Cub's final incarnation consisted of Lisa Marr on bass and vocals, Robynn Iwata on guitar, and Lisa Gertrud Nielsen (referred to by most as "Lisa G") on drums.
In the beginning, it was Lisa (Marr), Robynn and a girl named Valeria pounding the skins. I really know nothing about Valeria, except what I see in the pictures on the "Betti-Cola" CD insert. She looks pretty scary. Neko Case played drums on a coupla tracks, in one of the videos, and occasionally on tour with cub. Neko's a woman from Takoma, Washington who has a band on Mint called Maow (formerly "Meow").
This is from Shawn McCaffrey:
Well, I asked Lisa Marr about it one time and she was somewhat evasive. Something about a stage name because she didn't want the attention, or something like that. Valerie was actually a really really cool person. Sure, she had the goth look down, but she was a sweetie. Very down to earth, she said she only played in cub "for a chance to practice." I said, "what if the band becomes really popular and you sign a major label deal?" to which she replied, "I'd be outta here long before that!" So I wasn't at all surprised when she left. More info: she used to give out home-made chocolates at the shows. She has a very thick accent.Cub was based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They toured all over North America a bunch of times. Their music is mostly three-chord girl-rock pop that got more aggressive-sounding as the albums went on.
But just ask either of my sisters, both of whom were at the show where I met Valerie, "cub was never quite the same without Valerie." :-)
From Wikipedia:
Cub was an indie rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, which formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1997. They played a melodic, jangly form of pop punk which was dubbed "cuddlecore" by some music critics. Their song "New York City" was covered by They Might Be Giants on their album Factory Showroom, and their song "Little Star" was covered by Washington's Sicko on their album Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy.
Original drummer Valeria Fellini was replaced by Lisa G. in 1994. Neko Case also played drums on some early recordings as well as on tour in later years (she sang live in front of an audience for the first time ever during a cub show in Ohio - the song was cub's "So Far Apart"). Years later she would go on to form her own all-female three piece Vancouver band, Maow.
Robynn Iwata co-formed I Am Spoonbender in 1997 in San Francisco. Lisa Marr and Lisa G. started another band (Buck) in 1998 once they moved to California from their native Vancouver.From cub's myspace page and allmusic.com:
Crush-pop trio cub formed in 1992 after vocalist/bassist Lisa Marr, guitarist/vocalist Robynn Iwata and drummer Valeria Fellini met while working at the college radio station of their alma mater, the University of British Columbia. Their first performance took place in front of a standing room only crowd in the basement of Marr's home for a summer solstice party in 1992.The Break-Up
Despite no prior musical experience — throughout the band's first year, Iwata played live seated cross-legged on the stage floor while looking at cheat sheets for chord progressions — cub's early live shows (during which the group tossed candy to the audience) won their unique brand of direct, infectious punk-pop a cult following on the Vancouver club circuit, and in October 1992 the trio issued their debut 7" EP, pep, on Mint Records, the Vancouver-based label co-owned by Iwata's brother Randy (future home of the New Pornographers, cub tour drummer Neko Case and Nardwuar The Human Serviette).
Following the release of their first album Betti-Cola — a superb collection of EP tracks and new recordings complete with a Josie and the Pussycats-styled cover by famed Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo — Fellini left the band to pursue her calling as a chocolatier; she was replaced by drummer Lisa G., whom Marr met through the pages of the fanzine Self-Esteem Queen. After the release of 1994's Come Out, Come Out (featuring the song "New York City" which would eventually become a mainstay of They Might Be Giants' covers repertoire), Mint signed a distribution deal with the U.S. punk label Lookout. 1996 brought the ambitious and edgy Box of Hair, as well as tours with They Might Be Giants, Sebadoh, and Elliott Smith (who played his cover of The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" for Robynn on her birthday in L.A.!). Mauler, another collection of singles, followed in early 1997. On June 10 of that year, a series of three handwritten messages posted on the Mint Records website — one from each member — announced cub's breakup.
Robynn continued her graphic design (which was a constant visual presence on cub's t-shirts, posters, stickers, and the cub kids club newsletter), and in 1997 would go on to co-found I AM SPOONBENDER with composer / multi-instrumentalist / philosopher Dustin Donaldson.
Lisa Marr and Lisa G moved south to L.A. and formed the short-lived BUCK, a pop trio with guitarist Pepper Berry. Each would later pursue independent film endeavours. Marr would also take to the open road as a solo troubadour and in movies'n'music duo THE HERE AND NOW, as well as form THE BEARDS with Kim Shattuck of The Muffs and her ever-evolving country/rock group THE LISA MARR EXPERIMENT.
