Michael Franti is not your average barefooted, guitar playing, peace boasting all talk and no action musician. The soft spoken, soulful frontman of the band Spearhead has been a constant and integral part of the politically active music scene for over a decade; even before the peace sign made its trendy comeback. Just like his music, his involvement in political activism and humanitarian work has positively influenced lives all over the world.

The underlying theme of his new album, The Sound of Sunshine, lies directly in its title and is about finding sunshine in the darkest of places. A credo that Franti seems to live by everyday. The musician turned humanitarian took a few minutes out of his incredibly busy schedule to talk to me about the Obama administration, playing on street corners and whether or not he believes music can change the world.

Michael Franti: Hey Julia. How are you doing today? What city are you in?
REAX: Hi Michael! No one has ever started off an interview with a question for me before. I'm great! I'm in Tampa. I hear you're in Florida already, hope you're enjoying the sunshine state so far.
Michael Franti: I am very much, it's been beautiful out. I'm in Miami right now, we should have had lunch together this afternoon!

REAX: Haha, well it's not that close but yes, that would have been lovely. Thanks for taking time to talk to me. I suppose I'll just jump right in here. So it's widely known that you are one of the most politically active musicians in the game and a big supporter of Obama. Whats your take on his measure of success thus far in office?
Michael Franti: Well first of all, he has inherited one of the worst situations we could ever imagine with two wars and an abysmal economy. That being said I think that he is fairing pretty well. In terms of politically, things are pretty terrible right now. I am someone who believes that we can heal ourselves and that there is no higher calling then to be in the position to be able to heal others. Ive seen wars. Ive been on the streets of Iraq. That is not where our money needs to be going. It should be going towards health care, not towards blowing things up in Iraq. So in terms of things he is actually getting accomplished, I think we are not even close to where we need to be.

REAX: Where did your passion for activism stem from? Was it from growing up in a liberal city like San Fransisco? Were you raised in a liberal household?
Michael Franti: I grew up in California and the family that I grew up in was actually a pretty conservative family believe it or not. There were a lot of Republicans around growing up. I was adopted and grew up in a mixed family. My parents were white and had three biological kids of their own and then they adopted me and another black kid. So I've always believed that everyone should be given an equal opportunity in life and should all be treated equally.

I believe people should be judged by the content of their character and that alone so that's really where my social calling comes from. I'm actually registered as an Independent, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I don't believe in two party politics. I believe in personal responsibility and that everyone has an obligation to do everything they can to contribute to their communities and to their country and to the world in order to make the world a better place. Ive met people on both sides of the island who are helping to do just that so I try not to limit myself to Democrat or Republican or left winged or right winged, I'm just trying to be the best me I can.

REAX: So you've been in this scene for a long time now. Would you say that your music has been a platform for the political activism or do you think that your interest in political activism ended up being a platform for you music?
Michael Franti: When I first started making music I wrote a lot more directly political songs. I wrote songs about things like how our prisons in California were getting more funding then our schools were. I would write these angry songs about how unjust things were and then one day someone invited me to go play in a prison. So I did and I talked to people there and I played music for them. Then I got invited to a super max facility, and to women's prisons, and then to Folsom prison.

It was really when I was playing these types of places that I realized that these people don't want to hear songs about prison. They want to hear songs about how much they miss their girlfriends, or how they want to change their lives and become different people, and so that is where things changed for me. I don't write so much directly political songs anymore, but I am more involved directly in the specific things that I care about. That's why I went to Iraq, that's why I play at community centers across the country, that's why I play on street corners, like I'm about to go do this afternoon, you just involve your self in the things that matter the most to you.

REAX: Speaking of Iraq, your documentary, I know I'm not Alone, expressed your extraordinary concern and the dire need for peace in the middle east. What was you experience like filming over there? It had to be life changing.
Michael Franti: It really was life changing. I remember there was this one day when I got invited to play for U.S. soldiers in a bar one night while they were off duty. Earlier that day I had visited an Iraqi hospital full of hundreds of children who had limbs blown off or were in critical condition. So I had had a lot of mixed emotions getting ready to play for the soldiers that night. One of the songs that I sang was called "Bomb the World" and the lyrics were that we can bomb the world into pieces but we cant bomb the world into peace. So I was playing this song for a room full of soldiers carrying an M16 in one hand a a beer in the other hand. I was thinking "Uh oh I better not mess up here!"

Then something amazing happened. All these guys came up to me after the show and said ya know it takes balls to walk in here and sing a song like that. Then they told me about their lives, and where they were from, and about their reasons for being in Iraq. I met people who signed up for the service on September 12th, the day after the attacks. I met other people that had been in the first Gulf War and have done two tours since and now they are 34 or 35 with a couple of kids an a mortgage and a job and now they make $1,800 a month being a soldier in Iraq, for something that they didn't really believe in.

That really changed me and my attitude about soldiers. Since that time Ive worked a lot with veterans groups. We have them out at just about every single one of ours shows to come out and speak or to at least set up a table. Ive played at Walter Reed Hospital for soldiers who come back injured. Every time I'm in a situation like that I try to be a listener. So that's really what I learned the most from being in Iraq. There are as many views on a situation as there are people there and as a story teller and song writer the best thing I can do is to one; make songs that uplift people and make them feel good and two; to be the best listener I can be so that I can share their stories when I travel other places.

REAX: So this is kind of a loaded question but I have to ask it. Do you think that music can change the world?
Michael Franti: Well I always say that I don't know if music can change the world over night but I know that it can make any of us get through a really difficult night, and most of the time that is all we really need, to be able to get from this day to the next day. I just finished an album called The Sound of Sunshine, and its all about trying to find sunshine in dark places.

Ya know whether it be that the economy is messed up or when your feeling sad because your girlfriend just broke up with you or maybe your boss yelled at you during the week. How do you find the positivity and sunlight in those situations? For a lot of us it's music. That's what the new album is about. So yeah I do believe that music can change peoples lives, and that can make a huge difference in the world. I would even argue (chuckles) that it can do it faster then politicians can do it!

REAX: Agreed! Last time you were here you were on an amphitheater tour with John Mayer. Are you happy to be back this time around playing some more intimate venues with the Spearhead guys?
Michael Franti: We had a really, really great time on that John Mayer tour. We were sad when it ended. The entire crew of both bands, not just the bands but the entire production teams, we all just got a long so well and were sad to see it end. But yeah this time around is really fun too because we have so much more time. When we were touring with John, it was a much bigger production and we really only had maybe an hour or two to kill before shows.

We also just finished the new album so we are feeling really primed to go out and play, we are just excited about life right now. Things are going really well for us at the moment and bottom line is we just love playing music. In fact later today we are going out before the show to play on the street with our acoustic guitars. Truth be told, that is just as much fun as playing an arena for us, hands down.