TobyMac calls it a “Winter Wonder Slam” tour.
But fans should expect to hear Christmas songs as well as regular hits when the Christian rapper and three other artists perform 7 p.m. Saturday at the ShoWare Center.
“There is a Christmas theme, although it’s not a Christmas tour,” TobyMac, also known as Toby McKeehan, said in a phone interview Friday prior to a concert in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “But I like to call it the biggest Christmas party around.”
McKeehan, 45, the headliner on the tour, plans to mix in a few Christmas songs during his set. He said Reliant K, a Christian rock band, will play about four or five Yuletide songs, too.
The other acts include B Reith, a Christian hip-hop singer, and Stephanie Smith, a Christian rock singer.
“There are moments to reflect for people to think about things, but it’s a big party with a lot of celebration,” McKeehan said. “We hope to get out and drop the joy bomb on Kent, Washington.”
McKeehan first started to write rap songs as a teenager in the late 1970s in Arlington, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C. His musical influences included Run DMC and Grandmaster Flash.
“I always loved it,” McKeehan said about rap music. “I was about 13 or 14 when I began messing around with turntables a bit and writing raps.”
McKeehan was a member of the Christian trio DC Talk from about 1988 to 2000 before going solo. This is his fifth year of the Winter Wonder Slam tour that opened Nov. 19 in University Park, Pa., and ends Dec. 20 in Phoenix.
Other music influences for McKeehan include U2, the Police, Bob Marley and Hall & Oates. It catches people by surprise when McKeehan mentions the pop music duo of Daryl Hall and John Oates, who had several big hits in the lates 1970s and early 1980s including “Kiss on My List”, “Private Eyes”, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”, and “Maneater.”
“I learned to write melodies from Hall and Oates,” McKeehan said. “They write some killer melodies.”
McKeehan enjoys a variety of music.
“I’m kind of into everything from rock to hip hop to reggae,” he said. “When I make music, I like to call it my musical gumbo.”
Concertgoers will hear McKeehan play songs from his album “Tonight,” to be released in February, as well as from his 2008 album “Alive and Transported” and his 2007 album “Portable Sounds.” McKeehan earned a Grammy award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album earlier this year for “Alive and Transported.”
Prior to the tour stop in Kent, McKeehan performs Thursday at Spokane and Friday at Abbotsford, British, Columbia. The tour heads Sunday to Salem, Ore., as part of an 18-day West Coast swing.
“This is the longest I’ve been away from home in about 10 years,” said McKeehan, who is married with five young children. “Whenever we go out West, we’re gone a little longer.”
McKeehan usually spends Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at his home in Franklin, Tenn., about 20 miles outside of Nashville. He performs concerts Thursday through Sunday. It is rare if the family travels with him.
“I take one of the kids out once in a while, but it’s never a full-on Partridge Family thing,” McKeehan said in reference to the 1970s television show. “My wife wants a home and not a family on the road.”
But McKeehan has plenty of band members on the road with him. His performances include as many as nine members with other singers, a disc jockey, bass player, guitarist, drummer and even a few horn players.
“It’s a big show,” he said. “It’s kind of like rock meets hip hop.”
If you go
What: Winter Wonder Slam concert
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: ShoWare Center
Cost: $78 VIP, $38 reserved, $28 general
Tickets: www.showarecenter.com or call 253-856-6999
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