Last year was a sweet one for Michael Franti
Last year was a sweet one for Michael Franti. And man, did he deserve it. In August 2009 his appendix burst mid-yoga pose, sending him not only into hospital, but also in a stricken few weeks of terror. The inflamed organ had been waylaying him before and after gigs for some time but as, literally, his bubble burst, Franti actually believed the end might be near. For a positive, eternally optimistic chap like Michael, that’s saying something. In an odd twist of fate, as Franti lay on the guerney waiting to be opened up, the track Say Hey (I Love You) from his Jamaican-born, Sly & Robbie produced record, All Rebel Rockers, was breaking into the Top 20 charts; the first time in his twenty-five year career that a song of his had enjoyed such commercial success.
Test results in, appendix out: an overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude struck the singer, musician, poet and activist and his next collection of songs poured forth. In true Franti style, he took the new material out on the road with longtime musical family, Spearhead, to give it to the people.
As recording sessions took place in hotel rooms, locker rooms and backstage areas along the tour route his songs of hope and joy became Michael Franti and Spearhead’s seventh studio album, The Sound Of Sunshine. Released in February 2010 The Sound Of Sunshine is exactly what the title suggests – beach party music about friends and good times – and naturally indicated it was time. Time to keep touring of course. And essentially, that’s what Michael Franti and Spearhead spent all 2010 doing.
Now, Australia is prepping for Bluesfest – of which Michael is a part – but all I want to talk to Franti about is the incredible lineup that organiser Peter Noble has managed to pull together for the 22nd annual Byron Bay Bluesfest. The bill of artists is epic and has generated great discussion, as organisers keep adding more and more to it. Grace Jones, Warren Haynes, Clare Bowditch and Frank Yamma have been added to an outrageously great collection of artists including – of course – our man, Franti, ZZ Top, Ben Harper, CW Stoneking, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Derek Trucks, Jethro Tull and the legendary Bob Dylan and BB King.
As a songwriter and poet, of course, Franti is certainly looking forward to catching Dylan’s set. “Oh yeah,” he rumbles, “I mean anybody who’s ever tried to write a pop song in the last 30 years owes something to Bob Dylan. He’s somebody who really bought poetry, a healthy dose of irony and, you know, songs about social change, and social issues, and put them right next to songs about how much he loved his girlfriend. It’s just amazing to think that he’s still on the planet. He seems like such a heroic figure. He’s one of those people that it’s amazing to be living in the same time as. I’ll be able to tell my grandkids that, yeah, I actually saw him play a show.”
He pauses, presumably in awe. “You know, I wish I could say that about The Beatles and Bob Marley. I did see Run D.M.C. though – there’s the fab four right there,” he laughs. “I saw James Brown too – there’s the fab five. I saw him in Perth once, actually. It was great.”
So, Franti has some previous experience with being in the presences of greatness then? I’d wager James Brown would be as scary as Bob Dylan.
“We played a show in an outdoor park out there,” he recalls of the Perth event. “I didn’t really spend any time with him [Brown], except to see him walk on the stage. He just walked past me.”
Evidently, that was enough for Franti. “The show was incredible, you know. He gave everything he had on stage every time out there. He was a real inspiration for me on tour. I do the same thing. I give it all every single time I go out there no matter if I’m standing on the corner with my guitar or playing at a festival with tens of thousands of people.”
Franti admits it’s more than the just a great performance that he’s trying to create. “My goal every time we go out onstage, or every time we do a show, is we try to create a habitat for happiness to occur. For us, that starts the second we get off the bus and walk into the hotel, or walk into the venue, ‘til the second that we leave and get back on the bus at the end of the night. Everybody that we meet is important and special to us.”
Anybody who’s a longtime fan of Michael Franti and Spearhead know this to be true: and it finally seems that the rest of the world is catching on. And all because of a little song called Say Hey (I Love You).
“In the ‘States in the last two years we’ve had something happen that we’ve never had happen before,” he reflects. “We had this single Say Hey (I Love You) become a huge song on the radio, in the movies and on TV everyday.
“After 20 years of making music,” he admits, “we’ve never really had like a bona fide hit song and most of the people who listened to the song were, like, you know, teenage kids between 11 and 15 years old. On YouTube that was the greatest demographic of people who were viewing that video and it’s brought a whole new generation into our shows.”
I admit to Michael that I was introduced to Spearhead 15 years ago by my then eight-year-old next-door neighbour. We chat on about the wonder of the “entry point” into music – how people find their way “in” to certain artists, and how they go about discovering new music.
“I love that too. And then we have got people who’ve been with us for a long time who bring their kids to the shows. We have little kids from four and five years up to adults in their 60s and 70s,” continues Franti. “And we love it like that. We did a show a couple of weeks ago, and we do it every year, this annual event that is a kid’s performance at an arena. It’s just for families and kids and it’s our favourite show to do all year.”
MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD play The Palace this Tuesday April 19 – tickets from ticketek.com.au or 132 849. They also play BLUESFEST on Friday April 22 and Saturday April 23. Tickets from bluesfest.com.au. The Sound Of Sunshine is out now through Liberation.
