Spearhead's new album hides its message in musicianship

MOST OF the words that applied to the music of Michael Franti's former group, the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, sound like descriptions of heavy machinery.

Aggressive. Industrial. Grinding. In your face. Relentless.

Franti says it was "like broccoli."

"You listened to it because you knew it was good for you, but you really didn't enjoy it," said Franti, 27.

Enjoyment both his and the listener's was Franti's main concern in forming his soulful new hip-hop group, Spearhead, which opens for the hip-hop trio Digable Planets Friday 3/10 at the Rave.

If "good and good for you" doesn't sound like a scintillating recommendation, wait until you hear "Home," the group's deliciously rich debut album.

Jazzy, funky, laid-back, playful, cautionary and positive, Spearhead picks up where Arrested Development left off, with upbeat, politicized messages that never sound sanctimonious and a stage-filling show with live instruments. Rolling over plainspoken but insightful poetry, Franti's smooth, loping baritone is spiked by the soulful voicings of Mary Harris, a former studio singer and drummer who was introduced to Franti by "Home" producer Joe "The Butcha" Nicolo (Kris Kross, Cypress Hill).

Franti said the futility of trying to bludgeon people with a message struck him during a Heroes show in Australia.

"All these people were running around throwing water at each other half naked, and we're up there shouting, `Television, the drug of the nation.' " It just didn't mix."

For new direction, he looked to his idol, Bob Marley.

"He always wrote songs about the struggle, but then he put songs right next to them about how much he loved his girlfriend. I want to make music that you just enjoy listening to, and if you choose, you can find the jewels that are hidden there."

When it comes to jewels, "Home" is a virtual Tiffany's. In "Hole in the Bucket," based on a Jamaican folk song that was a hit for Harry Belafonte, a person contemplating whether to give his spare change to a street person discovers that the money has fallen out of a hole in his pocket.

Other songs are deeply personal. The conflicted, painfully honest "Positive" deals with Franti's anxiety while waiting for the results of an AIDS test.

Less than a decade ago, the 6-foot-6 Franti was playing basketball at the University of San Francisco when he discovered the work of Harry Edwards, a sociologist who applied political models to the business of sports (the tune "Dream Team" is a playful musical take on Edwards' theories). Newly inspired more by free expression than free throws, Franti dropped b-ball, hit the books and eventually formed his first band, the Beatnigs, in 1987. The group split after one album.

Franti's next mouthpiece, the Disposable Heroes, likewise parted ways after a critically praised 1992 debut, "Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury."

Franti said he believed Spearhead would break his track record of one album per band. He's already working on the second Spearhead record, which, he said, will be "harder" than "Home" but nowhere near as "nasty" as the Heroes. He said he has found his musical soul mate in Harris.

"I realized at a certain point in my life that things go better when you look forward than when you spend a lot of time trying to hide from or live in the past," Franti said. "There's always more than the six inches in front of your face . . . if you're willing to see it."

Show Time Who: Spearhead, opening for Digable Planets Where: The Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave. When: 8 p.m. Friday 3/10 How Much: $17.50 at the door

Copyright 1995
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