The Shad Interview

Back in September 2010, Gene and Serge had the incredible good fortune of being granted an exclusive interview with one of Canada’s best musical talents: Shadrach Kabango, aka SHAD.

The rapper should need no introduction, but since Shad is far too modest a gentleman to sing his own praises, we take this opportunity to remind ourselves that he has been nominated for two Juno awards (winning one for best rap recording, beating Drake for the distinction), hosted Canada's distinguished radio program Q, and been nominated for the prestigious Polaris music prize three times—to name just a few highlights. His songs are eloquent and fluid, full of cultural references, wordplay and calls for social action. And above all, we think he's a really, really nice person.

Shad met us in his residence, which he shared with fellow musician Dave Vertesi (of Hey Ocean! and solo work), and the two were in the process of searching for a new place. This didn’t bother NLG one bit, as our goal was simply to observe Shad in his natural habitat.

Without further ado, here is one of the greatest moments in NLG history, the glorious twenty minutes we got to spend with one of our favourite humans.

           

NLG: Shad, question number one. What are you sayin’? 

Shad: Just chillin'. What are you guys sayin’?
NLG: Uh…we’re chillin’. Yeah, we’re chillin’.
Shad: Nice.


NLG: Alright. Question number two. We were wondering if you…how you felt about…losing the Jimmy award. Don’t know if you got the newsletter.

Shad: Who did I lose to?

NLG: Islands. Best Cardigans cover. 

Shad: What!?! (dejected) Ohh. Well actually I have an excellent track record of losing awards.

NLG: Yeah?

Shad: It's kind of my thing.

NLG: So you took it in stride?

Shad: I took it in stride. It's what I do best.

NLG: We know this one might have cut a little deeper though, especially considering your love of covers, and after all, this was an award for best cover of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”.

Shad: It did hurt. It did hurt a little bit. I'm not going to lie about that. But I didn't want to make a "Kanye moment" out of it. So I tried to take it in stride.

NLG: Word is, there is an award out there for best cover of the Cranberries' "Linger".

Shad: There's no way I could possibly lose that.

NLG: So you're planning on entering?

Shad: Well there's no way I could possibly lose that. But I don't know if I can really enter, because it just might not be fair.

NLG: It might be a little unfair. People might even think it was preplanned. 

Shad: Well, the thing is, most of the time, when I cover “Linger”…(laughs)…the problem with it is, people just think it is the original.

NLG: You’ve been confused for a Cranberry before?

Shad: (Laughs) Yeah the problem is, I recorded a cover one time, and it floated around the internet, and people just thought it was the original.

NLG: Or they thought that “Linger”, by The Cranberries, was a cover of your song.

Shad: Yes! That was a lot of the feedback!
(laughter)

Shad: And a lot of that feedback started to get back to them, and anyways, it was meant to be a tribute thing, as you know. It was never meant to start that kind of controversy. It almost ended up causing a rift between me and them. That’s not what I wanted to do at all.

NLG: So you may not even want to open up that rift by entering.

Shad: I might not even want to go there.

NLG: Will that song be featuring on your latest album?

Shad: There are five or six versions of it that I’ve recorded for the album. I don’t know how many of them I’ll be putting on… (laughter) …A lot of people say, “Put them all on!” And I say, “I could, and I might.”
NLG: Your fans might be mad if you didn’t.

Shad: I think so.

NLG: Are you on a label?

Shad: Yeah, for this release. For this release they want to do it worldwide--J Records, from down in the States. They just heard my idea. I said “I want to do Linger seven times on this album” and they said “That’s gonna be a smash”.

NLG: That’s got platinum written all over it.

Shad: It’s got platinum written all over it. 

NLG: It's got Grammy written on it I think.

Shad: Yeah, so they want to get involved. There’s a lot of funding behind this one.

NLG: They threw a lot of money towards it?

Shad: Yeah they threw a lot of money at me.

Dave Vertesi: They’d be crazy not to.

NLG: They would be.

Shad: They threw a lot of money at me, and I was kind of like, this is not what this is all about. I’ll take it! But that’s not what this is about.

NLG: When is it set to release?

Shad: It is set to release very soon. I can’t specify the date exactly, but soon. I mean, I want to spend a couple months and just think about that, and not even record it…

NLG: Just let it linger?

Shad:  Just let it linger. And then think about recording it. It could take years…

NLG: Is there a name for this album? Or untitled?

Shad: I’ve been kind of tossing around a couple of ideas…

(silence)

NLG: Care to share?

(extended silence)

NLG: Cranberry juice?

Shad:  Cranberry juice would be a little too obvious, so I was thinking “Cranberry Cocktail”.

Dave Vertesi: Linger 11.

NLG: Yes! Linger 11!

Shad:  That’s not a bad idea.

Dave Vertesi: Goldlinger.

NLG: But then if it goes platinum—that could be kind of confusing.

Shad: “Goldlinger Goes Platinum”. When I think about titling my albums and my songs, I like to think about how they are going to sound in headlines. And I just like the sound of “Goldlinger goes Platinum”, you know? You have to guide the press, I find, a lot of the times.

NLG: That’s true. Like you are doing for much of this interview.

Shad:  Yeah, I’m just guiding you guys. (laughs)

NLG: Seeing as this is our first rodeo—as you could say—are there any questions you would like us to ask you? What would you like to answer?

Shad: (strums guitar) Umm…

Serge: Yeah, how about you answer, and then we’ll make up the questions, based on your answer.

