Laurier alum Shadrach Kabango, better known as Shad, played his first show at Laurier since 2006 to a crowd of 285 students in a capacity-reached Wilfโs on Friday.
The 2005 BBA graduate along with fellow alum DJ T-Lo, sat down with The Cord before the show.
Shad explained that this show, the night before an appearance at the Canadian Music Fest in Toronto, was spur of the moment. โIt was fairly short notice, I think only about a month in advance,โ he said, expressing some uncertainty about the crowd and stage in Wilfโs.
โI donโt know what itโs going to be like, itโll be a little tight, the stage is only elevated about that much,โ he gestured with his hands as he leaned back on a couch.
โI like small shows but when itโs too small it might be a little bit weird. But this is the kind of vibe I like.โ
While a student at Laurier, Shad won 91.5FM The Beatโs โRhythm of the Futureโ contest and used the proceeds to finance his first album, 2005โs When This is Over. He has been playing shows and touring with DJ T-Lo since his early shows at Laurier and his subsequent albums, The Old Prince and TSOL.
โWe were here four years ago,โ Shad said. โNothing Iโve seen has been too crazy different, the staples of my life are more or less intact.โ
He noted that an apartment building had been built in place of his former house on King St. and fondly remembered his experience with Waterlooโs student housing.
โMy apartment in fourth year, my room was on a slant so I would be typing at my computer and my chair would move and Iโd have to pull myself back,โ he said.
The show that brought him back to Laurier was promoted almost exclusively online using Facebook. Shad explained concert promotion on the campus before social media.
โI remember one time K-OS played and there was like 30 people there,โ he said. โThere was no advertising about it because of our primitive Internet in 2003, just a chalkboard outside that said โK-OS tonightโ. Thatโs all we had. Morse code and hieroglyphs.โ
Shad, who will complete his MA in liberal studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver this year, said he plans to work on new material once heโs finished touring Canada and the U.S. on the final leg of the tour this spring.
โIโll probably record when that tour is done,โ he said. โThis will be my last term so Iโll be done pretty soon, assuming I donโt fail.โ
โNo big plans afterward really, probably just work on some new music, thatโs about it.โ Asked about the Wilfโs setlist, he quipped, โIโll do a mix of stuff, almost all covers.โ
He continued, โI really want my cover set to take off, itโs so much easier than writing new songs.โ โA lot of Boyz II Men,โ T-Lo chimed in.
Coming onstage after 11p.m. following Londonโs Two Crown King, Shad, backed by DJ T-Lo and Ian Koiter on bass, blazed through a quick set featuring tracks from all three of his albums and โI Get Down,โ the song that won him the prize money for his entrance into the music business.
Shad even ventured in to the crowd on a few occasions. Afterwards, the ever-approachable Shad stood and talked to audience members long after the lights came up.