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Taken from X-Press Online (August ??, 2003)
Michael Franti
Sound And Vision
by POLLY COUFOS
 Part rabble rouser and part visionary, Michael Franti's music has never been about hiding behind the safety of the barricades. For more than a dozen years he has spoken, sang and rapped of injustice and social revolution. He knows no other way.
His new album Everyone Deserves Music, which will be in stores on Monday, May 26, was preceded by Bomb The World. Hanging on a chant/refrain "you can bomb the world to pieces, you can't bomb it into peace" the song was written soon after the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Before the call for revenge had reached fever pitch Franti was trying to declare his hometown of San Francisco a 'hate free zone'. History told him he was facing a massive uphill battle but still he saw no reason not to follow his conscience.
For a couple of years Franti and his band had been holding 911 concerts, to raise awareness of those in need of emergency care and support within the US. As we come to the second anniversary of 9-11, Franti is disappointed his country is set on a path of trying to fix problems in other parts of the world without addressing more pressing situations at home.
In a letter addressed to the world, after the beginning of Operation Shock And Awe, Franti wrote with level headed reason, for the silent majority who have felt a hopelessness as governments have waged war in our name. In part it read, "I grieve with all who have endured loss. My intention ... has been to inspire others to join in the belief that we should dedicate ourselves to 'Shocking and aweing" each other, not by our ability to kill, but by the depth of our love and commitment to justice."
This interview was conducted last week while Franti was sitting in a friend's cafe in San Francisco. The soft spoken giant was in the mood to talk. Of course.
Michael Franti And Spearhead play Metro City on Tuesday, August 12.
By POLLY COUFOS.
Your last album Songs From The Front Porch was only released for retail in Australia. Why?
We were in the studio recording the album Everyone Deserves Music and
I've been writing most of the songs on the acoustic guitar and I kept thinking "man, these songs sound really good acoustic, maybe we should really not lose that flavour" so what we did was take four days out of the studio time and recorded an acoustic album. Then that kinda cleared out heads and we finished the rest of the record.
As far as releasing it, we were just about to go and do an acoustic tour in Australia and we put the record out and we sold it at our shows and the record did sell well.
When you knocked it up over four days, did you expect it'd find commercial release?
We thought we'd sell a few off our website. We never imagined that it would have the response that it's been getting. People have been picking it up off the internet and writing reviews about it in other countries and it's selling incredibly well
How long, then, did it take to record Everyone Deserves Music?
We started recording it last May and we finished it in January. So it was about six or seven months. A lot of that time we were on the road, so we'd go in, record a few songs, then we'd go out on the road, play live, then go back and record and then go back out again. So we weren't working in the studio the whole time.
The songs on the last record, Stay Human, were linked by a radio play. Did you consider doing something similar with Everyone Deserves Music?
When we made that record I didn't go into it with that intention it just kind of worked out that way and with this label I said I don't want to make a record that is compared to a lot of other records because that record is really unique and magical and and it's all there. I'm not going to even attempt to come close to reproducing that, so to avoid comparison I said let's redefine what we do and create a new sound for what we do and let's just keep going forward.
Ultimately, are you glad that you did that radio play last time?
Yeah I am I think that it was a really powerful record and it really had a lot of great songs and that record has become very meaningful for a lot of people I think that in some ways it was very specific and maybe that kept it out of the hands or the ears of some radio stations, but it definitely had an endearing quality in the hearts of the people who embraced it.
Was there a particular reason you chose such an upbeat title like Everyone Deserves Music?
I believe that. Music is something that you can't see it, you can't taste it, you can't touch it, it's colourless, it's odourless and, quite often, tasteless (laughs) but through music we give forth to emotions we never knew existed in our hearts and it is through those invisible sound waves wonderful magic occurs and I believe that everyone deserves that magic, that healing.
You left Capitol Records and now have your own label. Was that principally to have the freedom to be able to have as many releases as you wish?
Yeah. We just recorded a live show this weekend for a DVD and that'll be out before the end of the year. And we're recording the next album. We just did the first two songs for it.
Our goal is to be a label that's really lean and effective at getting music out. Not at all are we thinking how are we going to sell millions and millions of records, but rather how can we have constant flow of records that satisfy our musical urges and also keep it interesting for the people who keep up with what we're doing.
Was that a frustration previously?
