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\ campus tradition—over 100 years of publication.
Spearheading
social activism
bpearhead s lead singer
Michael Franti talks candidly
about his life, tour and music
By Aaron Shakra
Pulse Editor
Michael Franti and his band Spear
head have been touring across the
country in support of "Everyone De
serves Music"; their fourth album. Ihe
recording, released on the band's in
dependent label Boo Boo Wax, in
cludes songs such as "Bomb The
World" and "We Don't Stop." Franti's
lyrics address social injustice and re
sponsibility with music that might
loosely be considered a blend of funk,
folk and hip-hop styles. Last Thurs
day, 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 sys
tems. 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 of
ten things that appear to be indirect
I-—
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 en
courage listeners to take action be
yond buying albums and trying to put
themselves in the spodight?
ME: The greatest respect that any
body can show anyone else is being
listened to. So many of us grew up in
families and in schools and in com
munities where we were never lis
tened to. So we become frustrated by
that. So the rest of our lives we go
through trying to be heard. Inspira
tion is something you never know
where it's going to come from. To in
spire, I don't know if there's a formula
for it or not, except to have good in
tendons 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,
Get the
word out!
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and let it go.
Emerald: Saul Williams once said
in an interview: "1 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?
ME: Well, I love Saul, and 1 love that
description. I feel the same way. I be
lieve that you have to remain a stu
dent 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 spir
it. 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 our
selves to be still, and when allow our
selves to feel whatever we're feeling —
to be tired, or angry, or lonely or hun
gry — 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 be
cause when I first started writing mu
sic 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 commu
nicate with people is to have a form.
I always start with the hook of the
song or the chorus and work back
wards 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 prob
lem is in the verse, here's the hook,"
which is again me restating the prob
lem. And then when we come to the
bridge I want it to be like, "Every
thing'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 com
passion 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 go
ing 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 sit
uation where someone was hostile to
me, I felt like it was my right to be
Turn to SPEARHEAD, page 14
Today's crossword solution