In January 2023, Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz was arrested in a New York hotel room, swarmed upon by a 30-strong Swat (Special Weapons And Tactics) team of police officers. If that sounds dramatic, it was: a member of staff had seen Matt stashing firearms into his bag in the hotel foyer bathroom and notified the authorities. “They had guns drawn,” Matt says. “It was very real. But I can’t be upset with it. It saved my life.”
What nobody knew at the time – not even Matt – was that the 41-year-old was at the endgame of a prolonged, five-year medically-induced psychosis. His mind and personality had been altered beyond recognition by medication he’d been prescribed for a number of issues, including ADHD. Over time, his behaviour became increasingly erratic; he became dangerously delusional and paranoid, and wracked by fear. Progressively isolated from family, friends and bandmates – including brother Brad Shultz, Cage the Elephant guitarist – Matt even divorced his wife, Eva, during the ordeal.
He ended up in New York because “I was running from whoever it was that was chasing me.” He’d driven from Nashville, but – realising upon arrival that firearms were illegal in New York – he rushed into the hotel in an agitated state to hide them in his bag. He had no plans to use them, he says, but the police weren’t to know. Matt pleaded guilty to three weapons charges and avoided jail. But crucially, the arrest led to Matt’s hospitalisation, therapy and eventual recovery. “I was so far gone,” he says, over the phone from St Lucia, where he’s enjoying a short break. “The firearms weren’t the most dangerous thing in my life at that time. It’s a pretty wild miracle I survived.”
Since forming in 2006, Cage the Elephant have become one of America’s most successful alternative rock bands. Their six albums of loose and bluesy, latterly synth-y garage rock have sold over three million copies – 2017’s Tell Me I’m Pretty and 2019’s Social Cues both won Grammys for Best Rock Album – and their 2013 track “Cigarette Daydreams” joined the coveted one billion streams club on Spotify last year. They’ve collaborated with Beck and Iggy Pop, and have a reputation as great live band, led by Matt’s untamed, fun energy. It’s why, after a UK tour in support of latest album, 2024’s Neon Pill, the band will open for Oasis in stadiums across America in August. “It’s definitely the year highlight,” Matt says, adding he and Brad used to make Oasis mixtapes as teenagers.
Like Oasis, Cage the Elephant are a band of brothers – have they had many Gallagher-like fights? “Well, brothers are brothers,” Matt says, enigmatically. Brad is more forthcoming. “There’s a story about me throwing pizzas one time,” Brad says, over the phone from Nashville, laughing. “We’ve had our moments.”
Cage the Elephant’s success comes from humble beginnings. Before teaming up with Nick Bockrath and Matthan Minster (guitars), bassist Daniel Tichenor, and drummer Jared Champion, the Shultz brothers grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their father was a songwriter who died in 2020, inspiring two Neon Pill tracks, “Out Loud” and beautiful closer “Over Your Shoulder.” Money was tight, which made it tough. “It defined me as a fighter,” Brad says. It helped when the band signed to Relentless Records and moved to Leyton, east London, immersing themselves in the Camden Noughties scene around the time of their self-titled 2008 debut. The band were given accommodation but lived off a wage of just £7 a day. “I’m not proud of it, but I remember going to Asda and stealing sandwiches,” Matt laughs.
Matt has come a long way since, but his status didn’t protect him from medical negligence. “I was not taken care of,” Matt says. “I fell through the cracks.” Is this a damning indictment on the US healthcare system? “Unfortunately, it sometimes becomes about money. Some professionals are keen to prescribe whatever keeps you coming back.”
Matt started noticing things weren’t right in May 2020. “I started to believe that I was uncovering some very incredible truths.” His new normal was tethered from reality. “If a light had shined in my window, I would have started to create narratives. And the narratives got more and more skewed, and reality was more and more distorted.”
His paranoia grew. He’d carry a journal everywhere to jot down supposed clues to help him solve the narratives building in his head. He then developed a habit of taking polaroids of rooms in his house. “I felt extreme paranoia that all digital things could be tampered with. I’d take pictures of rooms that I was in before I left them to make sure everything was in its exact place when I returned.” He takes a second. “It’s sad, but I took thousands and thousands of polaroids.” He still has them. “Pretty strange, lifeless photographs of rooms just perfectly in place.”
For Brad, it was difficult to watch this happen to his younger brother. “At first, some of the things seemed partially believable,” he says. “But there was a moment I realised, ‘Oh, wow. This is really bad now.’ Seeing him go through that kind of hurt and pain and anxiety, it was a very tough time.”
“It was hard for me to relate to anyone,” Matt says, “I definitely began to isolate and alienate.” Heartbreakingly, Matt divorced his wife, Eva, believing it was for her own sake. “I was afraid some kind of criminal organisation was after me and that she was in danger.” Eva stood by him best she could, and there is a happy ending: the pair renewed their vows last year. “It truly is a miracle. Nothing short of it.” In Neon Pill, “Rainbow” is Matt’s tribute to her.
Matt’s arrest was a sliding doors moment. He went through three months of hospital treatment (including therapy), and six months of outpatient care. “It took about a month of good reality testing to be able to trust again. Not everyone has that experience. There’s some that never come back.” Not only did he fully recover, but his relationships have strengthened. “We have a better and deeper relationship,” Brad says. “We’re the closest we’ve been since growing up.”
All the while, Matt had been writing songs. Incredibly, he’d wrote the track “Neon Pill” – with its lyric “like a loaded gun, my love/I lost control of the wheel/double-crossed by a neon pill” – in 2022, long before he’d realised what was happening to his body. “It’s kind of mind blowing,” Brad says, “the power of the subconscious.”
“It’s sad,” Matt says, soberly. “I’d written a lot of the record with those distorted perspectives and then had to go back and make sense of it and change some lyrics.”
When the record was finished, Brad listened back in the studio one night with a bottle of red wine. “I was crying. I was like, ‘We actually got through this.’” Later, bandmate Nick Bockrath joined him. “We both cried together.”
Was it as emotional for Matt? He takes a lengthy pause. “I don’t know. I’m still processing it all. I haven’t had an extremely emotional reaction to finishing the record and performing. Maybe there’s a part of me that is protecting myself from the trauma. It’s something that I definitely will carry for the rest of my life. But it’s been great. I mean it. There aren’t words to really describe how amazing life is to be back to normal.”
Cage the Elephant tour the UK from 13 February. Neon Pill is out now
