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there’s all this change betweenrecords, but I think there was justso much fear, and it binds people.embarrassed, or if you don’t feel vulnerableabout the lyrics you’re singing, you’re probablynot writing good lyrics.”MC: It sounds like you decided to become abetter, more sensitive listener, more aware ofpeople, places and things around you?Shultz: I started having my friends come over,and I was really into hot sake that winter, andwe’d crack open some hot sake, and they’djust sit on my couch and start talking to me. Itwas weird, because anytime you let someonejust start talking to you about their life like that,at least in my experience, you immediatelybecome a psychiatrist, people weeping on yourcouch [laughs]. But it was amazing; the thingsthey were saying were incredible. I was takingwhat they were saying, and creating lines. It wasa really cool experiment that led to a whole newapproach of creating lyrics.BY JESSICA PACEPHOTOS BY COLIN LANEMC: Do you feel like you’ve finally hit yourcreative stride with Melophobia and “ComeA Little Closer,” the album’s single?Shultz: I think we’ve written this record notto cater to cool, just to communicate a lot.It wasn’t about creating a sound that wasnecessarily a nod to your predecessors orripping them off. It was about sitting down anddrawing something and continuing to drawthis image to provoke a feeling. Do I want thischaracter to make me panic whenever I seeit? Just making sure that everything I put into itmakes you uncomfortable.Whatever I was trying to communicate, wewould work on it until it did that for us. It wasprobably the hardest record we ever made,because it was like the pains of childbirth, butto a certain extent, it felt like the first recordwe ever made. It felt like freedom. People ininterviews have said it’s so crazy and thatMC: It’s been exciting to see andhear Cage develop in interestingdirections.Shultz: A lot of different elementshave played into that. When wewere younger, we just wanted toget out of town and be a genuinerock band, so we made a recordlike that. And you get bumps andbruises along the way, either selfinflictedor inflicted by other people,and you look at your creativeprocess and say, “What can I do togrow as a writer?”It’s funny, because as humanbeings we grow, and it’s not alinear thing where you start hereand move forward. We growlike trees in all these differentdirections, and who’s to say what’sa good direction or bad direction? Sometimeswhen it seems you’re moving backward, you’reactually moving forward, and when it seemsyou’re moving forward, you’re actually movingbackward. It was that kind of thing for me.Growing up, I’ve always been told in ourmusic career that the more people you emulate,the better your band is going to be. After a while,it just got old and hard to chase that. It wasn’tsomething we wanted to do anymore. I’d ratherjust create sounds that come from ourselves,and if people don’t like it, that’s fine.MC: Can you talk about some of the songsand the singles on the record, the process ofwriting them and how they came together?Shultz: “Telescope” was one of my favorites.We’d spent a year off the road, and it was thefirst time I’d ever had my own place, ever. Ididn’t know what to do with myself, becauseApril 2014 musicconnection.com 37