This Labor Day weekend two-time grammy winning rock band Cage the Elephant headlined Ascend Amphitheater. It was a big show for WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month but not quite as big as the one they played in Middle Tennessee earlier this year.
That night felt like a comeback. The band went through a dark and difficult period over the last few years, punctuated by a high-profile court case involving lead singer Matt Schulz. Matt says that particular moment had deeper roots in a mental health crisis brought on by an alleged misdiagnosis and subsequent misprescription. The impacts of that are directly referenced on Neon Pill, their new album released earlier this year.
While Matt has openly discussed that period, usually left out of the overall press narrative around Neon Pill is Shulz’s move back to Nashville, rejoining most of his bandmates. That’s often been the case with Cage. Just scan their Wikipedia page. Barely a Nashville reference even though Music City has been their primary base of operations for nearly two decades.
They’re originally from Bowling Green Kentucky but their history is inextricably tied to Nashville. Early shows in the city garnered international press, prompting their label to suggest the band move to London. That’s where they followed the path of one of Music City’s most successful rock and roll exports.
“I think that was kind of the reason they moved us over there,” remembers Cage co-founder and Matt Schulz’s brother Brad. “Because the Kings Of Leon had just went over there and had a lot of success and a scene of their own there. We had seen them play at the Exit/In and we stood out at their tour bus and, as they came out, we’re like take our CD (laughs)!”
Brad says after the band launched in London they came back to Nashville. And thus began a relentless schedule of recording and touring that resulted in a double-digit string of number one alt-rock radio hits, platinum and gold records and two Grammy wins, both for best rock album. Alongside the Kings, Paramore, Jack White and the Black Keys, Cage have been core in the emergence of Nashville’s rock dominance of the 2000’s.
In recent years the band have also begun giving back. Matt has been a collaborator with artists like Dreamer Boy. Guitarist Nick Bockrath’s name shows up on numerous records including Tre Burt and Brad has been more and more active as a producer, most recently working with emerging Nashville band Gloom Girl MFG.
Gloom Girl MFG’s Connor McCourt says Schulz heard about their music through a mutual friend and reached out. “When we got the call I remember I brought my (portable) speaker over and I was like ‘Hey there’s this producer that’s interested in us you guys know this song,’” recalls McCourt. “And I played ‘Cigarette Daydreams’ for the band and everybody’s face just lit up.”
Brad Shulz says working with Gloom Girl MFG was like a throwback to Cage’s early days. “just having a few beers, talking about music” in someone’s basement. McCourt says it’s that range of experience Brad brings, from basement beginnings to stadium headlining, that have proven invaluable.
“That’s the really interesting thing about working with him is that he seen everything as an artist first,” says McCourt. “And so being able to have that mentorship in the studio, in that moment. That brings out an energy and a love that is really hard to fake.”
For his part Brad says he gets just as much out of the exchange as he gives stating that he’s “having as much growth and getting perspective from them as I’m giving out so it’s kind of like a 50/50 back and forth.”
Brad says one of the reasons he’s drawn to helping other bands comes from Cage’s early days in Bowling Green. He says the scene there was so tight knit because it had to be. It was all they had. And that sense of lifting up the scene as a whole has followed him to Nashville but he doesn’t feel it as an obligation.
“I just get excited when I see something out and I’m like ‘This is amazing!’ And I guess, in a sense I feel like I need to help this out,” Shulz admits. “But it’s not daunting. Like I’m obligated to do this. It’s something that I want to do. And luckily there’s a lot of bands in Nashville and around this area that I can be inspired by so it’s really a blessing for me.”
You can find more on Cage the Elephant from their time as Nashville Artist of the Month, including a handpicked playlist and an interactive map of some of their favorite Nashville spots.