Interview by Tom Lanham

Every once in a blue music-biz moon, an artist suddenly shows up on the pop-cultural radar that’s so novel and delightfully refreshing that they might as well have been beamed down from another planet. Two years ago, it was UK DIY duo the Ting Tings. Last year, it was the operatic British indie-soul chanteuse Florence & the Machine. And 2010 might well belong to 18-year-old Christofer Ingle, who several years ago dubbed himself Never Shout Never.
     Naysayers can scoff all they want, but more than a few will change their tune after hearing the adorably addictive folk-pop songs that populate What Is Love?, NSN’s new Butch Walker-produced full-length debut for Warner Bros, which comes on the heels of a succession of equally quirky EPs issued via Ingle’s own Loveway Records. Like his hook-savvy peer Taylor Swift, Ingle puts on no aloof adult airs in his material — he simply writes about what he knows. On “Jane Doe,” he just wants to know a cute girl’s name; “Sacrilegious” finds him questioning the necessity of church in a spiritual teen’s life; and “The Past” details his parent-shocking decision to drop out of high school in Joplin, MO to pursue his musical career. “Love Is Our Weapon” echoes Ingle’s ‘Love Is My Weapon” chest tattoo in the politics-shunning track, with the singer chirping, “Love is the weapon for this wounded generation/Love is the only thing that’s kept me believing that the world will change.”
     So where in the hell did Ingle come from? And why has he started blipping on our radar screens at this particular point in time? Even though he’s not really certain about the latter question, he does have plenty of other answers for ShockHound.  

SHOCKHOUND: Listening to “The Past,” I wondered — did you ever have an IQ test?

CHRISTOFER INGLE: Well, I was in the gifted program in elementary school. But in middle school, I started rebelling against the world and I just pretty much stopped going to school. And by the time I was 16, I’d officially dropped out. But before that, I just sorta stopped going because I hated school. And I’d always get made fun of because I was weird — people didn’t like it ‘cause I was from a small town. But in elementary school, I did go to a gifted program.

SHOCKHOUND: I was in a gifted program too, in fifth grade. And I’ll never forget this horrific braniac creep there named Max, who always bragged to the teacher “I have a hypothesis!” But he couldn’t even climb the rope in gym class. Intelligence without a sense of humor is a waste.

INGLE: I know exactly what you mean. And honestly, everywhere I go, I feel like an outcast almost — it’s really weird. And I freak certain people out, because I care about a lot of things that they don’t, and I don’t care about a lot of things that they see as important. So I just stopped going to school because it didn’t feel right. And the gifted program was all school-based — if you didn’t make straight A’s, then you couldn’t be in the program, and I hated the work involved. I never did homework; I never brought it home. I always just kept it in my locker, and then I’d do it last-minute before class. I guess I was always just that lazy kid. And I had some great ideas, but it felt like I could never do them. I was really into drawing back then, so I’d just usually sketch my classes away.  When I was 14, I started playing guitar. But I played tennis before that, because my dad’s a tennis teacher. So I played in all sorts of tournaments and stuff.

SHOCKHOUND: So you were really on the road to a sports career?

INGLE: I was getting there. I got Top Eight in state in my freshman year of high school, and I was doing pretty well. But then I got this shoulder injury. And my dad showed me a Bob Dylan record and an old Beatles album, and I was like “This music is awesome! I’ve never heard music like this — I’ve only heard Outkast and rap groups from kids at school.” So I started playing guitar and figuring things out in my coupla months off from tennis. And I felt like I’d finally found something that I really actually liked, ya know? Something that I felt like I could stay with. So I didn’t play tennis after that — I just stopped, and I started doing music full-time. And my parents didn’t take that too well. They said “You’re crazy if you just play music — the only way you’ll have a future is in playing sports! That’s what you’re good at!” I wasn’t good at music right when I first started; I was actually really bad. But I felt such a good wave of emotion that I’d never felt with anything else before, so I kept at it.

SHOCKHOUND: Meg & Dia’s kid sister Jade is a rising young tennis star. And the family moved to where the great coaches were.

INGLE: I remember that stuff. And that’s definitely reality, and I was in that world for a while; a lot of my friends were doing that kind of coach-following stuff. But I had my dad, and he taught me everything I know. And occasionally, I still play. One day when we were on tour, we were playing this college. And I saw all these college kids playing tennis, and they seemed pretty good. So I went down there fully clothed, just after finishing my show, and said “Hey — is it cool if I play a set with you guys?” So I played, and I beat ‘em! And I was so pumped, because I hadn’t played tennis in so long. Ever since then, I’ve been getting back onto the court occasionally with my dad. We’ll just hit the ball around and talk about the game; it’s just a good way for me and my dad to communicate and break the ice.

