Michael Franti - Spearheading A Rebellion?

In 2006, Franti and his funk/soul/hiphop bandmates released Yell Fire! inspired by his trip to Israel, Baghdad, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, coupled with a movie entitled I Know I’m Not Alone based on these experiences. “Everywhere I went in the Middle East, I met peacemakers. Some were Israelis, some Palestinians, some were American soldiers and some were Iraqi heavy metal musicians. I choose to say ‘Let’s work on a community level and get to know each other’. On a political level, I implore people to always be open to solutions that consider everyone – where people live side by side in safety, with accepted states and a viable economy; I believe those goals are all achievable. It takes compromise and willingness to listen.”

The exuberant 42-year old is expending ever more energy in preaching his message of peace, often to mixed reviews from a cynical press (“I come from a background where the important thing is that we connect with our fans when we hit the stage. If we get one star or five stars, or if what we do is not sophisticated enough then ‘So what?’”). Spearhead are about to release their sixth studio album entitled All Rebel Rockers a title designed to act as a clarion call to all would -be peace activists. “To be a rebel is all about going against the system. If the system is bringing us negativity, war, environmental destruction, fear, then to be a rebel is to be bringing positivity, solutions to war, environmental sustainability. Right now there’s a danger of everybody on the planet losing sight of how to do that. I wanted to make a record that’s like ‘Hey, let’s keep up the fight, or this stuff will get us down’. I want songs that people can sing along to. If it’s too complicated in the chorus then nobody gets it. I play a lot of places where English is not the language, so I’m trying to find a way where the message is the sound rather than the text.”

Franti is under no illusions as to how effective one man (or band) can be in offering solutions to global conflict. Admirably, this does not deter him in the slightest from doing what he does best in the hope that he can make a difference. “I don’t think there is any other way to approach it. A few years ago, I went to Iraq and I played music on the streets for people there. I had just gotten so frustrated watching the news at home and wondering what I could do. I’d protested in the streets, written letters to the President and all those things. In the end I realised that ‘Hey, I’m a musician, I can go play music for these people and listen to their stories’. So I went and played music on the streets for people. When I got there I thought I’d end up feeling depressed and bummed out after the experience, but the opposite was true. I saw the inspiration of people and how much they are trying under extreme circumstances to make the best of things. I ended up feeling quite positive about the nature of humanity.”