Spearhead
paul parker, photo editor

As demonstrated by the recent wave of social activism at the WTO meetings in Seattle, political awareness is percolating in very disparate communities. Thanks to this, Spearhead's message is finally becoming socially pertinent to a larger audience. Spearhead's show at the Commodore demonstrated that politics and music can have a symbiotic relationship. Front-man Michael Franti does not water down his poetry in order to make it more palatable, but rather delivers his agit-prop over layers of heavy base lines.

Spearhead formed out of the ashes of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcrasy in the mid-1990s and released their first album Home in 1994. A former college basketballer, Franti began writing and performing political poetry with the Beatnigs, a puck/rock outfit from San Francisco. It was not until Franti formed the band The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcrasy and released the album Hyprocrasy Is The Greatest Luxury in 1992 that he began to gain wider recognition as a poet with a political agenda.

Luxury was less of a realized record and more of a collection of politically charged rants recorded over samples and beats. Singles such as the title track and "Television, the Drug of the Nation," drew the attention of music critics and the Heroes were soon opening up for acts such as Nirvana and U2. Franti's anti-imperialist sentiments also garnered the attention of Liberal America and subsequently he was adopted as the poster boy for white political correctness. Often, Franti's musical accomplishments were obscured by his reputation as an angry, but intelligent, poet.

Spearhead came together as an attempt to foreground Franti's political causes by creating a melodic groove that is danceable but doesn't get worn out over repeated listens. Where the Disposable Heroes album attempted to tackle issues by preaching about the big muscle movements, Home told human stories that highlighted issues such as race and sexuality without excessive pedagogy. Home is a record that washes over you on every listen while Luxury was like opening a tome and choking down the theory. Franti has insisted that, "I'm a storyteller, so I'm always writing stories in my songs about what's happening in life, about things that I see or fictitious stories that are metaphors for larger things in life."

Supa Chocolate Highway released in 1997, was a continuation of the themes of Home, but found Franti experimenting with his vocal style, rapping as opposed to preaching. Pushing boundaries musically, lyrically and socially, Spearhead raised the bar for bands like Propaghandi and Consolidated to create mellifluous music that raises social issues. Franti has stitched a mosaic that tears cloth from the poetry of Gill Scott Heron, the sexuality of Marvin Gaye and clipped delivery of KRS-1. The album title Supa Chocolate Highway is a play on "the information super highway," which Franti has pointed out is only available to about two per cent of the world's population.

Franti and Spearhead are currently on a mini-tour of the Western U.S. and are linking up with community groups committed to social change through art and music. In Vancouver, Spearhead was joined by organizations such as Check Your Head and Anti-Racism Action for a collaborative performance at the Sugar Refinery before the gig.

Franti, clearly comfortable on stage, switched between songs and narratives ranging from the spoken-word influenced "Hole In The Bucket" which discussed the ethics of handing out spare-change to the homeless, to funky numbers like "Red Rice and Beans" which discussed his reason for choosing to be vegetarian.

While the show at the Commodore was heavily political, it was also a rompin' good time. At times Franti showed that he may be tired of wearing his politics on his sleeve and would rather join the crowd on the dance floor - which was shrouded in pot smoke, much to the chagrin of the more serious politicos.

The theme of this tour is "Stay Human," and hardcore fans may be somewhat concerned with Franti's embrace of new age dogma. In the promotional material for the tour he sends a message to "all healers, massage therapists, astrologers, reiki practitioners, herbalists, energy balancers, nutritionists, doctors, aroma therapists, yogis, meditators, homeopaths, chiropractors, tantric healers, magicians, shamans, and spiritualists" to make themselves known because they might be of some assistance to others in the audience.

As the show came to a close and Spearhead returned to the stage for an encore, Franti gave us a taste of his belief that we are spiritual beings learning to live in a human form, and not the other way around.

He allowed us to soak this in, then choked on his next words. Bursting out laughing, he then assured us jokingly, "Hey I'm fuckin' human!" Franti then said that, "There have been two great unifying forces in the world, war and professional wrestling . . . no, just kidding, the other is music." Clearly, Franti's unifying force is his music which is the conduit for his politics.

Despite alluding to the WTO and the solidarity of people in Seattle, notably absent from Franti's set was "Water Pistol Man." Franti has recorded this song several times, and it has become a rallying cry for local community activism. "I should know that the power of one man seems like a small squirt when he aims at the flames of the whole earth . . . Water pistol man, full of ammunition, squitin' out fires on a worldwide mission. But did you ever think to stop and squirt the flowers in your own backyard?" Spearhead's recent performance at the Commodore Ballroon demonstrate that they will continue to extinguish blazes by raising awareness of social issues through their music.

[ Back to issue 6 ] [ Send The Peak a comment on this story ]

The contents of The Peak are protected by copyright. For information on rights regarding specific articles (including reprinting, where applicable), please contact epeak@mail.peak.sfu.ca with the full URL of the content in question.