Gene: Yeah, we’ll pose a question, based on your answer. Like Jeopardy. Let’s play “Jeopardy Interview”.

Serge: It’s Jeopardy Interview!

Shad: In Jeopardy interview you guys would say the answer, and I would say the question. 

NLG: We can’t be giving answers. No, you say something really rad, and we are going to act like, “Oh, we just asked the question that spawned that awesome statement!”

Shad: So I’m Alex Trebek?

NLG: Yes, you are Trebek, and we are Ken Jennings.

Shad: Okay. So I go (a la Alex Trebek): “This artist is awesome.” And then you guys say:

NLG: Who are you? Who is Shad?

Shad:  Who is Shad. Yeah! Okay! That’ll be how it goes.

Shad: (a la Alex Trebek): The category is: “Canadian Rap Artists That Start With Shhhhh”

Dave Vertesi: Choclair?

Shad: That’s right, it could be Choclair. That’s why you have to be careful.

Dave Vertesi: One of the answers should be “Who is Choclair”!

NLG: That’s for the daily double.

(awkward silence )

Shad:  Alex Trebek is Canadian.

Gene: I knew that.

Serge:  Really?
Gene: Yeah.

Shad:  So is Alan Thicke.

Gene: Is David Duchovny Canadian?

Serge: That’s a good question.

Gene: We were pondering that earlier.

Shad:  Hmm…I don’t know.

Serge: I think he is.

Gene: I think you are just confused because they filmed X-files in Vancouver.

Serge: And I think they filmed Red Shoe Diaries in Canada as well.

Gene: (laughs) Is that right!?

(laughter)

Gene: (to Shad) Do you think that?

(more laughter, then silence)

Dave Vertesi: What the hell are you guys doing?

NLG: I think we are just shooting the breeze.

Dave Vertesi: This is actually the worst interview I’ve ever heard in my life. And I’ve been in a lot of interviews.

Gene: This is probably the best I’ve ever been a part of.

Serge: Definitely the best.

Shad:  (answers his phone)  Hello? Hello?

Dave Vertesi: Who was it?

Shad:  I don’t know. No one talked to me.

Dave Vertesi: What was the number?

Serge: Call back.

Gene: Yeah, call back. We have time!

Shad:  (on the phone) It is…Oh no problem…Okay…Sure…How is, tomorrow at noon?

NLG: (to each other) Think how this will look on the blog! Great!

Shad:  (on the phone) Okay, perfect.

NLG: Let’s just post the entire audio file.

Shad:  (on the phone) Uh-huh. Okay, perfect.

NLG: If there were some way to see how long each person listened…

Shad:  (still on the phone) Thank you.

NLG: …the average listen length…three or four seconds probably…

Dave Vertesi: Dude, that place looked really dope, and you guys were fucking losing your minds in the background.

(Laughter)

Dave Vertesi: And that sucks, because it’s like, a three-bedroom, with all amenities…a carved fireplace…all wood…and it’s $1745.

Shad:  This is the one with arts and crafts?

Dave Vertesi: Yeah. In-suite washer dryer…clawfoot tub…

Shad:  I don’t know why people are all about that clawfoot tub. I’m not so into it.

Dave Vertesi: Me neither.

Shad:  People are always saying, “Aw dude, it's got a clawfoot tub!”

NLG: Is that a selling point?

Shad: Yeah it’s a huge selling point.

NLG: Because you can have a bath that is overflowing, with the water spilling and splashing all around you…

Dave Vertesi: ...Hydro and gas included…

Shad:  Who takes baths?

Serge: I do.

Shad: I can’t take baths. I’m too big to take a bath. I haven’t taken a bath in a long time.

NLG: You’re too old, you mean?

Shad: I’m too large! For it to be comfortable. Plus the water gets cold.

Serge: I like a good bath.

Dave Vertesi: …Looking for working, responsible adults or students…

NLG: That doesn’t fit you guys...

Shad:  I can front as a student, it’s all good. That’s what I always say when I reply. I say “Student. Check my backpack.”

NLG: Do you put that in brackets after you sign your name?

Shad:  I say “I’m a student. You check my references and my backpack to see I’m a student.”

NLG: You actually just show up with your Eddie Bauer backpack?

Shad:  I do.

NLG: They assume from there.

Dave Vertesi: Are you still recording?

NLG: We’re still recording. This is all going in. The backpack. Everything.

(silence)

NLG: How long do interviews usually go on for?

Dave Vertesi: 15 minutes.

NLG: How long have we gone on for?

Dave Vertesi: 20 minutes.

NLG: Too long probably. Although we’ve only asked about 5 questions so far.

Shad: (on the phone)  Hi, I’m calling about the ad on Craigslist for the three bedroom?...

NLG: This has got to go in!

Shad: (on the phone) ...Yeah I was hoping to set up a time…

(extended Shad phone call, during which  NLG discusses travel times from Vancouver to Victoria, during which at one point Gene claims that he could run 100 km in 7 hours)

Dave Vertesi: When can we see it?

Shad: (off the phone) (To Dave Vertesi) I don’t know when. Maybe next week?

Dave Vertesi: Why didn’t you say we could see it today?

Shad:  I don’t know?

Gene: You didn’t want to sound too eager.

Serge: Plus you’re busy with this interview.

(the conclusion of the interview occurs when Dave Vertesi asks for his phone back, which is coincidentally being used as the recording device of the interview…)