Why They're Called... Cage the Elephant

Name That Band!

By David Marchese on July 6, 2010 10:15 AM (19) Comments

Cage the Elephant
Cage the Elephant

Welcome to the weekly SPIN.com feature "Name That Band!" in which we get the inside stories behind the mysterious monikers of some of our favorite artists.

This week: Cage the Elephant, who head out on tour with Stone Temple Pilots this August.

Why Cage the Elephant: "We were in Knoxville, Tennessee, hanging outside a club after a show—this is probably in 2006," remembers singer Matthew Shultz, "and we saw this guy with a shaved head and a long goatee yelling and screaming and talking to himself. I'm pretty sure he had some mental issues going on. He all of a sudden beelined towards us. Everyone jumped into our car and shut the doors. But I didn't make it into the car. I was stuck outside. I thought for sure the guy was gonna stab me or something, but then he came up to me and gave me a hug. The whole time he was saying, 'You have to cage the elephant, you have to cage the elephant.' Afterwards, I was like, 'We gotta name the band that.'"

Previously Rejected Names: "We played as Perfect Confusion for a while. That was a terrible name. We thought of it in high school. It was our version of a trippy band name. New Young Lovers is another one I remember being thrown around. And I've always said that if I ever do a side project it's going to be called Pooh Pooh Pee Pee."

Best Band Names Ever: "For the most part a name's a name, but I like the Pixies, Let's Wrestle, Gang of Four, and the Violent Femmes."

Worst Band Name Ever: "There was a band whose name was pronounced like the name Janis, but whose name was spelled J-Anus. I always thought that was bad."

See past episodes of Name That Band! here.

Topics:

19 Comments

Click here to comment
Posted By abornazyne

08.26.10 8:13 PM

k thats a little cheesy, like youd see in a movie, but i coulde see some skizto doing that.

Posted By Suzette and Mark Langen

08.15.10 9:52 PM

We love you guys. It was so nice of All of you to sign our sons guitar at the meet and greet, meant the world to us and our son. Our son is the lead guitarist of his band "Forge Room". (Heavy metal.) They just need a lead singer and they have the rest down. They have a manager Matt Norton, who has taken them under his wings. Asked my son how long he has taken lessons, lol never 1 lesson! We were right in front when you opened up for STP, on Friday August 13, 2010. We feel the music thru you like no other band! Keep on rocken and we will be there to rock with you when your back!!
Your an inspiration to our son Mike, he is very determined to make it in the music world just as you have, god willing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suzete And Mark Langen

Mike Dillon=Forge Room"

Posted By Anonymous

07.19.10 8:51 PM

Okay, Lincoln.

Posted By Anonymous

07.14.10 2:35 AM

Haha no one will know the truth about the band name in an interview with sun Matt said I was having my fortune told and the woman pulled out this card and started freaking out. She was saying "cage the elephant" over and over. It freaked me out, too, and I got up and left. It was really weird.

Posted By Billybud

07.13.10 11:55 AM

Cage the Elephant is an amazingly awesome band with a pretty silly name. It's funny that they talk about that band J****, they have one of the stupider names out there and they suck-ass on top of it. No one here in Chicago likes them - poseurs!!!! Did they realize that in French their name is "the assh*le"? J' ****. Hilarious!!!!

Keep rocking Cage, can't wait to see you next month with STP.

Posted By Anonymous

07.10.10 11:17 AM

I think the band is having a bit of fun with the press about this "mysterious moniker." In an interview in the fall of 2009, Matt Shultz told our newspaper that the name was derived from a game on the back of a cereal box.

Posted By James Brown

07.10.10 12:47 AM

I'm from Kentucky, and i feel like they are the beswt thing to come out of my state right under Wildcat basketball

Posted By Anonymous

07.09.10 11:30 PM

HAHAHA. I saw them play with J-**** back in November in St. Louis, thats pretty funny. J-**** is a pretty awful band, personal opinion of course. Cage is great, I've seen them twice and highly highly highly recommend everyone see them if they get the chance, even if you don't know a lot of there stuff you will not regret checking them out! :]

Posted By ally

07.09.10 10:29 PM

You guys are awesome...saw you in Colorado...love you....listen to you every day....AND.....I always thought your name had something to do with knowledge...like doesn't an elephant represent knowledge or something? So I though y'all were trapping knowledge.

Posted By Anonymous

07.09.10 7:38 PM

you guys kick ass...keep rockin

Posted By rockin RD

07.09.10 7:17 PM

If you called yourselves poop poop pee pee, , I'd still think you were the best thing on my MP3!!

Posted By Anonymous

07.08.10 5:29 PM

I was introduced to this band by my man Ryan Zumwalt who told me to come check out a band he thought was ready to BLOW UP!!! I went and after the show was like...THESE BOYS ARE BADA$$!!! CTE is going to be a force in music for a long time!!

They will continue to grow a fan base and be World Wide in a few years!

Posted By Anonymous

07.08.10 1:28 PM

I agree this is one hellof a band.Not many come out with a cd that every song is great.I would love to see them in concert.I caught A glimpse on I think you tube and was blown away.Great band,great shows what more could you want.Keep it up....

Posted By ella bay

07.08.10 10:28 AM

what happened to the other stories about how the band got their name? especially the one about matt's alphabet cereal? is this another ploy?

Posted By Dantana

07.07.10 11:35 PM

You gotta see CTE. This band Rocks and Matt Shultz reminds me of IGGY on stage! Great Music and incredible live show!
Check out the photos here!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dantana_images/sets/72157623641251668/
and a slide show!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dantana_images/sets/72157623641251668/show/
Plus a video interview of Matt & Brad Shultz!
http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/search?q=cage+the+elephant

Posted By Sierra

07.07.10 4:11 PM

Honestly, this is one of the best bands to come out in a very long time. And their live shows, whew! Insane.

Posted By Mdavis

07.07.10 3:55 PM

I love this band! I was introduced to them when they played Bonnaroo in 2009. Everytime they are in town I see them. Their energy on stage is unmatched by the recording on their album. They put on a great show. can't wait for their next album.

Posted By Anonymous

07.07.10 11:27 AM

This is an incredible band and very underrated, great fast pace music and it reminds me of the Rolling Stones somewhat. Cant wait for their second album this year!

Posted By Anonymous

07.06.10 6:56 PM

cage the elephant is a totally underrated band. def listen to their album and give em a shot. rock on

Got something to say?

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • No HTML tags allowed
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Use <!--pagebreak--> to create page breaks.

More information about formatting options

Are You Human?
enter the two words below to post your comment.

Connect With Spin

Plus:Facebook | MySpace | Twitter