Cage The Elephant

The early-2000s garage-rock explosion may have found its epicenters in big cities like New York and London, but its aftershocks could be felt deep into middle America.

And right around the time The White Stripes dropped their final album and The Strokes entered a half-decade hiatus, five young men emerged from the heartland to carry the torch for brash and gritty (but undeniably radio-friendly) rock ‘n’ roll.

Formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Cage the Elephant swaggered onto the national stage as if they were Jack White’s little Southern cousins, rolling up sleazy blues riffs, subtly psychedelic production, and singer Matt Shultz’s cocksure charisma into the breakout single “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” But with 2011’s Thank You, Happy Birthday (which reached No.