After blasting onto the music scene with “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” from their self-titled album in 2009, Cage The Elephant has found its footing as one of the most popular rock bands of the era. The band is currently touring in support of Tell Me I’m Pretty, which was produced by Black Keys/The Arcs guitarist Dan Auerbach. Brad Shultz, guitarist of Cage The Elephant, spoke with the Emerald before a home-state show in Louisville, KY.

This Saturday, Cage The Elephant will perform a sold-out show at McMenamin’s Edgefield Ampitheater in Troutdale, OR with Portugal. The Man and Twin Peaks. Check out our interview with Shultz below.

Emerald: Portugal. The Man is a band that has some roots in Portland, so have you guys talked to them about exploring the city when you’re here?

Brad Shultz: Our keyboard player [Matthan Minster] lived in Portland for ten years, we’re pretty familiar with it. We get around Portland pretty good.

Do you guys have any favorite spots in Portland? Doug Fir, Crystal Ballroom is great and then Matthan used to live right down the road from Sassy’s (laughs), so we spent some nights in there. I mean you’re in Portland, it’s like the capital (of strip clubs).

Now I’m sure you’ve been asked about this hundreds of times, but Dan Auerbach produced Tell Me I’m Pretty, so what was it like to work with him? It was awesome. Dan has been a friend of ours for a long time, so it just felt like a natural thing. We have been on tour with the Black Keys for several tours. And in doing those tours we became really close friends and talked to Dan a lot about music and recording philosophies and it seemed like a lot of our ideas matched up. A good producer is supposed to give you a different perspective on things and I think Dan was able to do that and one of the most important things that we came to realize through Dan was that we didn’t have to put every idea into a song. Sometimes it’s addition by subtraction.

I know Dan is a collector of rare guitars; did he influence your instrument selection on the album? I generally use a Fender Mustang. I think I may have used one of his guitars on maybe a track or so. He did have a really nice Gretsch Chet Atkins hollow body, so I used that on a couple songs, but for the most part I just used the Mustang that I have. He actually did get me using flat-wound strings though, that’s something. The Mustang is a very bright sound, and the flat-wound kind of bring a darker sound to things and dull it down. The mix between the two was a very nice sound.

I’ve read that you never learned music theory. Why is that? My dad never put a lot of weight into that when he was teaching us. He wanted us to learn to write songs before we became great musicians. He valued that more than becoming a great musician. He was the kind of guy that would teach me and Matt three chords and then say ‘go write a song,’ so I don’t know. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to know music theory, it’s just I’ve always put more weight into songwriting and I think that takes a lot of my time up.

I just finished a college course about Miles Davis and he said that he thinks of music like a boxing match – the soloist with the most music theory will always know what’s coming next and how to react to what’s going on around him. Would you say that rock music is more of a feeling than a technically demanding form of music? I think rock ‘n’ roll is more of an embodiment of spirit than anything. I think it helps to know music theory and whenever you’re playing music, whatever you’re playing, it’s a plus to know that. Miles Davis might also be feeding a bit into what you’re saying. I can’t remember the drummer’s name, but I was watching this interview and the drummer was talking about how he dropped a stick in the middle of a solo that Miles Davis was doing, and he thought that he screwed the whole thing up, but Miles Davis kept playing and actually fed into the stick drop and kind of changed the whole song. Afterwards the drummer went up to Miles and apologized, and (Davis) said, ‘What are you apologizing for?’ Music is like life. Things happen unexpectedly and you just have to go with the flow so it’s not really a mistake, it’s just part of what that was supposed to be. I don’t know what my point was in that (laughs) but music theory is important. I wish I knew it, I just never spent time to do so.

Obviously Matt is the singer of Cage The Elephant, so what’s it like to be in a touring band with your younger brother? It’s great. I feel blessed that we get to share this experience together. We grew up in a small government housing apartment complex in one bedroom with four boys, so we were always really close. It wasn’t like we had any kinds of feuds or anything. We get in our arguments from time to time. I think we let things boil to a head and then when we actually have a blowout, we have a much better understanding of each other than we would have if we didn’t, and it kind of brings us closer. All in all, I love it.

You are playing in Louisville, KY tonight. Are you going to have a chance to return to your hometown of Bowling Green? We actually did just go home to Bowling Green. My dad played a show at this bar called Pit Balls, which is kinda the place we started, so we all went up there and hung with my dad and had a good time. We haven’t had a chance to play Bowling Green. We will probably do that in the fall or something.

What’s it feel like when you do return home? Usually when we go home and go out in Bowling Green, it’s to that bar (Pit Balls) and it feels like Cheers. It’s really Bowling Green’s version of Cheers so it’s good to see everyone and see old faces.