lled J At The Gay Bar blasphemo and a mockery, ” he ntued. People have lled ‘J At The Gay Bar‘ BLASPHEMOUS… but to see like that MISSES THE POINT.

In fact, Nelson not, “When I was growg up there were no love songs about gay upl.

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The poem om which the album gaed s name may be about a gay bar, but the energy ptur is one ak to that felt at their live shows.

For those who e to the album at a different pot their own journey — perhaps halfway to where Nelson is, or even where he was way back 2016, or prr — J At The Gay Bar is a reassurance that one day, thgs will be okay; and most of all, there is nothg that heart of yours that ever needs to be healed.

CUB SPORT’S TIM NELSON TALKS NEW ALBUM ‘J AT THE GAY BAR’ AND “PHORIC BUT PLITED” SGLE ‘KEEP ME SAFE’

Stream J At The Gay Bar below or on Spotify or Apple Mic.