“Is this The Great Melanie from FasterLouder?” The deep, warm voice of Michael Franti greets me from San Francisco with a smile. A delightful welcome to the conversation, but I am not surprised. It is exactly what one would expect: warmth and optimism from the musician, writer and activist. I expect the sun to be shining on Michael Franti no matter what the weather. “I am actually out at the festival right now. We’re setting up the stage…” And sure enough, “We’ve been blessed with an amazing day.”
The “festival” is the 10th annual Power To The Peaceful Festival, which Michael founded to facilitate education on social injustice, non-violence, co-existence and environmental sustainability. He’s expecting fifty thousand punters and they’re all getting in for free.
Michael is renowned for vocalising his belief that we can make the world a better place, so I expect that our conversation will veer into the political arena, especially with the U.S. presidential election only weeks away. Purposely designing a line of questioning with avoidance in mind, I am outwitted anyway. Pre-interview, a friend of mine said in jest, “Ask him, what’s it like to be the coolest motherfucker on the planet?” Michael lets a happy laugh erupt: “Well, you have to ask Barack Obama that question.”
Damn. Thwarted. There’s no getting around it now. I suggest that the free world should be eligible to vote in the election, since the outcome will ultimately affect us all.
“I agree,” says Michael. “I think the whole world would be much better off.” We prattle on: he regales me with an amusing internet list he had seen that morning where the candidates had listed their top ten favourite songs. “Number one song for John McCain was Abba’s Dancing Queen,” he laughs, “and Barack Obama’s was The Fugees’ Ready or Not Here I Come.” We have a little giggle. Anything that brings The Fugees back is alright with us.
We discuss the fact some artists are celebrated for using their platform to bring attention to causes where others are crucified for it. For example: Michael’s old friend Bono. I confess to a little light hearted Bono-bashing but contend that if you have the forum, the audience and the opportunity, you should say something. “It’s like any other situation,” Michael explains. “It’s how you say it and how you do it. But I agree with you. Bono’s doing something very specific. Taking on poverty on an international level…I don’t see anything wrong with that. He’s a dedicated person who walks and talks it. Artists run into problems when they jump on a bandwagon…they appear at a cancer research thing, they don’t know what they’re saying and the next year they don’t show up.”
Earlier in our conversation Michael had described he and his bands universal appeal. “Ultimately there’s meaning behind the music and that’s what gets people coming back.” But before the listening public saw his soapbox, they heard his music. Wanting to know if he was able to separate the message and the music, I was finally to be presented with the surprise. A spokesperson lost for words? “Every moment that I’m not touring or hanging out with my kids, I’m in the studio, recording and writing songs. That’s my greatest joy. My mind is most engaged in making new music. I love talking about it,” he falters, “but I don’t know if I’m any good at talking about it.”
He trails off sheepishly, as if to cue up a change in direction. I push. He concedes, explaining the process of inviting tunes out of a guitar before finding the beat. “I used to do it the other way around but it’s a lot easier to take a melody and make a wicked beat for it afterwards.”
“And then go through the poetry book and think, what do these words sound like?” I coax. “Yeah,” he enthuses, rolling the idea around. “Yeah, what does this sound like? Once you have a really cool chord progression that inspires you, the melody just comes naturally; the words come organically.” Warmed up to the topic, it turns out that Michael Franti is good at talking about it.
“I’ve always just looked at music in the same way that a painter approaches a painting. You have black and white and the full rainbow of colours. You could paint on a canvas, a piece of wood, the side of a building. You figure out, ‘What is it I’m trying to say?’ Sometimes you need a piece of black charcoal and a white piece of paper. For me, that’s just me, my acoustic guitar and a voice. Other times you need a full spectrum of colours so you bring in a horn section and background singers, an orchestra. Every time I write a song, I just say, ‘What serves the song the best?’ ”
Sometimes, he admits, what serves the song best might not be immediately obvious. New album All Rebel Rockers “changed a lot from where we started to what it ended up being. The idea was to mix rock and reggae. When we finished recording it sounded more rock than enough reggae. So we ended up in Jamaica.”
And now they are following the sun. Next stop: Australia. I inform him that he is booked to play at Byron Bay High School. “Are we really? Wow, cool!” he amps. “I’m excited about that.” No stranger to our shores, Michael adds, “I’ve been so many times and I love it. We haven’t been down in two years and I can’t wait.”
Michael Franti and Spearhead bring their rebel rock to the following venues in October, proudly presented by FasterLouder.
Friday 10 – Brisbane, The Tivoli
Saturday 11 – Byron Bay High School
Sunday 12 – Newcastle, Civic Theatre
Tuesday 14 – Sydney, Enmore Theatre
Thursday 16 – Melbourne, The Forum
Friday 17 – Melbourne, The Forum (2nd show)
Saturday 18 – Wollongong University Hall
Sunday 19 – Canberra, ANU
Tuesday 21 – Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre
Thursday 23 – Fremantle, Metropolis
