The Hot Seat

The Cab Never Shout Never

By Alexis Schwallier-- Staff Writer, South/Southeast

Up until recently, Christofer Drew was better known for his one man band, NeverShoutNever - a project he has been working on since 2005. Now, he has a full band supporting him, not only on stage, but throughout the writing and recording process. The band, which consists of Caleb Denison, Hayden Kaiser, and Taylor MacFee, recently released their third full length album on September 20, called Time Travel.  I caught up with the guys in Charlotte, NC to talk Time Travel, influences, and whats in store for the future.

AS: With "Time Travel" it's clear there was a lot of experimentation and that this album is very different from past albums. Why was developing and experimenting important? And why did you decide to change direction?
Christofer: I mean, probably the main reason is…just to do it. You know what I mean, cause, you know we don't want to be a band that's stuck doing the same thing over and over again.  The more that we can experiment with ear record, the better, you know? I think we also got into a groove of self producing. Nothing is going to be produced by anyone else, unless it's a special album or something.

AS: I know this is the first time you've recorded with a full band. Did they offer input when writing and recording "Time Travel"?
Christofer: Yeah, we've been doing this as a full band for awhile now. This was really the first complete joint effort of all four of us and really,uh, putting our minds together to make something that was kind of what we all wanted and were feeling at the time.

AS: Compared to what you used to listen to, what influenced you to help write the new album? What were you listening to?
Christofer: A lot more rock. Modern rock kind of influenced me a lot. Like the Foo Fighters and stuff like that. The tones..the licks.

Taylor: Some older stuff
Caleb: We're kind of diverse in our music tastes
Christofer: You know, Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon influenced too. That was like their very synth heavy album. This will probably be the most synth we'll ever use. I don't know if we'll ever use it again  - You know, it was kind of just an experiment.
Taylor: And boy was it fun…
Christofer: Oh, it was fun. I felt like a mad scientist programming some of those synth parts.


AS: Does the title have any significance?
Christofer: Um, you know, it does. But I don't want to go into it.

AS:  Okay. Do you think that you're going to keep up with the feel and sound of "Time Travel"  or do you think you're going to keep experimenting and trying new avenues?
Christofer: Well, we already pretty much have our next album written. We're just waiting to record it. We're going back home and we're actually working on building a studio right now. For this band, and for all our friends bands and stuff. And uh, I think it's going to be more…defiantly a lot more, just rock. There's defiantly going to be some lighter songs. But it's always going to have a very drivey beat to it. Um, very big beat kind of stuff but still keeping it a very classic style of song writing.

AS: Can we expect something like "Time Travel"?
Christofer: No.
Caleb: Exactly like it, but not the same at all.
Christofer: Nah, it'll actually be completely different.
Caleb: I'm just teasing.


AS: That's always a good thing, though. Since you've been touring and have come out with the album, what have your fans reactions been?
Christofer: Their just a little bit more confused. Like, 'What is this band all about?' I mean every record we've done as been pretty different. Uh, I think we want to keep going with that vain of like 'Who knows what the fuck those guys will put out next.' Could be fucking….you know, polka music. Who knows? Defiantly keeping the psychedelic feel though, throughout everything we do.

AS: I know you said you don't like the name NeverShoutNever. Are you worried that people won't give the new album a chance because they only know you for your NeverShoutNever old, acoustic stuff?
Christofer: I don't think so. I think that time will tell all. You know, I think if we're patient and keep doing exactly what we want, eventually it'll catch on. And we're going to feel so good about what we are doing because in the long run we did exactly what we want.

AS: Do you ever wish that you would have taken the time to grow and find your style before getting serious? Or do has the whole experience helped bring you to this point?
Christofer: I think it's fun that we got the document the entire process. You know, and um, it's good. It gives you perspective on all the points that you're in, in your life. But you know, now going into it, going into what I feel like is going to be our prime as a band is just feeling good about the music we're playing. I just feel like there are no limits to where we're going to go because we're all decent musicians. There's just not a lot of bands going where we want to go. And I think we might be the first to go there. You know, we're just going to take everybody somewhere. Who knows where it's going to lead.

AS: From when you first started, do you feel like you have achieved all the goals that you wanted?
Christofer: Yeah, I mean I kind of went blind and didn't know what was going to happen. But I mean, Hell, bringing it to this moment is pretty fucking badass, it feels awesome. We're still on the road, you know, three or four years down the road from the start of the project - that's an accomplishment in itself. A lot of bands don't survive that long. Especially these days.

AS: After this tour you're going to the UK. Then what? What's next?
We're going to start recording the new album after this tour is over. We're going to hopefully try to get it done before the UK.

AS: Anything else that you guys are working on?
Christofer: Yeah, we got a metal side project, Eatmewhileimhot! that has a new record coming out, and were either choosing between the names Gates of Hell, Damn Straight, or Apthera…and Uh, it's going to be badass. I'm working on some like experimental dub step stuff on the side called GONZO. And Tay's got a side project called Glenwood with our buddy Scott. It's like trash, trash/punk sort of stuff.
Taylor: We've got a lot of little things that'll be dropping
Christofer: we've got hundreds of songs waiting to be recorded in our whole friend group. we all kind of work together.
Caleb: That ain't no joke….
Christofer: That ain't no joke, we're not toying around.
Caleb: Well, we came to chew bubblegum and kick ass and we don't have any bubblegum.

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