Since they arrived on the country scene back in 2013 with their debut single ‘The South’, The Cadillac Three have earned themselves a reputation as one of Nashville’s most exciting bands.
Blending country, funk and rock and roll, they’ve released five albums – most recently 2020’s ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’ – and played to audiences all around the world, winning over fans with their high-octane performance style and incredible musicianship. Now they’re back in the UK for their Hillbilly Hypnotised tour, on their first visit here since 2017.
Before their headline set at last week’s The Long Road festival, I sat down with band members Jaren, Kelby and Neil to talk about their love for UK fans, their plans for new music and more – including their best dad jokes…
Welcome back to the UK!
All: Thank you!
I can’t believe it’s been five years since you were last here…
Neil: Feels like it anyway.
Kelby: We were supposed to be here for C2C in 2020, and then the world shut down. We were actually in London so we had to get on flights, and we’ve been impatiently waiting ever since to get back.
You’ve already played a few shows on your Hillbilly Hypnotised tour this time – how are you finding being back?
Neil: The shows have been great. The weather’s great. We haven’t been here in the summertime in years. So yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.
Kelby: Yeah, Glasgow and Manchester, both the shows were great. Everybody saved their tickets from rescheduled tours and showed up, so it’s been awesome.
What is it you particularly like about playing for UK audiences?
Neil: Very attentive.
Jaren: I just love the fact that fans over here actually buy records and listen to the whole record. They’re not just listening to things you’ve heard on the radio or whatever. That’s a lot of fun for us because we’re not one of these bands that just sits here and tries to put out one song at a time. We try to put out full bodies of work and that seems to be really respected over here.
You were originally due to tour over here last year to mark your tenth anniversary as a band. What would you say is the secret for having made it work for so long?
Kelby: Oh, I don’t know. We don’t hate each other any more, I guess? We got over it [laughs].
Jaren: Yeah, we all shower together, eat together, sleep together…
Neil: Honestly, touring. You just tour and tour and tour and then you wake up and it’s been ten years. I think Covid was the first time we slowed down long enough to be like, “oh wow, it’s actually been a long time” and then look towards the future. So it was a good break. It was like a necessary break for us, even though it was not great for the world.
Jaren: We also grew up together too, so it’s a little different than a lot of bands that find that inner thing that is tough to deal with because you don’t really know each other. And we three, we’re all pretty much brothers, so it’s a lot of fun.
How do you feel your music has evolved over that time? I know with the last couple of records you’ve gone more in a funk direction…
Jaren: We just try to use all the influences that we have.
Neil: Yeah. And keeping it fresh for ourselves too. I think that’s a big part of it, is making sure we’re still having fun.
How do you find playing at festivals like The Long Road compared to your own shows?
Kelby: Yeah, I think they’re all fun. [The Long Road] is the first time we’ve got to headline a festival over here in the UK, so we’re really excited about that. Headlining over here, everybody, like Jaren was saying they know all the albums and whatnot, so we’re able to dig pretty deep into the set list and play a lot of stuff.
Are there any songs you’re particularly looking forward to playing on this tour?
Jaren: I love the funk stuff. Like the ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’ stuff is my favourite. It’s a completely different groove for the three of us and we’re gonna bring our friend Lindsay Ell [who is supporting the band on tour] out to play with us. It’s cool.
You’ve also been doing your ‘Pub Round Here’ pre-show events on this tour – can you tell us more about that?
Kelby: Yeah, well our fans meet up usually before shows to have beers anyway, so we’re just trying to give them a place to do that so they can all be in the same room. And then it’s an opportunity for us to come and pop by and see a few fans where it makes sense. Sometimes we don’t get to because of soundchecks but we try to get by there if we can. Everybody hasn’t been in the same room for a while so it’s just a nice way to try and get everybody together.
You’ve also now got a radio show on Planet Rock – what have you learned from doing that and is there anything from it that you’ve applied to other projects?
Neil: It’s been really fun. You know, we had this thing called Country Fuzz Radio for a couple of years that we really enjoyed doing, and then we wanted to find a bigger platform for that. So Planet Rock came in and gave us this show, and it’s really fun because we get to play whatever we want and play our influences. Every band from AC/DC to us came from a garage, so it’s really interesting to see what that’s like and explore that. And play people that are new and our influences as well.
You recently put out a tweet asking people for their best dad jokes, so now I’ve got to ask you what your best dad jokes are…
All: [laugh]
Neil: Oh man. I come up with them on the spot all the time and my wife rolls her eyes. I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Jaren: Best dad joke? Let’s see…
Neil: Pretty much all my jokes are dad jokes. They’re bad.
Jaren: I got one. “Hey son, is that meatloaf?” “No dad, it’s poop!” [laughs]
Kelby: I can’t think of any jokes off the top of my head. I know some good ones but of course they don’t come when you need ’em to [laughs].
What’s the song you wish you’d written?
Jaren: Oh man. ‘Here Comes My Girl’ [by Tom Petty]. Pretty much anything by the Beatles. My son’s name is Jude so I kind of wish I’d written ‘Hey Jude’.
Kelby: Maybe we need a second version or something. Part two. Hey Jude part two. Hey Juder [laughs].
Do you have any plans for new music soon? I saw online that you’d started work on writing the next record…
Neil: Yeah. We’ve been in the studio, we’re working on new music, maybe halfway done with stuff. We’re on our way to another album. And every album’s kind of different. You experiment until you land on a bunch of stuff that you’re excited about, so we’re in the middle of that right now.
Is it going to be similar to the last one?
Kelby: No.
Jaren: It’s gonna be… the last one was more of the funk thing, like you said, and this one’s gonna be heavy and big rock songs. We’ve been through a lot in the last few years, everybody has, so there’s gonna be some of that in there and there’s gonna be some heavy riffs. It’s gonna be fun.
Will you be playing any of the new songs while you’re over here?
Jaren: It depends on how drunk we get! [laughs]
And lastly – are you going to come back to the UK and see us again soon after this tour?
Neil: We will, yeah. To be determined as to when but hopefully sometime next year.
The Cadillac Three’s latest album, ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’, is out now on Big Machine Records.
