Cage The Elephant’s ‘Melophobia’ Influenced By Modest Mouse

October 15th, 2013

Rebecca Docter

In a recent interview with Fuse, members of Cage The Elephant revealed that they have Modest Mouse to thank for the band’s newest release, Melophobia.

After years of touring in support of previous releases Cage The Elephant and Thank You, Happy Birthday, the band feared writing music that “catered to be perceived as artistic, poetic, cool, commercial or anything other than being an honest communicator of a thought or feeling that genuinely inspired you.”

Isaac Brock, the Modest Mouse frontman who signed Morning Teleportation (close friends of Cage The Elephant), told a member of Morning Teleportation that “unless he’s slightly embarrassed by the lyrics he’s singing, then he’s probably not doing a good job at writing songs.”

This sentiment resonated with Cage The Elephant vocalist Matt Shultz, who later sat down to write Melophobia (which is defined as “a fear of music”).