June 4th, 2012 
Jacob Tender 
Christofer Drew of Never Shout Never has never been one to stay quiet about how he feels on any topic. Once again, that became very clear in a brand new interview with Bryan Stars, a 22 year old music interviewer with a knack for silly questions and a very loose style of conversation.
In the interview (which is a a whopping 40+ minutes long), Drew takes the opportunity to tell Bryan exactly how he feels about his technique and his choice of questions. He quite obviously hurt Bryan’s feelings. That much is concluded from the short crying scene edited into the tail end of the interview.
The fan reaction has been overwhelmingly one-sided as Drew loses followers on Twitter and bands call him out in disrespect, instead showing their support for Bryan.
Now, we are NOT taking sides on this issue. That must be made perfectly clear. That being said, we’d like to take an unbiased look at the interview and what was said. Here it goes…
Clearly Drew and his bandmates are not thrilled to do this interview. That is obvious right off the bat. While Chris does not always have the most positive demeanor, he took an annoyed stance right from the start. Going into a Bryan Stars interview isn’t exactly a surprise when it comes to the questions being asked, but normally a band member or band members take it for what it is.
Bryan dives right into his normal slew of silliness with questions like, “What would your porn star name be?” or “What is your favorite feature on Chris’ body?” This is where I’m normally reminded that I’m not a big fan of Bryan’s interview technique and I find something else to do (without comment). I think that same idea begins to cross the band’s mind. To be fair, though, Chris does say from the start, ever subtly, that they wish to talk about music, not silly things. In fact, throughout the entire interview, Drew keeps dropping hints that they should be talking about music, even referencing that they are in the studio. Bryan seemingly ignores these transitions and continues to ask his humor-filled queries.
At about 35 minutes into the video, Bryan is quieted by the now extremely annoyed Christofer Drew who begins to berate Stars for his interview tactics. This is the controversy. Is Drew in the right or is he being overly critical? Again, here is our unbiased opinion.
He is both right and wrong. Going into a Bryan Stars interview means one thing, pointless banter and irrelevant questions. Being their second interview, this must come as no surprise. I think they knew this going in and they had plans to speak up about it. Now, on Drew’s defense, Bryan Stars interviews are rather pointless. Despite saying in most interviews that it’s “all about the music,” Stars really does talk very little about music, rather focusing on questions surrounding teen love or physical appearance.
From a journalistic standpoint, this is rather rude and disrespectful to any band looking for a good outlet to share their passion for music to new people. In music, the focus SHOULD be on music and the process that goes into making it, not skinny jeans and haircuts. This is the point Drew drives home, but in a fashion that left much to be desired. He could have done this off camera, for one. That is just courtesy, even if you are annoyed. They also could have at any time simply stopped the interview, then told him why they decided to do so.
Instead, the bashed him on his own show and Stars, who likely knew the sympathy hits and interview like this would bring, posted it for all of his fans to see. Heck, the man trended world-wide on Twitter over the ordeal. It’s here we find issue with Stars. Sure, being honest and true to your fans is important, but starting drama by posting this isn’t the sort of attention you want. When it is “all about the music,” why would you want to hurt the musicians you were originally trying to help promote, even in the style Stars does it in. Sure, they made a fool out of you on your own dime (he drove 7 hours to do the interview), but if you take the arrogance and bitterness out of their words, you’re left with a good lesson.
This industry, beyond the music, is based in professionalism. Interviews require preparation, careful research, and intelligent questioning. That is what gets you noticed as a credible source of information. Perhaps that isn’t Bryan Stars’ intent, maybe he is fine with the goofiness and lack of reporting. That’s up to him, but what this interview really tells us is that some bands want their fans to know what’s going on, not what sort of underwear they choose to wear and why. Both sides have reasons to be upset at the other party, but we don’t appreciate the drama of young adults storming our timelines.
Watch the interview for yourself right below and give us your educated thoughts. Was Chris right to call out Bryan? (skip to 35 minutes if you’re on a time constraint)
EDIT: After reading reading through comments defending either party or calling out myself on bias towards either party, I’d like to say this.
