Cage the Elephant

Over the course of their career, Cage the Elephant played everything from slashing, bluesy rock to delicately textured, highly melodic indie pop. The band first came together on its home turf of Bowling Green, Kentucky, but by the time their self-titled 2008 debut album came out they had decided to shift operations to England. Ultimately they wound up achieving a measure of success on both sides of the Atlantic. Cage the Elephant's original lineup was Matt Shultz on vocals, his brother Brad and Lincoln Parish on guitars, Daniel Tichenor on bass, and Jared Champion on drums. The first album made a moderate showing on the charts in the U.S. and U.K. but it boasted two number-one songs ("In One Ear" and "Back Against the Wall") on the U.S. Alternative charts and eventually went Platinum in America. Appearances on TV shows and at festivals helped to boost the band's profile during this period. Their second album, Thank You, Happy Birthday, was released in 2011 and it went all the way to number two on the American charts. Later that year, while touring as the opening act for Foo Fighters, Champion was sidelined by a burst appendix and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl did double duty for a little while sitting in for him behind the kit. Two years later, Cage the Elephant's Melophobia came out, boasting two more hits, "Come a Little Closer" and "Cigarette Daydreams." The band garnered a Best Alternative Music Album Grammy nomination for the record. Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys came aboard as producer for Tell Me I'm Pretty, which was released at the tail end of 2015. It was the band's first album without Parish, who left to focus on his work as a producer for other artists.