Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz talks writing music amid psychosis

When Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz finally arrived on the other side of his psychosis, he said it was like "living your worst nightmare."

"I mean, it was terrible," the Nashville band's singer said. '"It's something that you wouldn't know unless you experienced what it was like. And I honestly wouldn't wish it on anyone it."

The "Cigarette Daydreams" and "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" singer wrote much of the band's new album, "Neon Pill," as he suffered from medication-induced psychosis that led to a "life-saving" arrest early last year.

Now, Shultz has bounced back and finds himself and the band back in their stride as they sell out arenas and play festivals.

Shultz opened up to The Tennessean about the writing process behind the band's new album and spoke on their Tennessee connections.

Struggling to grasp reality

Cage the Elephant — comprised of Shultz, his brother Brad Shultz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, Nick Bockrath and Matthan Minster — released their new album "Neon Pill" in May.

The 12-track record marks the band's first album release since 2019's "Social Cues."

"Neon Pill" is one of the band's most vulnerable albums yet, produced with Cage's trademark alt-rock sounds. The tracks' lyrics are grounded in lead singer Matt Shultz's struggle to grasp reality in the midst of a mental health crisis.

"I think for myself, it would feel a bit strange and awkward had the record not being so personal and revealing," Shultz said.

"And I think it's an important conversation to have as well, socially. So while it wasn't something I ever planned for (it to be this vulnerable), I think that it serves a beautiful purpose," he said.

Shultz was arrested in January 2023 after three loaded guns were found in his New York City hotel room. Following the arrest, Shultz announced publicly that he had undergone a 2-month-long hospitalization and 6-month-long outpatient therapy.

The singer had been unknowingly battling for three years with an unintended response to a prescription medication that caused him to lose his grip on reality.

"I mean, as with many people who are going through something like psychosis, I had all these narratives of what I thought my reality was and, unfortunately, that had no basis in reality," he said.

Shultz thought someone was tampering with his medication and poisoning him. He also believed he was being chased and that someone was trying to murder him. During this time, he scrawled down the lyrics of "Neon Pill."

"When we went back to the songs, a lot of lyrics that had seemed extremely profound to me at the time didn't hold any real weight in reality or in context to my life," he said.

The lyrics Shultz wrote during that time ended up playing a big role in his healing process.

He looked between the lines after he was out of the psychosis and tried to figure out what he was feeling at the time, what he was trying to say and what his reality had been.

"That's very relatable, whether or not you experienced the exact same thing," he said about trying to decipher his past thoughts through his lyrical content. "When I went back and edited, I think in many ways, the lyrics definitely improved."

One song that didn't change, though, is the album's title track, "Neon Pill," a song about his medication-tampering delusion.

"And the thing that was, that's kind of sad but also extremely interesting is that I was so close to the truth. Not that anyone was tampering with my medication, but that the medication was the issue," he said about the song's lyrics.

In the ominous, alternative rock song, he sings: "Like a loaded gun, my love / Double-crossed, crossed by a neon pill."

After the album was released, and earlier, when Shultz went public with his medication-induced psychosis experiences, he said that individuals came to him with similar experiences. Even though something like this doesn't happen often, he said, psychosis happens "more than I think a lot of people would think."

"I think initially, I was mortified by what was happening," he said, referring to the arrest and the treatments he underwent.

"But now I couldn't be more thankful. I am almost certain that had that not happened, I wouldn't be here today. It really was a godsend."

Living and creating in Nashville, playing Bonnaroo

Though Shultz lived in New York on and off for the past two years — in the Lower East Side and Greenpoint, Brooklyn — he moved back to Nashville full-time about six months ago.

Shultz said that the "Neon Pill" tracks began in Nashville and were finished in Nashville, which is how the band has done the last few albums.

Cage the Elephant, which hails from Kentucky but has been based in Nashville for the past 15 years, worked on much of the record at Music City's Sound Emporium Studios.

After creating the tracks here, they worked on the record at Electric Lady Studios in New York, made a brief stop in a studio in Asheville, North Carolina, the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas, and John Hill's studio in L.A.

"Nashville is still a hub for music culture in the United States, for sure, and the creativity, the hunger, the drive, the community, I think, is definitely one of the things that really drew us in," Shultz said.

"I've always really loved that about Nashville, and then also the creative community — it's not just music, you have the food, culture that's here. The visual culture. It's an amazing city."

When it comes to Nashville artists Shultz champions, he shouted out the band Snooper, Bats and his wife, Eva Daire.

The band recently played Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, which they played in 2017, as well.

More: Bonnaroo's hot moments Saturday: Jon Batiste, Reneé Rapp, Cage The Elephant

Shultz has experiences as both a performer and attendee at 'Roo (he went to the second Bonnaroo in 2003) and finds the "culture within the festival" and the fact that it "becomes basically a temporary city" insane.

For the high-energy Bonnaroo show, the band shone playing their new material and pleased the crowd with ample audience interaction and by rocking out on their classic hits.

Now, Cage the Elephant is out on their 2024 North American Tour, which kicked off on June 20 in Utah, and recently added a Nashville show to their docket.

The band will perform at Ascend Amphitheater on Sept. 1, with openers Young the Giant, Bakar and Willow Avalon.

"We're just extremely happy to add a Nashville show ... tour honestly didn't feel complete until then," Shultz said. "To be filling venues and things to be going the way they are is above and beyond the expectation I ever had, especially with the way life was going over the past five years.

"So it really is a miracle, and not used lightly," he said. "Truly a miracle."

To learn more about Cage the Elephant, head to cagetheelephant.com.

Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Cage the Elephant sets Nashville show, releases album 'Neon Pill'