I really think that NSN and their publicist (who likely set it up, not Drew himself) should have declined the interview or just asked it to end in a professional way. What they did to Bryan was very rude and discourteous. At the same time, however, despite his good intentions and unconventional style of interviewing, Bryan should have just scrapped the interview. Publishing it makes him no better than Christofer Drew.
Everyone has bad interviews sometimes, I have, other writers on Under The Gun, Absolutepunk, and AltPress have, it’s a part of industry life. Not everything goes the way you’d like it to. Bryan himself says that in his video and I fully agree. I think he understands. I think it’s better to learn from an interview like this one though, rather than “finishing it” with a few shots of you crying over it. That isn’t anyway to go about it. That doesn’t help anyone. It can only hurt. Sometimes you have to deal with jerk musicians or maybe they are just having a bad day, but in cases like that, you move on to the next interview and keep doing your thing, you grow. Maybe you even do things a bit different next time.
In short, the video shouldn’t have been posted, Chris’ people should have told him no, and we could continue just liking or disliking them for their music or interviews, not for ridiculous dramatic reasons like those that unfolded this week. On that, I think we can all agree.
Thanks for reading.
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I know most people will take Bryan side, but I gotta agree with Chris. I’m not a fan of Bryan’s interviews because they remind me of those shallow teen magazine interviews. Chris also stood up fro his fellow band mates which is really rare in alot of musicians. Look I really don’t give a fuck about porn stars names. They work hard in making their music, and then having someone asking them about naked wrestling and stuff is just kind of insulting.. He may have put it harshly but they are a BAND, they make MUSIC, and the end of the day it isn’t about feminine features and breaking up with girls it’s about the MUSIC. Clearly Bryan wanted to start drama why else would he add the crying bit in the end or even put up the video anyways? This is just getting him sympathy and publicity and basing musicians who just wanted to talk about their music and be taken seriously
bryan posted the video because everyone was begging him to do so … chris was just having a bad day i guess, but he reacted imatture and just down right meam.
Bryan is one of those interviewers who want to show the less serious side of an artist. Christofer Drew was out of order when he embarrassed Bryan, he could have had the decency to pull Bryan aside and explain what he wanted and he knew what he was going into when they agreed to the interview. He complained that he was the only one being focused on but that is what happens when you are the front man of a band and when Bryan asked Hayden question he was completely uninterested like he didn’t want to be a part of the interview at all. That’s just my 2 cents into this situation.
I honestly think that Chris was right, he said MULTIPLE times that he didn’t want to do any silly questions but Bryan stars kept pushing it. It was Bryan’s fault that he h
Asked if Chris was mad at him which then led to Christofer expressing his opinion. He shouldn’t have waited to ask about that and he should never have posted the video about nevershoutnever breaking up. I’m not taking christofers side because I’m a fan, I’m takin his side because he was honest and tried to avoid the conversation multiple times but bryan pushed it. Bryan said they were saying lies to make a fool out of him. It’s plain to see those weren’t lies, they were justified and like I said before it was Bryan’s fault.
No its not fucking justifiable.
Bryan Stars drove 7 hours to do this interview. NSN knew who Bryan Stars was, what kind of questions he would be asking, and what the interview would be like.The whole ‘Well Bryan kept asking the same questions after Chris tried to rear the interview in a different direction’ is so ridiculous. So basically you’re saying that Bryan Stars should have totally changed the way his interviews are just for the sake of pleasing Chris? All of Bryans interviews have ridiculous questions, it makes it fun and thats what most bands love him for; his interviews are unique and that is why hes popular. Also, Bryan tried asking music related questions to the band such as “What songs do you like playing the most?” And the doode acted like a complete asshole and obviously wasn’t interested at all. They wanted the interview to be all about music because they wanted to put on their faces for the fans so that they would make more money. They didn’t want personal questions because their personalities are shit.
This is the mGueost biased article ever. Horrible job!
