It’s been a hell of a year for Cage The Elephant, the best thing to come out of Kentucky since distilled corn.
After the release of their self-titled debut a year ago, scoring the opening slot on the big Stone Temple Pilots tour this summer, a successful jaunt of their own, and a few hit singles (“Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”, “Back Against The Wall”, “In One Ear”)..the group could easily take five and not be blamed for it.
Instead, they’re going to continue to ride the wave and their 2nd album is slated for a January 11th release, entitled ‘Thank You, Happy Birthday’.
They’ve made the first single available, called “Shake Me Down”, and rumor has it that the percussive bombardment that you hear littered throughout is drummer Jared Champion wailing away on a toy drum kit.
And in celebration of the next Record Store Day (goodbye recent paychecks) on Nov. 26th, Cage The Elephant is putting out a 7″ vinyl of “Shake Me Down” exclusively that day, with a b-side on it entitled “Aberdeen”.
Here’s “Shake Me Down”, and below a video shot by the NME at South By Southwest 2009, featuring a less-chaotic-than-they-normally-are-on-stage frontman Matt Schultz:
Cage The Elephant – “Shake Me Down”