Local band has found rock success in Europe

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Cage The Elephant. The name sounds like a slang term for drug addiction or some sort of strange sexual innuendo, but it is actually the moniker of a pretty awesome rock outfit from the western part of our state. Originally hailing from Bowling Green, Cage The Elephant formed in 2005 and three years later released their self-titled debut album on Relentless Records.

I initially came across the band’s music during last semester via the great information-machine known as the Internet, and once their music reached my iPod, I quickly became addicted to their monstrous riffs and funky undertone. Their sound is refreshingly original while recalling elements and aspects of past rock-n-roll greatness.

While the band has stayed somewhat under the radar on their home soil, they have been making an impact overseas in Europe, where their energetic live shows have made people take notice. The band has since played the major festival outings of Reading and Leeds in England.

The boost in their popularity enabled their single, “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” to reach number thirty-two on the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The song’s groove is based around a slide guitar riff that is a modernized form of the Delta Blues. Once the whole band joins in on the tune, which is highlighted by singer Matt Schultz’s vocal excellence, it becomes a glorious tale of morality you could dance to.

Other notable tracks include the rocking pair of “Back Stabbin’ Betty” and “In One Ear.” The later is a raucous jam that finds Schultz in a street poet mode, relating his thoughts in quick and fluid outbursts. A style that is reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

C.T.E. is a band that is definitely worth the time to check out. While the group does not have any tour stops around our state anytime soon, if you are venturing to the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California, you can see them on the stage at the Empire Polo Field.

Cage The Elephant are able to seamlessly blend punk, blues and bits of funk to offer songs that are outrageously catchy and possess an awesome rock vibe. Hopefully soon, people in the United States will begin to take notice of the band’s greatness because they truly deserve it and I always like to see people from Kentucky succeed.

Nick Walters is an English senior.