I think something that you failed to mention is that the New York Times was there recording bryan’s interview. regardless of the fact the chris didnt want to do the interview, he should have realized that he was putting himself on a HUGE platform to receive a lot of shit from not only bryan stars fans but also his own. Bryan has over 125,000 subscribers on youtube, it is safe to say at more than half of those are fans of Never Shout Never. The New York Times is read by millions of people WORLDWIDE. Chris fucked up big time. I also feel that yes, Bryan did have to option of not posting the video to save face for both him and chris, HOWEVER, he already told his 125,000 subscribers and his 58,000 followers on Twitter that he had an interview planned with NSN. I am also going to the assume that he had an agreement with the New York Time to post the interview, that was the whole reason why their representative flew out to record the interview.He did the right thing, and I feel that considering how scripted and bias other news outlets are, bryan was pretty raw in the way he conducted the interview and also his decision to post it.
The fans like Brian’s interviews more than a musical interview with the same questions and answers as the last one
Um… plagiarism?
http://sputnikmusic.com/news.php?newsid=22461
he posted it because all of his fans (like me) wanted to see it… he said it wasn’t his best interview but we all wanted to see it. and Bryan is about being real, he’ll post the “real side” of Chris if he has to. And he already did an interview with Bryan before so he knows what kind of questions are asked. If he didn’t want those types of questions he could have just declined the interview. Bryan could have interviewed someone else. I think it was really brave of Bryan to post this even though he was pretty much insulted…
so what your saying is,,,. your butthurt?
I am totally on Chris’s side on this whole thing. Bryan has honestly always annoyed me and I couldn’t believe bands actually went through with his interviews. To me, what Chris said needed to be said and I’m glad someone had the guts to put it out there. And anyways, Bryan ASKED Chris if he was mad, and Chris honestly answered him. Every one keeps saying it was unprofessional for Chris to critizise the guy on his own show, but what was he supposed to do? Bryan is the one who brought it up right there on camera, so Chris told him the truth. How is that Chris’s fault? And Bryan’s questions are stupid and unprofessional. And he did not need to post the part with him crying, that was just him trying to get sympathy. I like how Chris is handling this. Instead of crying to get people on his side, he’s just leaving it how it is. I know this will seperate NeverShoutNever’s true fan from the fakes. Oh, and I also LOVED that Chris pointed out that the interview was only about him. It drives me nuts when it’s always about the singer and lead guitarist in a band. But honestly, I thought Taylor was being the most rude out of them all, throwing the interview questions on the floor. I don’t understand why all the bad publicity is on Chris when he was being real while Bryan was being immature and Taylor was being a jerk. And to the people who say they’re never buying any more NSN songs because of this…what does the music have to do with how you feel about this interview? You can hate the band and still love their music, because they are honestly talented. I’ve always loved that about NeverShoutNever. It’s real talent.
Why would you say that, Eddie?
This is an original piece. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I will be filing for a removal from that site.
Bryan also mainly posted it because all of his fans (including me) wanted to watch the interview. It was meant to be his biggest interview since it was on The New York Times and it would be disrespectful to his fans to just not post the interview after telling us how stoked he was about it. We all wanted to watch it regardless of weather or not we were/are NSN fans so basically Bryan was doing what his fans wanted.
Thank you for reading.
You have to realise that in the Music Industry the front man is the center of attention and if he can’t handle questions, that are from fans I may add, then that reflects badly on front man and by default the whole band itself. I made a comment already saying that if he was unhappy that he should have pulled Bryan aside and explained the situation and handled it like an adult and not like a spoilt brat who didn’t get his way
Bryan Stars is a terrible interviewer. It’s his job to maintain order and control of that interview. He should have either ended the interview or complied with Drew and stuck to music questions. I hope Stars is not around for much longer after this. He is wasted space on the World Wide Web.
Those “dumb questions” you’re referring to were from the fans of Christofer Drew and Never Shout Never.
Hostly Brian is a joke. So sad people can see that.
I don’t see why people are giving him so much shit about this interview, I understand both sides.
I get that this guy wants to bring out the humor in the people he interviews, that is totally understandable, but in all honesty, those aren’t interview questions, don’t go into an interview if that is all you have prepared.
