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Taken from Oregon Daily Emerald- Spearheading social activism (October 02, 2003)
 Michael Franti and his band Spearhead have been touring across the country in support of "Everyone Deserves Music"; their fourth album. The recording, released on the band's independent label Boo Boo Wax, includes songs such as "Bomb The World" and "We Don't Stop." Franti's lyrics address social injustice and responsibility with music that might loosely be considered a blend of funk, folk and hip-hop styles. Last Thursday, the band played a 180-minute set of music at the McDonald Theatre. Before the show, Franti took time to talk to the Emerald about his music, lyrics, and activism.
Emerald: On songs such as "Rock The Nation," you call for a takedown of corporate media-controlled systems. Do you view the band's music as a direct action in itself or a means to something greater?
Michael Franti: We do it directly for people, so it is a direct action. Often a direct action isn't really direct. And often things that appear to be indirect have direct effects. I practice yoga. We always say in yoga: 'We practice yoga on our mat, but we live our yoga in our life.' It's the same thing with direct action. Sometimes we think of things like going to raise our voice, like the World Trade Organization and some protests. But that's just one moment in time -- when it's our practice for the rest of our lives.
Emerald: It seems like many aspire to inspire others but often this seems to fall into a dichotomy of "telling" and "listening." How would you encourage listeners to take action beyond buying albums and trying to put themselves in the spotlight?
MF: The greatest respect that anybody can show anyone else is being listened to. So many of us grew up in families and in schools and in communities where we were never listened to. So we become frustrated by that. So the rest of our lives we go through trying to be heard. Inspiration is something you never know where it's going to come from. To inspire, I don't know if there's a formula for it or not, except to have good intentions behind what you do, to plant your seeds in fertile soil -- like well-crafted music, well-crafted painting and well-crafted words. Then, close your eyes, say a gentle prayer with it, and let it go.
Emerald: Saul Williams once said in an interview: "I describe myself as a student and I consider myself an artist. I think that an artist is a vessel and that it's our duty to cleanse and make ourselves as open as possible so that things can enter us and we can filter them out." Could you comment on this?
MF: Well, I love Saul, and I love that description. I feel the same way. I believe that you have to remain a student of music in order to hold your creativity. I'm always trying to do new things -- right now my latest thing is to learn to play the acoustic guitar. Like Saul was saying, try to stay cleansed and open to the creative spirit. I believe there is one creative force in the world. No creation actually comes from us. It comes from this one force, this one beautiful birth and energy. And so when we allow ourselves to be still, and when allow ourselves to feel whatever we're feeling -- to be tired, or angry, or lonely or hungry -- that's when we have this sense coming through.
Emerald: I was reading your Web site and noticed that you started learning how to play guitar around the time "Stay Human" was released in 2001. How have you progressed on that, and how has it affected your music?
MF: It's affected my music a lot because when I first started writing music I would just write rhymes and just say whatever I want to say. There was no real form or structure to it -- it was just rhyming, rhyming, rhyming. But a more concise way to communicate with people is to have a form. I always start with the hook of the song or the chorus and work backwards from that. I'm always saving hooks and writing verses around that. And the bridge of the song; I want it to be uplifting. I want it to be like, "Okay I told you what the problem is in the verse, here's the hook," which is again me restating the problem. And then when we come to the bridge I want it to be like, "Everything's going to be okay. There is a reason for resolution. There is a there is a possibility of resolution." So that's how I write. And the guitar has helped me with that because now I work with chords and melody and not just rhythm and words.
Emerald: There's a lyric from your album "Home": "A piece of peace for you / a piece of peace for me / but I won't act peaceful if you're not that way to me." How does this compare to your later songs, such as "Everyone Deserves Music," which calls for compassion toward enemies?
MF: That's good that you mention that because that's a song that I haven't done for a long time. It doesn't speak to where I'm at today. I look at it as a historical reference as where I have been. There was a time when I was that way, and I felt like I chose it. I was going out into the street and I was at protests, and I would look at cops with disdain and hatred -- as much hatred as they would look at me. Or in any situation where someone was hostile to me, I felt like it was my right to be equally hostile back toward them. In my later works I have rethought that. I believe that compassion brings about resolution to conflicts, and that's what we want -- those who are working toward this greater goal of a world that is a demilitarized world, a less corporate world, or at the very least (a world) for corporations that feel like having some responsibility can also be part of their profit agendas. In order to do that, we have to make this resolution irresistible. We don't make it irresistible when we make it about hatred; when we make it about anger; make it about retaliation. We make it irresistible when we make it inviting to people. When we make people feel like they're welcome to exploring other ideas. I don't play that song anymore; I haven't played it for five or six years.
Emerald: How do you feel the new album has been received? The Emerald review said, "The problem lies almost entirely with the lyrics, which call for social change, peace, love and unity using all the profound wisdom of a bumper sticker." How would you address this critique of your lyrics?
MF: I would address it in that I write lyrics, and then people put them on bumper stickers (laughs). That's what's happened. You know, everyone has their opinion about it. But I perform the music every night and I look out into the audience and see the effect it has on people. So, someone says "It has the profound effect of a bumper sticker or whatever," it's like, "What?" That's your thing man, and if you're just in your house looking at bumper stickers driving by as they all go by, then that's probably how you're going to get it. But if you take time and sit with the music, and you listen to more than just the hook of the song; if you dance and you celebrate; put your arms in the air, and smell your own funk, you might get more out of it. But it's not for me to judge what other people think. Some people say it's the greatest thing in the world; some people find it heinous. Some people think it's too radical; some people think it's not radical enough. But it is me, and it is who I am -- it's all I can be.
Emerald: Do you think releasing your albums independently has affected Spearhead's popularity?
MF: I think that's affected our popularity a little bit in that we have a much more loyal fan base. We have people today that travel from show after show after show. It's because we tour a lot, but it's also because we've changed the way we do things, and people understand that, and people resonate with that and feel it. So I guess the thing that I'm most proud about our music and the way that it's grown since we've started our own label is that it hasn't grown through advertising, through media or MTV -- it's grown through word of mouth. I think of all the people who've done that for our music and I'm grateful.
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Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
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