Anytime I see young artists rise to the top of the charts and pave a way for themselves in the music world, I always end up looking back at the accomplishments of my youth. It is at this point that I realize my biggest achievement was not getting into a car accident—except the time I ran over a concrete divider, but that doesn’t really count. But this obviously isn’t about me—after all, I’m not the one over whom record labels were fighting and I’ve never appeared on MTV’s TRL. Those credits belong to 18-year-old singer, songwriter, and guitarist Christofer Drew Ingle.
Ingle was raised in Joplin, MO, but the light, dreamy tones of his music accurately suggest Californian roots. After posting his tracks on MySpace and touring on his own, the young performer known as Never Shout Never started to see his self-promotion pay off in big ways. Ingle performed the song “Bigcitydreams” on TRL in 2008. The track has been on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart for over 46 weeks, previously reaching the number one spot and currently settled comfortably in the top 10. In 2009, Never Shout Never signed with Warner Bros. Records.
Never Shout Never is now touring with Boys Like Girls, with dates lined up until August. Having already released several EPs, he has his debut full-length album underway and is expecting to release it in December or January. On the first night of his current tour, Ingle took time to talk to The Aquarian about starting his career, his upcoming album and touring.
Has it been hard adjusting to touring so much and life on the road?
Not so much. I started touring when I was 16 in my car so it’s only getting easier. Now we’re in a bus and it’s really, really relaxing almost. You can sleep every night and you have a place you can call your own instead of an old, little car.
So how long have you been writing and performing your own songs?
For about four years now, ever since I was about 14.
Did living in the Midwest influence your music at all or was music more of an escape for you?
It was an escape, but it also influenced me— like people that I played with growing up, like local bands. They were all great influences on me, they really showed me a lot of love, got me in a lot of cool shows and stuff, so it was awesome. I guess it was an escape musically, but I have a lot of influences— like the way I act on stage—from good friends back home I used to play with a lot more.