Chris didn’t “chew him out” he just told him how he honestly felt, and his view on how this guy does things, he probably said things that most musicians wish they had the balls to say. Bryan obviously took this all too seriously, way more than he should have.Truth be told, I think things have been blown out of proportion, neither one won, and neither one lost. So why turn it into a controversial thing?
In the end, it’s a matter of opinion, and who’s side you personally are going to take.
So don’t flip shit about it if one of them took the truth to heart. It’s something you can’t help.
It’s said and done. Neither one of them can take back what they said.
Chris spoke his mind, whats wrong with that?
Okay you guys are musicians blah blah OKAY WE GET IT! It is cool to listen to interviews with serious questions but seriously there are 20 other interviewers who already do that!!!
Is THAT bad that as fans we want to get to know the people behind the guitars and drum sets? Is it THAT bad that we want to laugh and smile at our favorite singers answers random cute questions? There is nothing wrong with the way Bryan conducts his interviews. Its HIS show and he can do it anyway he wants to. If they didn’t want to be interviewed they should of declined before Bryan drove seven hours to met them because they were fully aware of the nature of his show. That’s all I have to say.
Christofer Drew was an asshole. End of story. He lost a fan today, what a douche bag.
jesus christ bro get off the guys dick you’ve commented like 70 times on this page how gay can you be? and i’m sure you’ll type out a 600 word response to this too hahahahaha
definitely a biased report. bryan did a great job of trying to get the less serious side and serious side of the band like he always does. he is just unconventional. even when he asked serious questions the band acted like arrogant assholes who thought they were too good for the interview
Christofer Drew yes, was in a negative mood from the start. That was because he had seen Bryan’s video on Youtube, where everyone can verify, that he did in fact make a rumor that NeverShoutNever was breaking up. If someone says something that is not true about you, of course you won’t enjoy sitting with them and chatting it up. I just know that Christofer has done so many great things and I would hate for this to be what someone judges him by. He knows it wasn’t a shining moment, but anyone with the slightest of temper would have done the same thing. I know I would have called him out, too.
Whenever you are invited to a music interview, wouldn’t you be ready to answer questions about music? Christofer Drew said from the beginning that he wanted to talk about music, and music only. If Bryan didn’t want him to call him out, he shouldn’t have posted the video creating the rumor about NeverShoutNever breaking up and respected his wishes for the interview. You can’t be biased because one guy is crying and the other one looks bad. Think of both sides. And do what Chris says, Chill.
Bryans interview show is FUN, that’s his style. The band should not of agreed to do an interview if they did not want to have fun and focus on a different style. bryans interviews are great because they show a different side to the bands and they are casual – fans what too see this side to artists – not sitting in a chair, backdrop, hair, makeup, cameras ,lights – its FUN! bryan all the way. cristofer was wrong and needs to take a good look at himself and step into the real world.
that is why people have an opportunity at the end to promote and talk about upcoming stuff.
this report is SO biased it’s unreal. christofer drew is an idiot.. end of story.
Well thank you for being the voice of unbiased people. Clearly you know how to speak kindly about both points of view while expressing your own opinion.
for anyone who’s trying to defend Chris….please go watch his latest Stickam studio videos….he was trying EXTRA HARD to be a FOOL….eg. answering the same non-music related questions from fans….
there’s two explanations for this:1) Chris’s attitude in the interview was totally aimed at humiliating Bryan….
2) Chris realizes that being a REAL musician will make him lose tons of fans…so he is trying to make up by being FAKE….
all in all, Chris is a fucking bad person.
yeah im sensing alot of bias in this paper. could you not have atleast mentioned that never shout never DIDN’T HAVE TO accept the interview with bryan stars? what’s the point in making him drive 7 hours just to bash him on camera?
Aaron,
Christofer Drew is not his own publicist The interview is setup by a publicist who likely chose to fulfill Stars’ request based on his YouTube account numbers. Drew likely had no say in the setup of the interview.
‘a knack for silly questions and a very loose style of conversation.’; Already you state the style in which Bryan Stars chooses to interview bands/members of bands – questions which he asks are generally chosen by the bands fan base, Christopher Drew already knew what types of questions would of been asked since he has done an interview with Bryan before.
