Michael Franti & Spearhead release their latest album, 'All Rebel Rockers', this week, and bring their live show to The Edge Festival in Edinburgh tomorrow. The album was recorded in Jamaica with legendary producers Sly & Robbie, and takes a deeper and more soulful exploration into both Franti's music and his politics. We spoke to Franti about the new album.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I had a band in high school and I played a drum set made out of a cardboard box. We collected bottles and cans and which we traded in for money to get an electric guitar. We told people we were collecting money for the school music programme – which was partly true because we were in school and we wanted to play music. I still have the guitar – it's a Ventura hollow body guitar.
Q2 What inspired your latest single?
This album is one where the intention is to inspire people through this time of crisis that we see occurring in the world. As far as the single 'Say Hey' goes, it's about traveling the world and the line in the song which says, "The more I see, the less I know" explains how the more I travel around the world, the less I understand – but some things I know. I love my son and I love my community – this I know.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
I always write tons of songs – way more than I put on the record. As I'm writing, I play on an acoustic guitar first and then I get together with the band or a producer and we start figuring out what the best songs are. Sometimes you think a song sounds great as a ballad turns out being better up-tempo – so we experiment and we always try to make the music the best it can be.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
I'm a fan of great songs, not really specific artists or specific genres. I could be listening Johnny Cash, Run DMC, Bob Marley, Aerosmith or Marvin Gaye - it doesn't matter. I've always loved artists that were able to make music with both musical appeal and a universal message. And people like Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Marvin Gaye have been very successful at that – I love their music because of that!
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I would say to just listen and enjoy. I would try not to give them too much advance prompting about what to expect. I would hope that people would dance, smile and sing a long, and I hope at the end of the day they're inspired to see the world in a lighter view.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
Try to understand to the whole world – how it works, our place in it and how everything is connected – and the intention is to communicate that.
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