When we first started at Capitol we didn't own a studio. So it was always a weird thing where you'd write a song and you'd want to record them and you'd have to go out and ask a committee to get things signed in triplicate to hire a studio. Eventually we just thought "screw this, let's get whatever money that we have and put it into a studio." So that's what we did.
The video shoot you mentioned, was that in San Francisco?
Yeah, for 150 people at a really small theatre and it was an acoustic performance for about two and a half hours and we recorded it all.
Two and a half hours, that's a brief set for you guys isn't it?
Yeah, it was a pretty brief set. We were bummed out because we only prepared enough tape stock to do two and a half hours. We wanted to play three and a half hours but some miscommunication happened and we only had enough tape for two and a half hours.
Was there an evolution towards such lengthy sets?
Well, we like to jam on songs so it's not uncommon for a song that is four minutes on the record to be 12 or 15 minutes live. Through the jamming we make the songs different every night and, you know, we groove up into a frenzy that gets people really going.
Your upcoming tour marks the fourth time you've been to Perth in two years. Is there something Australia really gets from your music?
Australians love soulful music. Not just soulful in the sense of, like, Motown, but soul in the sense of music that speaks from the heart about issues that are important. That's why you see artists like Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and John Butler doing so well in Australia. I mean another reason is, geographically, you have this wonderful island that's really far away from the rest of the world. In some ways it's a blessing that you guys have your own culture that's developed. It's, you know, unique, because of that.
Your music is not only of the soul but also by its very nature, outspoken. Do you ever fear for your safety like when you bring out a song called Bomb The World?
I haven't been until recently when I discovered that military intelligence offices have been keeping surveillance on the band. One of my band members has a sibling in the forces and they had pictures of us performing at demonstrations, with our bank records and the names of all the people who work at our management office. That was the first time I had ever felt scared. I know it is happening with a lot of people who organise demonstrations, people who are working as journalists, filmmakers ... It's a sign of the times and it makes us become more diligent about what we do and more clear in what we do.
How far back did these files go?
Four years ago when we did our first 911 concert in San Francisco.
Assuming the concerts were named for the US emergency number, it's interesting how those digits have come to represent something else.
It's a really freaky thing. It means that now when we put on that concert it has a greater meaning. It originally was about bringing attention to the emergency in social justices, now it seems to mean that we can wave flags and go off and blow up other countries. If you really want to help the world maybe you should address US foreign policy, environmental destruction, economic destabilisation of other countries ...
Does it ever bother you to think the government could be hassling you, through other avenues like your support for the legalisation of marijuana. Do you see yourself getting busted for pot possession as a small way to sidetrack the argument and discredit your work?
Yeah, well I won't get busted because I don't smoke pot anymore and I believe that pot should be legalised and that it has a lot of powerful medicinal benefits. Compared with alcohol and cigarettes it is relatively less harmful and so I will continue to speak out in support of reform and freeing people who are locked up at the moment for drug offences.
Have you noticed the reaction from America changing post the Iraq invasion?
I think that there is still a lot of confusion in America now, on the one hand they see statues of Saddam Hussein coming down ... and we hear the economic costs of war and the political costs of war but rarely or never in America do we we see and hear the human cost of war. We don't see the people that have been murdered, the bodies torn apart and we don't see people that are suffering wondering where their next meal is going to come and wondering who is going to be the next leader of their country. We did this thing about getting rid of Saddam Hussein but now we are talking about putting this guy in power who was sentenced to 22 years in a Jordanian prison for stealing $200 million in a banking fraud and that is the guy we think should be running that country so I hope for the best and I hope that it all works out over there but predicting the future you would have to observe the present. So, if you look at all the trouble in Afghanistan since we invaded there we can begin to understand what the priorities are and I think the priorities were about oil more than they were about the people or even weapons.
As an artist how do you factor in the reaction of Middle America to your music? The Dixie Chicks were immediately stonewalled by the business because of one off-the-cuff comment, whereas what you do has a far greater edge. Can you spend time second guessing what you do?
One thing is that this is what I've always done and people know me for it and expect it from me. It's not like it's a big shock to my fans. The other thing is that the Dixie Chicks made a statement and their record sales declined for a week and radio ignored them for a week but after a week they went back up and continued to sell. Their tour completely sold out and people have rallied around them. There's a few people who said it wasn't what they wanted them to do but the rest of the nation stood up and said they can say whatever they want.
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