Christofer Drew, better known as NeverShoutNever!, has mastered the art of MySpace celebrity. The only unsigned musician who gets more daily plays than Drew is Tila Tequila, according to the MySpace Top Artists Charts, and sometimes he even edges her out. Fortunately, he’s been keeping better company lately. The Joplin teenager (he’s 18) went to California in January to record his first full-length album with Forrest Kline of Hellogoodbye. Turning down multiple big record label offers, Drew is opting to release the CD on his own in May. Until then, he’ll be touring non-stop. Well, almost. Drew has been spending a lot of time in Springfield lately, finishing vocals for his CD and playing a sold out show at Gallery Sounds on Valentine’s Day.
I should also point out that there’s a calm reluctance to NeverShoutNever!’s success that makes him really easy to like. While most pop punk bands pimp out their MySpace with band glamour shots, the NeverShoutNever! page is totally modest. Drew still uses the default MySpace layout with the white background. In one blog, he tries to convince his teenage fans that they’re really not in love with him. And while recording an EP with a ukulele sounds a little gimmicky, Drew’s solid songwriting more than makes up for it. I’m sure 200,000 of his MySpace friends agree.
Interview:
I spoke to Christofer a day before his sold out Springfield show.
Looks you have a bunch of friends who play in Springfield bands. How did you get involved in the music scene here?
Christofer Drew: I just started playing shows up there and met some friends and hung out with other bands. We traded numbers and started playing more shows together.
What venues have you played here?
CD: I played Billiard’s and Randy Bacon’s once. And then Jordan Creek.
This might just be a rumor. Someone told told me that you shrugged off your MySpace success until your parents insisted that you get a manager. Is that true?
CD: Not really. I actually got my manager before I started getting a lot of plays. He just found me randomly online one day and just hit me up and it went from there. My parents never really got involved. I still live with them and I’m just hanging out, but they’re still really not involved.
Do your parents go to many of your shows out of town?
CD: No, they don’t really go to many shows. They’ve been to like two or three.
When Weezer got signed to a big record label, Rivers Cuomo immediately wrote a few of the best songs on the Blue Album. I was wondering if you had a similar experience when you found you were going to tour and record an album in California. Is it easier or harder to write new songs now?
CD: It’s getting easier, actually. I feel like I’m progressing as a songwriter. Being away from home, you know, for that long by myself out in California was a good experience. It really helped me find myself. I wrote three or four songs over there just alone.
I’m sure you have a small team of music experts, but does the business side of your music ever freak you out? Or do you not worry about it?
CD: I don’t have a label or anything, so I kind of hang out and also I don’t give up any rights to my songs. I can just write and put out whatever I want, whenever I want. I only really give out about 20 percent of my income instead of (the roughly) 75 percent if I was signed to a label. So I feel like I’m in a pretty good situation right now. I guess we’ll see how the full-length goes and stuff.
What’s your favorite thing about living in Joplin?
CD: Geeze, I don’t know. I guess my friends. When everyone is there we can just hang out whenever. It’s always nice to come home to a small town. It’s not too busy. It’s just very peaceful.
What’s your favorite thing to do when you come to Springfield?
CD: Usually when I come there I’m recording or playing a show.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in Springfield?
CD: I’ve been going to Kai lately.
You should try the green curry tofu at Thai Express.
CD: Wow, okay.
What’s your favorite Beatles album and why?
CD: That’s a tough one. I try not to answer that one when I don’t have to. I like Abbey Road a lot and I like Yellow Submarine. I usually make huge mix CDs. I’ll put all the albums on my iTunes and make mix CDs of all the different moods I’m in.
