Cage The Elephant guitarist Brad Shultz has spoken to NME about being invited to support Oasis on the North American leg of their 2025 reunion tour, while also previewing the band’s own UK headline dates in February.
Kicking off at Toronto’s Rogers Stadium on August 24, Cage The Elephant will join all American, Canadian and Mexican dates on the Oasis Live ‘25 tour, culminating with two nights in Mexico City on September 12 and 13.
The Kentucky-raised rockers have spent the last months touring in support of their sixth album ‘Neon Pill’, which arrived in May. Speaking fresh off an appearance at Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival last Friday (November 15), Shultz told NME that “I think I might have blacked out a little bit!” upon receiving the news of joining the Gallaghers on the road.
“It’s an honour to support Oasis,” he said. “It’s a band that me and Matt [Shultz, vocalist and younger brother] grew up with. The first song that I ever learned on guitar was ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles, and the second song was ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis. Not too shabby with my first two songs!”
Shultz continued: “They’re a band that I’ve always respected for their songwriting sensibility, but also the rawness and realness of that band – I’ve always gravitated towards that. They make the type of records that you can put on front to back. There’s certain bands that just don’t miss, and they’re one of those bands.”
Check out our full interview below, where Shultz also discussed his own experience being in a band with your brother, his love of the Manchester music scene and new music from Cage The Elephant.
NME: Hello Brad. The next time you’re playing in Mexico City is at the end of the Oasis tour! How was your time at Corona Capital Festival?
Brad Shultz: “It’s such a great city. So much culture, art and great food – nothing to complain about. We hung out with Twin Shadow for a little bit and saw some of the Green Day set. Corona Capital is such a great curation of artists that they put together every year. I wish I stuck around for a little longer this year. Sunday was so loaded: Jack White, Paul McCartney [who jammed together on stage], Iggy Pop. That’s one of the best days of any festival that I’ve seen in forever.”
Has touring felt more pronounced this year, after such a long time away and everything Matt has been through?
“It was such a blessing to get back out, we hadn’t toured in over five years. The first of it was getting back into the groove, per se, because we definitely needed a significant amount of practice. It was pretty interesting relearning the songs and refining that. Not that we necessarily had to find the love of playing live, but just rediscovering it.”
You’re back in the UK and Europe for some headline shows in February – what’s your relationship with touring this side of the pond?
“I feel like the UK is our second home. We signed our first record deal in the UK, and in 2007 we moved over and lived in London – in Leyton – for about two years.”
Do you still reminisce on those London days?
“I don’t even know if it’s still going, but Barfly [now called The Camden Assembly] was a huge thing back then. There were all these super cool curated shows that we’d go out to, back when the grime scene was first happening. Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and all those guys were forming that scene. We also did a lot of touring with bands like Foals, who are still great friends of ours to this day.”
You’re bringing Sunflower Bean and Girl Tones along for the UK shows. What is it you personally love about those bands?
“Sunflower Bean are a band that I really respect. They’re a great live band, and they’re always evolving and growing, exploring different sounds, but still keeping that common thread of themselves.
“Girl Tones are a band that one of my friends referred me to… it was one of those jaw-dropping moments where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m watching something special right now.’ I started forming a friendship with them, ended up [producing] an entire record with them, and we’re now putting it out. The obvious, on-the-nose reference is The White Stripes, because they are a two-piece and it is very visceral and raw, but catchy at the same time. But then it also has undertones of Death From Above 1979 and Amyl And The Sniffers.”
After that, it’s the Oasis tour! Noel and Liam seem to have made up, but will you and Matt be offering them any advice on how to make it last?
“I mean, everybody has their own path – they probably could give me some good advice! Jokingly, me and Matt did say, for the tour promo, we should have put together the old MTV Celebrity Deathmatch. One of us teams up with one of them, and we’ll do the old claymation Battle Royale! But me and Matt have gone through our things as well. Family is family at the end of the day.”