SHOCKHOUND: Was there a lonely harmonica playing as you walked off that college court? And a cute girl sighing “Who are you, stranger?”

INGLE: Yeah! It felt like some weird movie — the college kids were all like “What are you doing here? Where are you from?” I said “Missouri! And I was just playing a show down the street!” But I never dropped the band name; I hate that. So I was like “I’m just some musician dude — I only came here because I really like tennis.” I get really timid about that kinda stuff.

SHOCKHOUND: So what were your worst days in school? Did you have one particular oppressor?

INGLE: It was more like a whole group of guys — they were just the dudes that looked for trouble, and I was an easy way for them to do that. Because I never wanted to fight back or hit anybody, I never wanted to defend myself in that way. I’d always say, “Say what you want — it’s alright.” I’ve always just been really passive. But there was this group of guys who were assholes to me every single day. I liked this girl a whole bunch and I ended up dating her; but then one of the guys in that group made my girlfriend cheat on me with him, and everybody in the school knew about it but me. Nobody told me, because I didn’t have any close enough friends that could actually break the news to me. So one day, word got out, and I was like “Holy shit! Everybody knew?” And it was the worst day, ever, pretty much; I ended up storming out of school, going home and getting a detention for leaving.

SHOCKHOUND: Surely you wrote a song about this?

INGLE: Yeah! I wrote this song called “Losing It,” off The Summer EP record, about that girl. A great, hateful song that says “Fuck that! I’m not cool with you anymore!”

SHOCKHOUND: Well, now your entire career will serve as revenge on those creeps. And just watch — they’ll show up at your gigs, as if nothing happened.

INGLE: Exactly. And it’s true — it’s already happened. We played a show around there a while back, an a couple of those dudes showed up, and they came up and talked to me after the show and were super-nice. And I said, “Do you guys not remember how mean you were to me? It was not cool. We’re cool now, but you gotta remember — you guys were assholes to me, every day!” And actually, by the end of the night, I ended up smoking weed with them and it was all good. Because I don’t hold grudges; there’s no need to.

SHOCKHOUND: When did you get the “Love Is My Weapon” tattoo across your chest?

INGLE: I got that tattoo when I was 17. And it hurt, but I’ve always loved tattoos. And I wanted to get it for a long time, because I’d been thinking about how everybody was talking about weapons and aggression against other people. So I’ve always seen it as the best way to really…well, not hurt somebody, but make somebody realize the truth, simply by showing them love. Like “You did that to me, but it’s okay, because I’m not gonna do the same to you.” I always see love as the best weapon.

SHOCKHOUND: You discuss your spiritual side in “Sacrilegious.” What do you believe?

INGLE: You know, I was raised in the church as a kid — Christ Church of Joplin, a non-denominational. And I believe Jesus was the best example of love;  he didn’t just love the people who were good. So I feel like showing love to people who don’t deserve it is the best thing that you can do. And the way I was raised, in the church, was all moral-based; nothing had to do with spirituality. But I always felt more than just “Don’t sin!” — more of a one-on-one basis of God, whoever and wherever He is. I feel like there’s something more.  And I feel like you don’t need [a pastor] to tell you what that reality is.

SHOCKHOUND: Do you believe this generation is wounded?

INGLE: Oh yeah. Everything’s based on so much bullshit right now, all the media. It’s not about the good things anymore; it’s about the bad things, and that’s how you sell. Put a bad story in your magazine, and suddenly it’s selling. It’s not based on the happy or good things that are going on in society. And I feel like so many people are confused and hurting right now. Because I’m hurting and confused myself — we’re all in the same boat. We’re trying to figure out why we’re here, what’s next and what we’re supposed to do. So I wrote “Love Is Our Weapon” to let people know that it’s okay to be hurting, because love will prevail. Everybody needs to take two steps back and just chill. Because not enough people are appreciating the Earth, either. This is our gift, not something for us to abuse — we should live in harmony with it. And that’s something this generation is just not understanding.

SHOCKHOUND: You ask “What Is Love?” But I’ll bet there’s a girl in every town you play who’s dying to show you!

INGLE: I dunno. It’s weird…girls didn’t really like me that much, because I was hard to understand. But it’s really cool now — a lot of girls come up after the shows and are all super-nice, super-flirty and fun. But it’s been really hard to find any girls of legal age, or girls that I can have a real conversation with. So there’s a whole superficial aspect to all of this. So no, I don’t have a girlfriend now. I’m just trying to write and trying to find myself musically, and that’s a big deal for me. I’m trying to really figure out what I love with music, and I’m always experimenting with new styles. So I can promise you this:  The next record is gonna be crazy! I know it already. I’m really stoked, and we are gonna go all-out. No looking back!