I’ve been making records since 1985, but it wasn’t until 2010 that we had our first “top 20” hit. You can write songs that people can sing along to and have great beats and have words that mean something and resonate in peoples’ minds and more and more people find out about what you do. So I found the songs ended up becoming more personal because I had somebody else to help get what was inside my heart out.Īt the end of the day it all comes down to the song. Hear this.” And it’s more magical that way. But what I’ve found is that working with other people, it’s like a film director putting together the best writer, the best set designer … sometimes I’d be looking for a chord, the pre-chorus or chorus or something and couldn’t find it and the other person is like, “I’ve got it. Let’s get naked and have sex.” It’s that intimate. To share that with somebody that you don’t know, to me it’s like walking into a room and saying, “Hi, I’m Michael. I find that when I’m really tired there’s less filtration in my mind and I sort of blurt things out and it flows more naturally. I stay up late and sit down with my guitar and write lyrics. I always thought, “If I co-write a song with somebody, it’s going to be less personal.” And writing a song for me is the most personal thing that I do. This is the first record that I’ve ever co-written songs with anybody outside of my band. If you don’t have a good chorus it’s tough to work backwards and create one from the verse. I usually write songs from the hook first. I was in the studio and I said, “We need a song that sounds like a bunch of people strumming acoustic guitars and screaming at the top of their lungs.” It’s a song about being yourself and not being told by anyone else in the world that you should be anything but who you are. The first thing that inspired it was the melody. I love acoustic guitar driven music that makes people stomp their feet – like Irish music, gypsy music, flamenco, bluegrass. It’s a combination of dance and guitar music – acoustic guitars, electric guitars.
I wasn’t intending for there to be a theme, but if there is one it’s the classic existential question: I only have x amount of days to live – what do I want to do with them? What’s the mark I want to leave behind? There’s songs about my relationship with the love of my life, Sara, songs about the world and seeing the world from far away, or up close. Their music is very roots-y and organic and almost bluegrass, and other times it can be straight rock, or it can be funky, or reggae, and then they’ve got cello in there. I’ve done some shows with them, and I’m a big fan of their music. On This Issue’s Guest Editors, The Avett Brothers ∙ Released in 2020, the video for their sunny hit love song “I Got You,” from Work Hard and Be Nice, has nearly 900,000 views.We spoke with rocker and activist Michael Franti about his new album, All People, his approach to songwriting and his connection with his fans for the November/December issue.
17 on the Billboard 200, and the title track topped the Adult Alternative Songs chart. ∙ Their 2010 album, The Sound of Sunshine, reached No. ∙ Spearhead’s double-Platinum, dancehall-tinged single “Say Hey (I Love You)” was their first to enter the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. ∙ The band first realized their signature eclectic style on 2001’s Stay Human, a sprawling concept album reflecting Franti’s opposition to the death penalty. ∙ Coproduced by the Grammy-winning reggae artist Stephen Marley, 1997’s Chocolate Supa Highway included guest turns by Joan Osborne and the world music act Zap Mama. ∙ The video for Spearhead’s homelessness lament “Hole in the Bucket,” from their critically acclaimed debut album, Home, won a Clio Award in 1994.
Michael Franti & Spearhead is an alternative-rock band that blends hip-hop, reggae, folk, and jazz in songs reflecting their leader’s antiwar activism and social justice concerns.
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