- READ MORE: Cage The Elephant’s Matt Shultz: “I was in psychosis for three years – my arrest was a miracle”
Has it ever got worse than the time when you threw a pizza at Matt?
“Oh God, it was all my fault. We got into an argument. There probably was alcohol involved – that’s the precursor to destruction, anyways. I walked out of the room, and stupidly, I thought that he was talking behind my back. We had this stack of pizzas, and I ran in, picked up this stack of pizzas and just threw them, and they landed on him. I was definitely in the wrong on that one, I felt like a total dick!”
That’s quite innocent compared to when Liam infamously urinated on Noel’s brand new sound system…
“I’m sure we’ve divulged things…”
Beyond Oasis, what does the wider Manchester scene mean to you?
“Oasis were probably the band that we knew the most about, but that was one of the great, eye-opening things when we moved to the UK. The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, bands of that nature – we became obsessed with that whole scene. It had a lasting effect on us, and [has become] a big staple in our songwriting, nowadays.”
‘Ball And Chain’ on your latest record ‘Neon Pill’ feels straight out of Manchester…
“For sure! There are so many things I could point out: Joy Division, the single note down strumming. I really gravitate towards bands where I can hear a little thread of that. There’s a band called Glove [who] I just produced a record for. When I first saw them live, I felt like I was in that era, at a show there.”
Matt told NME in May that he was “hoping to set up a little studio on the bus and work on tunes.” Did that materialise over the summer?
“We haven’t yet, but I definitely want to get back to doing that. We’re very much ‘in the moment’ writers, so it’s convenient to have something like that on the road. I agree with Matt on that one. I feel like ‘Neon Pill’ took so long because we weren’t able to be around each other for the longest time.”
What’s the plan after the Oasis tour?
“We’ll play it by ear. Again, we’re a band that lives in the moment, but I am definitely excited about that phase coming out of the touring cycle, and hopefully we’ll come up with some stuff on tour. I’m excited about writing a new record.”
Will you be heading over to the UK to catch a first look at the Oasis in July?
“My wife and I have already talked. We’re going to come to London and bring our kids over, take them to our old flat in Leyton, take a little family picture. We’re going to go full tourist mode! If I had the ability to come over, there’s no way that I would miss a UK show for Oasis, so we’re definitely gonna do a London one. We’ll be back out there in Leyton, hitting The Red Lion, going down to Leyton Orient…”
Leyton Orient? Are you a big football fan?
“We definitely got more into it when we moved over to the UK. We had a bus driver who was a massive Liverpool fan from the ’80s, and he would tell us the craziest stories – Green Street kind of shit. I like the culture. I’ve always said that most people would mistake me as a soccer coach over a musician, any day! Who’s the short-haired guy with a buzz? He must be a soccer coach.”
Cage The Elephant will tour the UK and Europe in February 2025 before their North American shows with Oasis. Check out the dates below, and visit here for tickets and information.
FEBRUARY
13 – Glasgow, O2 Academy
14 – Manchester, O2 Apollo
16 – Wolverhampton, University of Wolverhampton at The Halls
17 – London, O2 Academy Brixton
20 – Cologne, Palladium
21 – Berlin, Columbiahalle
23 – Amsterdam, AFAS Live
24 – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique
26 – Paris, Zenith
AUGUST
24 – Toronto, Rogers Stadium (supporting Oasis)
25 – Toronto, Rogers Stadium (supporting Oasis)
28 – Chicago, Soldier Field (supporting Oasis)
31 – East Rutherford, MetLife Stadium (supporting Oasis)
SEPTEMBER
1 – East Rutherford, MetLife Stadium (supporting Oasis)
6 – Los Angeles, Rose Bowl Stadium (supporting Oasis)
7 – Los Angeles, Rose Bowl Stadium (supporting Oasis)
12 – Mexico City, Estadio GNP Seguros (supporting Oasis)
13 – Mexico City, Estadio GNP Seguros (supporting Oasis)