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In the spring of 2020 as the pandemic cut a terrifying path across the globe, touring bands packed up and went home, unsure how they\u2019d survive. At the same time, Matt Shultz, the frontman of Cage the Elephant<\/a> \u2014 the rare arena-scale rock act to emerge within the past two decades \u2014 was facing a different crisis in his own head.<\/p>\n After releasing five hard-edged yet hook-filled albums with Cage the Elephant since 2008, Shultz, a frontman known for stripping down to underwear and fishnet tights and walking the length of venues atop his audience\u2019s outstretched hands, was not himself.<\/p>\n Suffering an extreme reaction to medication he was prescribed to treat A.D.H.D., he fell into psychosis. Consumed by paranoia and convinced he was being hounded by malicious actors who would routinely break into his home, the singer began carting around his belongings \u2014 photographs, journals, books and more \u2014 in bulky suitcases.<\/p>\n His brother, Brad Shultz, who plays guitar in the band, recalled their mother describing Matt\u2019s ever-present haul as \u201ca physical representation of his emotional baggage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Matt\u2019s struggles came to a dramatic and very public head in January 2023, when he was arrested on weapons charges<\/a> at the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan after police found two loaded handguns in his room. He has since regained his grip on reality through extensive treatment \u2014 and avoided jail time thanks to a plea deal \u2014 but his season in hell is immortalized on \u201cNeon Pill,\u201d the band\u2019s sixth studio album, which it will support with a North American tour of arenas and amphitheaters starting this week.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost control of the wheel,\u201d Matt, 40, sings on the deceptively breezy-sounding title track<\/a> in his hoarse croon. \u201cDouble-crossed by a neon pill.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I wrote the song, I was convinced that someone was tampering my medication and trying to poison me,\u201d he said in early June, sitting in the backyard of a Japanese cafe in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, wearing Celine sunglasses, an L.A. Dodgers cap and a patterned knit short-sleeve shirt. \u201cMy brother said the most heartbreaking thing was to hear that,\u201d he added, referring to the lyric about treatment that turns toxic. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018He\u2019s so close to the truth, but can\u2019t quite grasp it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Cage the Elephant\u2019s knack for accessing authentic emotion has helped win the Bowling Green, Ky., band a loyal following, a pair of platinum albums and two Grammys during a time when rock\u2019s mainstream market share has dwindled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of heart in what they do,\u201d said Beck, who toured with Cage the Elephant in 2019, collaborated on the track \u201cNight Running\u201d<\/a> and guested with the band onstage at a Los Angeles show in May. He praised the group\u2019s gift for balancing accessibility with deeper resonance. \u201cThere\u2019s something undeniably real about what\u2019s happening,\u201d he added, \u201cand people feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n That transparency pulses through \u201cNeon Pill,\u201d whether Matt is exposing the dark side of the party on \u201cGood Time\u201d or praising the constancy of a companion who stays close \u201ceven when it\u2019s painful\u201d on \u201cRainbow,\u201d an ode to his wife, Eva, whom he divorced at the height of his paranoia but later remarried. (\u201cI thought that she was in danger from whoever was after me,\u201d he explained.)<\/p>\n Matt believed he was the victim of relentless online hackers, then became convinced that he had run afoul of an actual criminal syndicate. \u201cIt was just an endless stream of epiphanies,\u201d he said, that \u201chad no basis in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n His memory of the arrest is vivid. He heard a knock on his door, looked out the peephole and saw \u201cat least 20 police officers with guns drawn.\u201d He recalled being scared, but thinking he should \u201cdefinitely easily surrender and just let it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement posted to social media in February, he told fans that the arrest, which led to an immediate hospitalization, \u201cundoubtedly saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n These days, Matt\u2019s humility is palpable. Projecting not a trace of the peacocking energy he\u2019s known for onstage \u2014 where his sweaty, cathartic performances have drawn comparisons to Iggy Pop (another collaborator<\/a>) \u2014 he spoke softly and sincerely, recounting the depths of his ordeal with a mixture of self-deprecation and heartfelt contrition. He admitted that, even before his mental health crisis, his investment in his role as a rock frontman had begun to overwhelm him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI became more and more convinced I was this persona,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to go from a person who creates a fictional character to perform for entertainment purposes, and then to believe that character, it\u2019s a leap \u2014 and it\u2019s dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Brad, 42, saw his brother\u2019s extroverted tendencies taking shape from an early age. Inspired by their father, a devoted amateur musician, the two would attempt their own performances around the house. One time a young Matt picked up their father\u2019s hot soldering iron, thinking it was a microphone. He \u201cscalded and blistered his entire hand,\u201d Brad remembered. \u201cBut, you know, it didn\u2019t scare him away from a mic.\u201d<\/p>\n The brothers moved on to various adolescent bands and formed Cage the Elephant in 2006 along with the bassist Daniel Tichenor and the drummer Jared Champion (the band also includes the guitarist Nick Bockrath and the keyboardist Matthan Minster; the guitarist Lincoln Parish left in 2013). Across their early albums, they honed their sound from a garage-y stomp to something more polished and pop-friendly.<\/p>\n