Cage the Elephant Make Sense of Tragedy on Gentle ‘Out Loud’
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Cage the Elephant’s latest single, “Out Loud,” is the sound of a band growing up. The group wrote the tune after the death of the father of brothers Matthew Shultz (vocals) and Brad Shultz (guitar) and the song, an elegiac piano ballad, finds them making sense of their regrets. “Man, I really messed up now,” Matthew croons. “Too afraid to say it out loud.” The tune makes for a preamble of sorts for the group’s upcoming sixth album, Neon Pill — due out May 17 — which was written following the death of the Shultz brothers’ father and those of other friends.
Matthew believes the band found a new sense of authenticity in their loss. “Maybe it’s so straightforward and honest, because I didn’t know if it would see the light of day,” he said in a statement. “‘Out Loud’ is very connected to my father. My dad’s the reason we discovered music in the first place. When he died, ‘Out Loud’ just poured out of me. My efforts towards the song were deeply rooted in paying honor to him, and I knew it meant a lot to Brad, too. … It was almost a subconscious apology of sorts before I was fully capable of grasping the gravity of it all.”
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Producer John Hill, who helmed the Kentucky sextet’s last album, 2019’s Social Cues, oversaw the sessions for Neon Pill, which took place in El Paso, Texas, New York City, Nashville, and Los Angeles. The Shultzes lost their father nine months into the pandemic and soon found themselves grieving the deaths of other friends, leading to Matthew experiencing depression and a mental breakdown. He sought treatment and came out of the hospital with a new sense of himself.
That perspicacity led to Cage’s most original album, he believes. “To me, Neon Pill is the first record where we were consistently uninfluenced, and I mean that in a positive way,” Shultz said. “Everything is undoubtedly expressed through having settled into finding our own voice. We’ve always drawn inspiration from artists we love, and at times we’ve even emulated some of them to a certain degree. With this album, having gone through so much, life had almost forced us into becoming more and more comfortable with ourselves.” (They previously teased the album with the title song.)
They’ll be playing more of the album this summer on a 45-date North American tour. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on March 8 with presales in the days ahead. Full details are on the band’s website.
Cage the Elephant tour dates:
June 20 – West Valley City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre^
June 22 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena^
June 23 – Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater^
June 24 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater^
June 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena^
June 28 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place^
June 30 – Spokane, WA @ BECU Live @ Northern Quest^
July 2 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium*
July 3 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl^~
July 5 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre^
July 6 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena^
July 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum^
July 9 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater^
July 11 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center^
July 12 – Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman^
July 13 – Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena^
July 15 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP^
Aug. 2 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre*
Aug. 3 – Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park @ Walnut Creek^
Aug. 4 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion*
Aug. 7 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center^
Aug. 8 – Madison, WI @ Breese Stevens Field^
Aug. 10 – Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre^
Aug. 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center^
Aug. 14 – Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Arena @ UIC^
Aug. 16 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena^
Aug. 18 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Broadview Stage @ SPAC^
Aug. 19 – Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater^
Aug. 21 – Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion^
Aug. 22 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center*
Aug. 24 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center^
Aug. 26 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell^
Aug. 27 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage^
Aug. 29 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion @ Star Lake^
Aug. 30 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center^
Sept. 5 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden^
Sept. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion @ the Mann^
Sept. 7 – Lewiston, NY @ Artpark Mainstage Theater^
Sept. 9 – Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center^
Sept. 10 – Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre^
Sept. 12 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre^
Sept. 13 – Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena^
Sept. 14 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre^
Sept. 16 – Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center Omaha^
Sept. 18 – Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre*
^with Young the Giant and Bakar
* with Bakar
~Non-Live Nation Date
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