Back in 2011, when I first became familiar with the internet, I put most of my time into finding new musical artists on YouTube. From there, I found artists like Before You Exit, One Direction and Never Shout Never. Although I grew out of my One Direction and Before You Exit phases, I never grew out of my Never Shout Never phase. When I first found the band I knew that their music would stick with me for a long time. The lead Singer, Christofer Drew, not only has an incredible voice, but he also has a very poetic way of writing his music.

I was fortunate enough at the age of 13 to be able to convince my parents to take me to the final Bamboozle Music Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I remember the tickets for this event were so expensive, but at the time I didn’t care. My parents had paid so much just for me to go see one artist perform a 30-minute set. I was so close to meeting him later on that day but hadn't made it in time for the meet and greet. I stood at the barricade only a few feet away from him as he met everyone. At the end of the day, I was grateful that I was able to experience his music live.

A few years went by where I didn’t pay much attention to the band’s music because of school and other artists, but one day as I was going through my iTunes, I remember stumbling upon all the songs I had of their’s and falling in love with the music all over again. Their songs from the older albums are some of my favorite. Their most popular song “Trouble” appears on the EP Me and My Uke (2009). The band’s most recent album Black Cat came out in August of 2015. The album is a bit different from his older stuff but by listening to this album and one of his older ones you can tell his writing skills have grown a lot from 2009.

After realizing my love for Never Shout Never all over again, I was finally able to go see them live in March of 2015. They were on tour with Me Like Bees and Hayley Kiyoko during their Mid-Winter Night’s Dream Acoustic Tour. This show reminded me how much I loved seeing them live. It brought me back to the first time I ever saw them and how happy their music made me. Then later on that year, it was announced that Never Shout Never was going to be playing Warped Tour and, I of course had to go to that as well. I, unfortunately, didn’t get to see their set because I was too busy standing in line for a meet and greet, but I got to experience a songwriting workshop with their lead singer. Christofer Drew taught those of us who were there that the more knowledge you feed your brain the more you’ll be able to produce in a creative form, whether it be through writing or through music. He even stated his favorite dinosaur was the thesaurus (what a great pun). This day also happened to be the day I finally got to meet someone who had impacted my life in a very positive way. Christofer Drew’s music had inspired me to want to make music myself, whether I was just covering songs with my friends or writing my own.

I then got to see them once more this year and was the closest I had ever been during one of their sets. It was one of those sets I will never forget. Yet again, this set reminded me of when I first saw them live and brought me right back to being 12 years old at the back of a giant crowd at an overpriced music festival. Each experience I’ve had viewing this artist will always be some of my favorite concerts. I will always be forever grateful for being able to experience his music live after listening to him for so many years. All of their music has helped me realize my love for the guitar, ukulele, and singing. To this day, Never Shout Never continues to be my main inspiration for me wanting to write my own music and perform it live for anyone who cares to listen to it.