It’s been said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes.
With this in mind, let us put forward a third: an annual Michael Franti tour. For over 20 years, Franti and his band Spearhead have dedicated their lives to spreading a message of peace, love and goodwill across the globe – especially here in Australia, where Franti has paid so many visits that he has genuinely lost count since first touring in the ’90s alongside the group that broke his name, The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy. He is now onto his ninth studio album with Spearhead, entitled Soulrocker. According to the man himself, it’s not intended to be a genre-blending affirmation of the band’s sound. Rather, a ‘Soulrocker’ represents an identity to aspire to.
“Soulrocker is a concept – it’s an idea,” explains Franti from his home in San Francisco. “It’s a person who lives from their heart with compassion for all and possesses a tenacious enthusiasm for music, life and the planet. That’s the person I strive to be, and that’s the kind of person that I come across every day of my life. You wouldn’t believe it if you spent all of your time scrolling through your phone, trying to figure out what the fuck happened in the world while you were asleep. This record is one that, I hope, will help people navigate the world at large. It won’t necessarily help make complete sense of it, but I hope it shows people that there are others out there that share these values – and that, if we come together, we can help to make a difference.”
A versatile writer and musician, Franti has been known to constantly mix up the genres that make up the Spearhead sound, ranging from rock, reggae and roots to hip hop, funk and pop.
“It never happens the same way twice,” says Franti on the art of creating a song from scratch. “I keep hoping I’ll develop this formula someday that works every time – you just wake up, push the buttons and hey presto. Some days, I’ll sing a melody into my iPhone while I’m out walking. I might be working on a beat when it inspires me to write down some words to go over the top of it. Most of the time, it’s about starting with the guitar and writing organically. I start singing random melodies until something sticks and then I’ll go through my notes – pages and pages of them – and see what I can piece together. That is usually the most interesting part of the entire process, actually – it’s where the song will transform into what it’s supposed to be, and that’s not always gonna be the way that I expect it to go.”
Franti confesses that he occasionally worries a younger, fresher mind has beaten him to the punch as far as songwriting is concerned. “Sometimes I’ll think I’ve come up with a really great line – something I’m really proud of. Back in the day, I’d just go ahead and put it on the record. Nowadays, I gotta check with my son first: ‘Hey man, this line right here – that’s not deep in the second half of a Drake album, is it?’”
He stresses, however, that even though it’s easy for an artist to repeat themselves or find themselves in a holding pattern so deep into a career of writing, he still gets a lot out of making music. “Songwriting for me today is more exciting now than it ever has been,” he says. “I get so much satisfaction out of putting my heart into something that I love so much. I make music for two reasons only – because I love people and I love the planet.”
A few weeks prior to both this interview and the release of Soulrocker, Franti celebrated his 50th birthday. Having first arrived on the scene some 30 years ago as the frontman of The Beatnigs – a punk band that incorporated elements of jazz, industrial and spoken word – Franti has remained considerably active at a time when many artists would consider winding down.
“I don’t take any of this for granted,” he says. “I’m still doing the job I was doing when I was 20 years old. I have worked to take the best care of myself as possible – I work out every day, I eat the best that I can, I practise yoga, I train to prepare for when me and the band go on tour. Even with doing all of that, though, I think it’s got something to do with more than just your physical health. There’s a wholeness – a feeling that your life has purpose, that you’re giving back to the greater good.
“The one thing I’ve learned from turning 50 is that it’s not hard to get there if it’s a group effort. I would not be where I am right now without the efforts of hundreds that have helped me along the way. I have so many teachers in my life that have gifted me with not only wholeness, but incomplete wholeness – I know that I still have work to do.”
[Michael Franti and Spearhead photo by Chelsea Klette]
