Students see him performing at Open Mic, but does anyone really know Shaun Dever? After sitting with the Plymouth State junior, it’s easy to see that this Plymouth, Mass. native has much more to offer the average college student with an acoustic guitar. With upcoming shows throughout the month of April in Mass., N.Y. and of course, Plymouth, N.H. the budding artist has a promising musical future.
His first run-in with music was in the fourth grade. Like most young students, Dever was signed up to play in the school band, his instrument of choice being the trumpet. Sticking with it through high school, Dever eventually had the opportunity to use his talents elsewhere. Inspired by his brother, Dever first began playing the bass, “He bought a bass and then went on vacation,” Dever said, which gave him the full reign over the instrument for an extended period of time. The same happened when his brother bought an acoustic guitar, now Dever’s obvious instrument of choice.
“For me, it all started with Blink 182 and The Get Up Kids,” Dever said. With his musical interests also including The Beach Boys, Sherwood, The Beatles and Jack Johnson, Dever’s taste in music has an obvious effect on what he writes himself. “Pet Sounds has to be one of the best albums of all time,” Dever said. It’s obvious that Dever’s laid-back style is attributed to his love for beach-rock. With lyrics such as, “The clouds and I take a quick ride, to see if the tide and the wind align, with our feet in the sand we recite the lines that we’ve memorized,” it seems that Dever has serious writing skills to offer.
Working his way through a couple pop-punk bands in high school, Dever now mainly plays acoustic sets, “I played bass in my first band, and I think we knew every New Found Glory song,” Dever said. With the experience of performing with a full band and college fast approaching, Dever eventually started writing his own tunes. Now a seasoned writer, he has been working on his own material for years, “I’m at a point now that I write more when I’m happy than when I am sad. No one wants to hear about girls who broke up with me in tenth grade,” Dever said, “I write a lot about being young and just living no holds barred.”
When listening to Dever’s music, there are hints of The Mountain Goats and The Decemberists within the vocals as well as an obvious acoustic sound much like that of The Avett Brothers. Although the higher energy of the songs make the sound his own, what inspires Dever is what makes his music most unique, “I think that my music has an underlying ‘seasonal’ feel in almost every song. When the seasons change I always feel like something new and exciting is brewing, and I end up writing a ton. I’d like to think that my songs reflect that.”
You can see Shaun Dever on April 20, when he will be playing at the Plymouth State Solarfest. Other shows preformed in April are in Cambridge and Plymouth, Massachusetts, as well as Saratoga Springs, N.Y. if you’re really looking to show some support. For more information and free music downloads, Myspace.com/shaundevermusic.