“Nothing Short of a Miracle”: Cage the Elephant Reflect on Neon Pill, Bonnaroo, and New Video for “Out Loud”

The post “Nothing Short of a Miracle”: Cage the Elephant Reflect on Neon Pill, Bonnaroo, and New Video for “Out Loud” appeared first on Consequence .

Midway through Cage the Elephant’ s new video for Neon Pill single “Out Loud,” the emotion becomes overwhelming. Vocalist Matt Shultz is sitting in a near-empty house, seemingly revisiting his childhood home and all the memories attached to the location. But shortly before the final chorus, we see that same house in ruins — shards of wood on the carpet, shrubbery overgrown, the house condemned. Shultz walks away one last time, the buzzing of the Kentucky woods echoing his steps through the tall grass. (Watch the debut of the new clip below.)

“Out Loud” doesn’t explicitly reveal its inspiration, but it revolves heavily around Matt and guitarist Brad Shultz’ father passing during the pandemic. Even with its oratorical title, Matt counterbalances mourning his father by spelling out intrusive thoughts: “Man, I really messed up now,” he repeats on the chorus. It’s as much a remembrance of his father’s life and steadfast support until his death as it is a sobering look in the mirror for a man who has finally come out the other side of one of his darkest hours.

It’s been five years since Cage the Elephant’s previous album, 2019’s Social Cues , and the time away wasn’t exactly kind to the Shultz brothers. After their father passed, Matt isolated himself; he and his wife briefly separated, and he was arrested in New York City on charges of felony firearm possession. The incident was a wake-up call to say the least, and served as a major catalyst for Neon Pill , Cage the Elephant’s triumphant sixth album.

“It’s one of those things that I never imagined happening,” Matt tells Consequence about his recent struggle with mental health, addiction, and grief. “I’m not going to say I’m happy that it happened, but I definitely did learn some deep lessons in life. I have a much deeper empathy and sympathy for anyone else who goes through that.”

Neon Pill may have been born from stagnancy and strife, but the resulting collection is undoubtedly a high point for Cage the Elephant. Matt bares his soul quite a few times, but Cage the Elephant don’t sound weakened or weathered — they sound renewed. “I think we’re a band that’s always striving to make music that’s honest to us,” says Brad.

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While the honest reflections in Neon Pill are sobering, the arena in which the band is discussing them is much more celebratory. We’re backstage at Bonnaroo , where Cage the Elephant are about to perform a massively-attended sub-headlining set. The festival appearance comes just days before the official kick-off of their summer tour supporting Neon Pill , with Young the Giant and Bakar along for the ride (get tickets here ). But this ‘Roo is  a special occasion for the Shultz brothers, who grew up nearby in Bowling Green, Kentucky and even attended the third-ever Bonnaroo. “It’s close to home, so to just be able to share it with our family and friends…,” Brad says, “I feel like this might be a record to be proud of, or maybe not — but we just learned that we set the all time largest guest list in Bonnaroo history.”

With their family members and friends waiting in the wings, Bonnaroo serves as a cathartic victory lap for Cage the Elephant. Back when they first played the festival in 2007, their debut album wasn’t even out yet, and the southern-fried riff from “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” was completely unknown. “We started out in a tent that wasn’t even an ‘official’ tent — it was a beer garden,” Brad says. “And then prior to that, the first Bonnaroo we attended, we’d walk around the campgrounds with acoustic guitars and would play for anyone who’d listen. We were handing out CDs — some guy told us, ‘Hey, you guys should play this festival one day!'”

Now, they’re playing the fest’s main stage billed just under Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they have a personal new record to showcase. Still, it took some time for the tracks on Neon Pill to come together live, with Brad mentioning that they’d been practicing one new song a day by playing it over and over. “The encouraging thing was that after two weeks, the people at the practice space started being like, ‘Actually, it sounds good.’ They’re dancing and stuff. I was like, ‘Okay, we no longer sound like a 13-year-old learning how to play the trumpet,'” Matt jokes.

As they gear up for their early evening performance, we survey this year’s Bonnaroo lineup. While the band is in good company overall, it’s fascinating that they’re one of only a few outfits from their era still making the rounds, still securing sub-headlining festival billings. The industry may be in flux at the moment, but the band has long benefitted significantly from rock radio syndication over the years, from “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” all the way to their newest Alternative chart topper, “Neon Pill.” They may be one of the most consistently successful bands in rock radio’s modern era.

“The radio support has always been a blessing. Fortunately, it’s also full of a lot of amazing people, so you build a lot of long-lasting relationships over the years you have,” Matt says, expressing heaps of gratitude and even bewilderment that the radio and festivals like Bonnaroo continue to champion Cage the Elephant. “To come back to this after everything that’s happened… it’s nothing short of a miracle.”

Cage the Elephant, photo by Pooneh Ghana for Bonnaroo

Discussing our favorite bands of the moment (Matt is loving the new Hozier, while Brad is particularly hot on Fontaines D.C., Djo, and WILLOW), I’m reminded of a performance from earlier in the weekend that covered some weighty themes: Before playing a new song, the band Militarie Gun introduced it by saying it was about seeing someone drowning (metaphorically) and thinking they were waving, not realizing that they were in dire need of help.

I ask if this feels relevant to them as brothers, and Matt is immediately emotional. “I think that happens more often than people realize,” he says. “I didn’t realize it in a broad societal sense. In my particular circumstance, anyone close to me found it very obvious. But it was difficult to confront, because many people who cared for me did come to me and voice their concerns. It was hard to make the connection and relate because of my reality being tested — not being stable in my own reality. Now, I can clearly see the people who truly love me, who have stayed in my life and been there.”

That open-hearted gratitude perfectly matches the sentiment of “Out Loud” and its stirring video. Matt reflects on his father’s mistakes and quest for redemption while putting his own in context — as he walks away in the final shot, the world around him is vibrant and comforting. It’s a bittersweet conclusion, symbolic of the Shultz brothers’ lived experiences. With Neon Pill and a Bonnaroo set spanning Cage the Elephant’s nearly 20-year, they’ve proven themselves equally resilient, moving forward abuzz with new life.

“Nothing Short of a Miracle”: Cage the Elephant Reflect on Neon Pill, Bonnaroo, and New Video for “Out Loud”
Paolo Ragusa