Although Drew voices his opinions on the choice Stars chooses to interview, he could of just gone along with Bryan until the interview had ended and then mentioned – in a less hurtful way, that Bryan didn’t ask the questions he ‘thought’ would be mentioned to help keep his fan base up-to-date. I personally though Drew was being slightly arrogant and malicious in the way he presented his thoughts and views to Stars. Since Drew has done an interview with him before he would of known what to expect, he simply could of declined the interview and told Bryan that he wanted a more serious interview that would be ‘all about the music’ as clearly Stars’ interviews are to show a less serious side to bands.
Drew has said in another interview that he doesn’t liked being asked questions that are not related to music. As an interviewer, whether his questions are serious or not Stars should have looked more into Chris and his wants and thought ‘hey, my style of interview obviously isn’t what he wants’; yet he still chose to ask Chris if he would do an interview, he should of been more prepared for a reaction like Chris had though it was unfortunate for both that Drew had to react like that after dropping hints throughout the interview.
Should the interview of been posted? Well that was up to Bryan. Yes, he has shown the public a price of what comes at interviewing people – whether their reaction be positive of negative yet that comes at a price also, Drew has lost fans. I’m not to sure why, people can still like the music yet not the artist. Music is what it means to someone NOT the attitude of the members.
didn’t read all the comments but watched the whole video. in NSN’s defense, bryan had five pages of questions, and only 1 page of “serious” questions. i was never really a fan of the band, don’t own a cd, and couldn’t even name you a song they’ve done. but as a fan of music in general, when i watch an interview, i do expect to know what’s going on with the band. their tour plans. their recording plans. not about his their clothes or their bodies or love advice. bryan didn’t even have a question lined up about their new album when drew mentioned it. however, drew and co definitely took it a little too far. the one dude didn’t even look at bryan. you can’t say that bryan doesn’t do what he loves. he’s living the dream, going out and meeting bands for fans. so for chris to call him out on that was low. his questions may be a joke, but that’s him and that’s what he loves, and NSN knew that beforehand. if they didn’t want to do the interview they shouldn’t have.
I’m not really a fan of never shout never but to be honest I don’t think what chris said was that bad. He made it pretty clear he wanted to talk about music and not “bullshit” but Bryan kept asking questions that they obviously didn’t want to answer but to be fair they still answered them, just after they said they’d rather talk about their music. And the end bit to me just seemed like Bryan trying to get people to feel bad for him and hate chris.
Bryan did create a rumor video in the past about NSN breaking up, which of course angered the band members, which is why they weren’t so thrilled to do this interview in the first place. I’m on the bands side, where as, if Bryan wants to know these stupid answers to his rediculous questions, why doesn’t he interview comedians? Chris is right, Bryan should adjust his approach when coming into an interview that is supposedly “All about the music”
twitlonger.com/show/hn2qi6
Read this article everyone. Stop bashing Chris.
People watch Bryans interviews because me asks the daft questions that over’s dont, the questions that his fans and the bands fans what to be asked. Chris had been interviewed by him in the past, he should of known what type of interview it would of been. If he didnt want to do the interview he could of said no, simple as really. There was no need for how he acted, his arrogance and his ego got the best of him and he did act out of order.
Also i am not a huge fan of ever, but there is a more professional way to deal with everything and Chris’s approach wasnt that, at the end of the day he was the one who showed himself up not Bryan.
I thought this article was unbiased? It obviously took Chris’s side! Bryan is popular for asking questions ABOUT the musician, not always the music. This gives the fans a better insight to the musician as a person, they already know the music so its refreshing to lear more about the person making that music. Bryan is know for his silly, prehaps irrelevant questions but thats what makes him so popular! Why just have ANOTHER interview about the music when he asks question no other interviewer would? To be honest, i think Chris overreacted, he knew what the interview would be like – after all he had done one previously. No other band interviewed has had a problem with Bryan meaning he must be doing something right?
this was SOOOOO biased :P
does anyone know where i can see the apology chris did to bryan??????
doe anyone know where i can see the apology chris did to bryan?
