With many young bands, it’s all about the slow, organic build. Maybe they worry about becoming too big too soon, or maybe they succumb to the rock paradox that says embracing success leads to a loss of credibility and, ultimately, failure.
So for ICM’s Marsha Vlasic, it was refreshing to meet Cage The Elephant vocalist Matthew Shultz when she went to see the band play NYC’s Mercury Lounge in 2008.
“I spoke with Matt and he said, ‘I want to play Madison Square Garden. I want to play stadiums. I want to be enormous,’” she told Pollstar. “Hearing his excitement and his passion just excited me even more. And then watching them play live – it was a no-brainer. I hadn’t seen a band like that in a very long time.”
Cage The Elephant, which also includes Brad Shultz and Lincoln Parish on guitars, bassist Daniel Tichenor and Jared Champion on drums, became Vlasic’s client and the guys have been creating buzz with their energetic sets ever since.
The band also created quite a bit of buzz in January with the release of its second album, Thank You, Happy Birthday, moving more than 128,000 units at press time.
Cage has supported the likes of Silversun Pickups, Queens Of The Stone Age and, most recently, The Black Keys. The band is currently out on a co-headlining tour with Manchester Orchestra, and Vlasic says ticket sales have been “phenomenal.”
Summer tour plans include additional support slots for The Black Keys in Canada and festivals in the U.K. and Japan.
Thank You, Happy Birthday reached No. 2 on Nielsen SoundScan’s Top Current Albums chart
Sold out 2,500-capacity Electric Factory in Philadelphia