Cage the Elephant singer cages self while in Vegas

I was on staycation when a publicist told me the only available day I could interview singer Matt Shultz was during my staycation.

So I said I would do it, because I like Shultz's band Cage the Elephant (their hits include "Shake Me Down" and "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked") - and they're playing tonight at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas pool.

So I got on the phone with Shultz and guess what. He was on staycation, too. We shared a laugh about publicists' making us break our staycations.

"It's almost like we're hanging out together on vacation, sipping mai tais," he joked.

Thankfully, Shultz, 28, turned out to be a sweet kidder, just as you want your alt-rock stars to be.

So here's a conversation between two strangers on staycation:

Shultz was at home in Bowling Green, Ky. I told him I had read a bunch of interviews with him, and they made him seem like a nice guy.

"I'm a horrible person," he joked. "I ran over a child yesterday just because I wanted to, and I watched as their balloon floated in the air."

We both laughed. He had good comic timing, this Cage the Elephant guy.

I told him that ever since his band broke, there's been more music-media attention on Bowling Green - like Athens after REM, and Seattle after Nirvana - but not as massive as that REM/Nirvana level.

"It's really cool here," he said. "It seems like every couple of weeks, there's a new band that's amazing.

"It's not just Bowling Green. It's the area. There's not a lot to do in Bowling Green. It's definitely one of those towns where you have to entertain yourself, so a lot of kids are doing stuff like that."

Cage the Elephant formed because the musicians knew each other from high school. They knew other circles of bands, too.

"It's a real community. Everyone shares, inspiring each other and pushing each other. It's competitive, but not in the sense of stabbing people in the back."

I asked Shultz if his group succeeded from being driven or something. But he laughed at that.

"We're just being a bunch of clowns refusing to get jobs and trying not to grow up," he said and laughed. "Clownery, dude. Clownery!"

For some dumb reason, I tried to start a serious conversation about things in which he has publicly expressed interest, such as the anthropological/psychological impact of advertising.

But since we were both on staycation, we couldn't get worked up about anything.

So we talked about Vegas instead.

"I like Vegas, but it scares the hell out of me. I just board up the (hotel room) door, because everything I love is right outside the door," he said.

"I was walking through one of the casinos, and there was this man talking on the phone and just weeping. I was like, 'Oh no. I don't know what happened, but something happened to that guy. He got bit by Vegas.' "

Incidentally, Shultz said Cage the Elephant had one of the best shows of their lives at The Cosmopolitan, playing with the Black Keys.

Onstage there, he told fans he had never gambled because he was afraid it would tap into his addictive personality.

"So a guy at the end came up and said, 'Here's a dollar. Here's the first dollar you're ever gonna gamble with.'

"I was like, 'Well it's not my money, so I guess it's OK.' So I went and put it in a slot machine and won $15! That's pretty good, right?"

That's good enough for me.

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.