When? Cub's last show: December 14, 1996 in Mesa, Arizona USA. Robynn tells me, "It was at a club called The Nile, I think. No big deal was made... we didn't know it'd be the final one. We were just all excited to be free for the holidays after about three months on the road." Cub's actually final performance was on a pilot for a CBC TV show called "Terminal City." The episode was shot in Vancouver. Cub played two songs to a studio audience that included Robynn's mom and Lisa's grandmother. Randy at Mint Records told me "cub called it quits on May 15th or thereabouts, six years to the day I think since they began. Your cub site is one of the brightest cub spots on the web, I hope you don't remove the cub page. the three cub folk are working on other stuff in an artistic or musical vein."
More songs? I asked Robynn if we'll see any future releases -- sort of "cub -- the lost tapes" or something like that. She says "We were never ones to stockpile songs. So, nope there isn't a backlog of unrecorded stuff. We pretty much released stuff as soon as it was done (either on Mint or on various other 7"ers and comps). I still have a notebook full of my music and lyric fragments, maybe I'll get around to piecing somethings together."
But why? I dunno. When I interviewed Lisa Marr just before Box Of Hair came out in mid-1996, I asked where she saw Cub being in three or four years:
"I don't know. I, uh. There's a lot of things in the air right now, so I don't even know ... I'm not saying that, like, oh we're thinking about breaking up, but I mean, I just have the feeling that lots of things are happening...we're meeting lots of new people. I just was out east working with the Queers on their new album, that was really fun, and writing other kinds of songs, and writing, and Robynn's doing all kinds of artwork and so... I don't know. You never know."
What they say...
When they split... Lisa, Lisa G and Robynn posted these hand-written notes on Mint's web site. Here they are in text form.
Lisa G:
why? i know you all want to ask it. that's all anyone wants to ask nowadays. WHY? change is good. by quitting something one must fill the space with something new. this is good. in an old utne reader (sept. oct. 96) an article about quitting seemed to be speaking directly to me...headings such as CHANGE HORSES MIDSTREAM, REPUDIATE YOUR IDEAS not to mention TAKE TO YOUR BED...... hey, i don't mean to sound ungrateful.....and for fear of sounding cliche: quitting gives freedom. Have YOU ever been connected to something or someone so completely that no matter where YOU go or who YOU talk to the only topic that comes up is that "something" or "someone" YOU are connected to?? there are many facets to every person. Ultimately, finding the courage to do what i want NOT what my friends want me to do or what my parents wish i would do or even what i "think" i SHOULD do. taking control of one's life is really what living is about. there were a lot of really great experiences for me to check off me "to do" list. Achieving such "acclaim" in the music industry doesn't happen all the time, especially for women and frankly i'm proud. GO GIRLS GO! thanks for listening. (heart) lisag P.S. one worry. i don't read as much since my apartment doesn't have that comforting vibration a touring van does. so now i ride the bus aimlessly whenever i want to finish my current biography.
Lisa Marr:
What we leave + what we take. What we learn + what we fake. Flukes + triumphs, laughs, mistakes. So trivial; so much at stake. That lucky break. That lucky break. Wait + wait + wait + wait. A million miles, a million bands, a million one night stands in towns we call home for just a day. Friends made family along the way in greasy spoons, motel rooms, bathrooms with the sinks ripped out, rooftops, truckstops, souvenir shops, out front + backstage where it always smells like dirty words + excitement. Like everything else about cub, the answer is deceptively simple: why it's over is why it worked. Because it's about having fun. Because new experiences + wildest dreams are where it's at. Because the tide is high. Because what I love most in the world is singing songs. To everyone who came out, helped out, hung out, sang along, said we were wrong, jumped up + down, shared a beer/ a room/a night on the town, gave a shit, spread the word, listened closely, asked a question, got inspired, wrote us, coaxed us, challenged/encouraged/supported us throughout this crazy ride - thanks + thanks + thanks again. Keep going + doing. Words of wisdom once handed to me on a silver platter: WHO DARES WINS. And I believe it. xxx Lisa
Robynn:
FIVE YEARS AGO, I JOINED LISA AND VALERIA TO FORM CUB. SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING FUN. IT WAS A FINE OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO SHOW MYSELF THAT I COULD JUST JUMP RIGHT IN THE DEEP END WITH NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, AND NOT BE AFRAID OR INTIMIDATED. MISTAKES WERE AND ARE OKAY. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO'VE LET US KNOW THAT WE'VE ENCOURAGED YOU TO DO LIKEWISE (WITH A BAND, A ZINE, OR ???). WE'VE BEEN SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE RECEIVED SUCH AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF SUPPORT, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND HELP FROM FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND STRANGERS. THANK YOU EVERYONE! I HOPE YOU'VE ALL HAD AS MUCH FUN (AND LEARNED AS MUCH) AS I HAVE. I'M CERTAINLY SAID THAT CUB IS NO MORE. IT'S BEEN A GREAT FIVE YEARS, BUT CHANGE IS A GREAT THING. AN EXCELLENT CHALLENGE. EXCITING! NOW IT'S ON TO NEW THINGS, NEW INSTRUMENTS, AND NEW ADVENTURES. BYEEE FOR NOW. XO robynn
