Michael Franti & Spearhead join Counting Crows at House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach on Aug. 10
Michael Franti, creator and lead singer of Michael Franti and Spearhead, said he is looking forward to visiting Myrtle Beach for the first time when his band joins Counting Crows and Augustana at the House of Blues on Aug. 20.
“I am looking forward to getting in the water,” Franti said. “I had a ruptured appendix and had to have emergency surgery. I am just now getting back out on the road. It feels good to be playing for an audience again. This trip will be my first time in Myrtle Beach, so I hope I will get a chance to hit the water after the show.”
Franti’s recent song “Say Hey (I Love You)” has recently hit the charts, bringing his unique style of music into the limelight.
“There are so many influences to my music — rock, reggae, punk rock — it is hard to pick a single genre,” Franti said. “So now that I have a song on in the top 40, I just tell people I play Top 40 music.”
Songwriters and the guitar provide Franti with the inspiration for his music.
“It all comes back to the acoustic guitar,” Franti said. “I start with that first, and it is the songwriters who worked with the guitar — John Lennon, Bob Marley, Johnny Cash. Take John Lennon for example. He did his songs in so many different styles and ranges.”
Many of his songs have a political side to them, but Franti isn’t just about protesting what he sees as wrong, but making a positive change.
“I believe all of us have an opportunity to make the planet a better place,” Franti said. “Yes, I have my political beliefs, but they are not necessarily right. Other people have their beliefs, and they might be right.”
Not just singing about his beliefs, Franti puts them to the test.
“When the Iraqi war started, I went there,” he said. “I didn’t go with the USO or anything. I got a plane ticket and went there on my own. I was singing on street corners to Iraqis and American troops at the same time.”
Franti continued: “It is better to get involved. I play prisons a lot. I play for the warden, the guards and the inmates — all sides of the problem.”
Franti grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, an African American adopted by second-generation Finnish Americans.
The unique upbringing has taught him the importance of solidarity.
“I have always felt like an outsider,” Franti said. “I try to use music to bring solidarity among all those outsiders, to create unity. I play in New Orleans a lot, and I see how music brings people together. This is a place that has been hit hard with problems of all kinds — weather disasters, political corruption — and then I see how all these different people come together for music.”
