Internationally renowned spoken word artist Shane Koyczan is performing at Vancouver’s Vogue theatre on Saturday, March 28. Vancouver will be the fifth show of Koyczan’s Silence is a Song I Know All The Words To cross-Canada tour. His first two shows were sold out, and closed to standing ovations, which somehow seemed to surprise him.
Koyczan is currently promoting the release of his album and graphic novel of the same name, as well as the compiled book of poems, A Bruise on Light.
Koyczan described the two-part Silence is a Song I Know All The Words To as “a graphic novel that goes along with the album. Remember those old Disney [stories] you had when you were a kid? Where you had the cassette to go along with the book? It’s like that, except without the ‘bing’ to change the page.”
His album, performed with his five-piece band The Short Story Long, combines his spoken word poetry with accompanying singing and instrumentals. However, Koyczan was quick to point out he’s “not making rock and roll albums [. . .] music has just always been a big part of my life.”
The performer explains that when he began writing fiction, he repeatedly struggled to get past the first chapter. “I’ve always journaled, but was never any good at writing stories. There was never any structure until I got to university.” Once there, his creative writing teacher encouraged him to try poetry rather than fiction, and that led to the spoken word he creates today.
His unconventional approach to writing poetry, he explained, is to write from the end to beginning so that he can carry the metaphor throughout each poem. He often abandons pieces that don’t quite become what he wants, in the “Purgatory” folder on his computer, which he revisits whenever he needs new material.
This past year has been filled with many unexpected new opportunities for Koyczan. Along with two books and an album, his work Stickboy the Opera was created and performed by the Vancouver Opera. Koyczan said he could only watch it once through, because it was so surreal to see his own life, and nightmares, play out on the stage. “It’s incredible the Vancouver Opera took a chance on it – no one makes new operas today.”
Up next, he says he is currently working on a feature film. “It’s a big project, but I’ve always loved film [as a medium].”
Tickets to Shane Koyczan’s Vancouver performance Saturday, March 28 at The Vogue can be found here.
