Matthew Ray Shultz is the lead singer and occasional guitarist for the American rock band Cage the Elephant. Matt also plays guitar on the bonus track "Cover Me Again" off of their self-titled album.2

Matthew Ray Shultz is the lead singer and occasional guitarist for the American rock band Cage the Elephant. Matt also plays guitar on the bonus track "Cover Me Again" off of their self-titled album.

Matthew Ray Shultz is the lead singer and occasional guitarist for the American rock band Cage the Elephant. Matt also plays guitar on the bonus track "Cover Me Again" off of their self-titled album.

In a recent interview with Fender, Cage the Elephant guitarist Brad Shultz discussed everything from his preferred guitars to his rock heroes.

Shultz says he was always attracted to Fender guitars because he saw his musical role models playing them: Jimi Hendrix,Kurt Cobaine, and Dinosaur Jr, specifically.

He recounted receiving his first Fender – a Telecaster – from his parents and now-wife. Since then, he says he likes playing tunes with a Fender Mustang, saying, “I’ve always liked my guitars to have a really good cut, so I’ve really gotten into the Mustang. You can have it so clean that the effects speak very well through the guitar.”

Shultz went on to say that he turned to music as a means of connecting with others.

Come a Little Closer, the first single from Cage The Elephant’s third album, Melophobia, is steered by the powerful bass of Daniel Tichenor. His thick, muted picking on the song conveys all of the grittiness that is found on the rest of the album, where Tichenor stands out with a variety of funky, galloping, and driving bass riffs that hone the melody as a way to move the song. It’s a surprising fact that Tichenor had never touched a bass before joining this band, and it’s even more surprising to find that a near death experience is what led him to join.