Never Shout Never Chicago Ridge Mall Chicago, IL August 25, 2010

Hundreds of teens (along with their parents of course) waited at 7 a.m. for the mall to open, just to sit in line till 5 p.m. to await for the emo-punk band. Girls screamed at every chance they got whether it was every time a mall security guard walked by, someone walking past them with a pass around their neck, or even a name tag. However, the coffee shop in the mall received excellent business as the teens lingered around sipping on caffeine to stay awake awaiting the special moment to shine and be noticed by their oh so loving band.

When that time finally arrived, Never Shout Never spent two hours shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Every 13-year-old girl and guy satisfied that they had accomplished what they had waited for all day. “It’s soo well worth it! They are so hot I just want to cry!” says Kimberly, a die- hard fan. “Their music just relates to me! It’s like they understand what us teenagers go through everyday,” comments Josh who has been sitting in the parking lot since five in the morning hoping that he would be able to spot the bus and chill with them before the mall opened. At least he accomplished one out of the two.

The band finished the meet and greets with the last dozen or so teens and disappeared to prepare for the main event – the show. I approached Greg Vaughn, the owner of Audiovaughn which did all the light and sound for the show. On a side note I have to give a shout out to the crew not only did these guys to an exceptional job with lighting and sound, but they worked their butt off setting up the stage till four in the morning for a 20 minute show; and they were the nicest, coolest guys I have ever met.

Now back to the show. As a writer and photographer for the show, that I stumbled upon mind you, I have never heard of this band before therefore I had a lot of questions. Who are they? What are they all about? What is the purpose of their music? How old are they? How fresh is this band? And how many albums do they have out already? Also, are they from Chicago?

After talking with Vaughn, I stumbled across their manager. Not only did he look like a… well you tell me what someone wearing sun glasses indoors in the late evening with skin tight jeans and a striped shirt looks to you? He didn’t even bother giving me the time of day, better yet he asked me who I was and why I didn’t know who they were. I explained myself, which he then flushed me away with his hand as though I was a fly in his face. For future reference, you should know better than that when someone is inquiring about your band and is going to write up a review. So mister manager of the band do the whole world a favor get rid of your sun glasses and get better pants. And if you were trying to be funny or you were busy a simple card and let’s talk another time would have sufficed.

After the brush off, I was able to meet with the drummer’s mother. Nathan Ellison has wanted to be a drummer since he was 7 years old. He became involved with Cristofer Drew, the lead singer a year ago. Ok, so now I’m getting to know the name of the band and that there only a year old. As a matter of fact, they’re all just barely out of high school. That explains the massive amount of teens. So here is the run down. Christofer Drew is the lead singer and plays guitar, acoustic mostly. Nathan Ellison is the drummer, who has a very nice mother. Taylor Macfee is the bass player; Dustin Dobernig is the keyboard player; Hayden Kaiser plays the tambourine and bongos; and lastly Caleb Denison who is the other guitar player. I have to admit out of all the band members, Caleb was a lot of fun to watch and seemed pretty funny and very laid back.

Cristofer and the rest of the gang came out on stage, at that point I noticed fake fur rugs on the ground and Critosfer is barefoot. Behind him hanging on the piano is an American flag with the peace symbol decorated on the flag as well. I was confused as to why Cristofer is barefoot on stage it being a mall and all. Maybe it’s just me, but I find feet gross. Later I learned he never wears shows on stage but buy sandals it’s gross.

The music of Never Shout Never is very Disney punk. Very popish and very depressing, most of their songs are about losing a lover, breaking up with a cheater, or falling in love with a woman that he will never see again and didn’t catch her name. That song is “Jane Doe”, sort of clever I suppose. Although I do have to admit that their songs are catchy, I can’t say that their music taste is for everyone. It’s more for teens. As for Josh the die-hard fan, I hope that he understands that there is more to life than just love and lost. Relationships are important, but when you’re a teen your life seems like it ends when special Susie breaks up with you. But we all know sassy Cindy is always available.

Now again keep in mind this is my first introduction to the band. However I have a few complaints. If you are a musician in a band, I don’t care if you preach about peace, and love, and faith, don’t you think that maybe you would want to look presentable and smell clean? I’m sure if you can afford to go on tour you can afford to buy laundry detergent and clean your clothes. I don’t know what statement they are trying to make as a band, but I have a problem when bands don’t take the music seriously and don’t care about their appearance. It appears to be all about glitz and glamour to this band and that’s not right. It should be about the music and about the fans that make you who you are today. The problem with a lot of young bands is they get involved with the fame and forget the whole reason as to why they are here in the first place. They lose the passion, the devotion, and the anticipation of performing on stage at coffee shops or dive bars just to be on stage and sing their own words and play their own music. They lose that desire that feeling of making a difference or being different. They sell out. Listening to the band I didn’t get any feeling coming from Cristofer, no passion in his voice no sense of letting me understand the words that he was singing. As for the rest of the band, well they just looked bored, no movement no excitement.

Perhaps it just comes down to the fact that I am not the right demographic. All and all the fans had fun, which in the end is pretty much all that matters. The band disappeared right after the last song and was never seen again for the rest of the night. The parents took their children home and they tweeted and facebooked about how awesome they were and how hot they all are.

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