I’ve watched this video only today. But I think I’ve watched the first interview before? Being a big Never Shout Never fan, I’ve seen him live 20th of February last year. His music has influenced me a lot, I made a MySpace just to message him. I’ve been a fan since his blonde days.. He is a big inspiration to me, and I’ve always been enthralled by how he talks about peace and love.
I skipped the other parts of this video, and went straight to 35 minutes. I have to admit that maybe both sides made a point, but Chris’ words were getting real harsh already. I knew Bryan was really hurt by that time, but he still managed to continue the “interview”, and asked Hayden about the next album instead. Then Chris started to say that he loves Bryan to death, and HONESTLY, I thought that would break the ice. I was like,”This is great, what you did was great Chris. At least you claimed yourself back at the end, and somehow you indirectly apologized to Stars.” It was going fairly smooth but then he started using those words..again. We all knew he was trying to make a point, though the way he did was a little too over the top. I was kind of disappointed, too but I’m really proud of Bryan Stars. He’s a real person, I can see it in his eyes. There’s no hint of pretension or such thing as that. I don’t hate Chris though. There’s no use hating on him, but I can’t blame people if they do. Maybe he already realized that what he did was wrong, it’s never too late to change. I still love Chris Drew and Bryan Stars. <3
Chris hinted and outright stated many times in the interview that they wanted to talk about the music, yet Brian continually strayed back to the questions they were trying to avoid and clearly weren’t into answering. Therefore the blame falls on him. Not only that, but Chris’ response was totally blown out of proportion. Musicians are artists and passionate people, Chris could have gone way further. This small reaction to something that had been building for not just 5 or 10 minutes, but for a lengthy interview, just shows that he’s human. Besides, his music is still the same; why are you going to stop buying it if you enjoy it? Because you saw that the musicians who make it aren’t perfect? He didn’t beat Rihanna guys, he told an interviewer who couldn’t take hints what he was feeling, which was made obvious from the start.
I saw someone below stated “As a musician that has been on tour and done many interviews its you job. You wouldnt bash a customer. Be professional whether they are not. Its a job at the end of the day.” Which isn’t necessarily true. The musicians obviously have a job, but that is the music they make, and they can get interviewed by whomever they would like, thus the interviewer also has a job that they need to do. This involves getting the musicians they interview to open up and give answers which secures them another interview. They can do this by befriending them or cornering them, that’s their call and style, but either way that is the interviewer’s job. The musicians are the customers, not the interviewer. The fact that Bryan wasn’t taking the hints shows that he wasn’t doing his job. Yes, it’s unfortunate that he drove so far out of his way, but that doesn’t mean the band needs to play by his rules. HE’S interviewing THEM.
A lot of people are also saying that Chris should have talked to him afterwards. It wasn’t a live feed, if Bryan didn’t want people seeing Chris’ comments he could have edited them out.
Also as a side note, just because someone doesn’t agree with the widely spread opinion doesn’t mean they’re bias…
This is perfect.
I just slightly disagree with one thing; Chris talking to him afterwards. It wasn’t a live feed, if Bryan didn’t want people seeing Chris’ comments he could have edited them out.
This is the way I was thinking, “Everyone thinks Chris is wrong. They are right about that, but he did have a reason for what he said, even if it wasn’t conveyed correctly, and here is why…”
I don’t mean that Chris is the only one in the “Right,” I just don’t think he is the only one in the wrong. He is right to a degree, but he didn’t handle the interview/situation in the right way. Keep it off camera.
Yea, after reading, I think it reads that way, but I won’t cover my ass by editing it. It’s published, it’s done. I really think that NSN should have declined the interview or just asked it to end. What they did was very rude and discourteous. At the same time, Bryan should have just scrapped the interview, publishing it makes him no better than Christofer Drew.
Everyone has bad interviews sometimes, it’s better to learn or try to save the interview though, rather than “finishing it” with a few shots of you crying over it. That isn’t anyway to go about it. Sometimes you have to deal with dicks like Drew, but in cases like that, you move on to the next interview and keep doing your thing, maybe a bit different next time.
In short, the video shouldn’t have been posted, Chris should have told him no, and we could continue just disliking them for their music or interview questions, not for ridiculous dramatic reasons.