Michael Franti

Michael Franti is a globally recognized musician, activist, and award-winning filmmaker celebrated for his high-energy live shows, inspiring music, worldwide philanthropic efforts, and unshakable optimism. Over his multi-decade career, Franti has earned three Billboard No. 1 hits with the uplifting anthems “Sound of Sunshine,” “Say Hey (I Love You),” and “I Got You,” along with six Top 30 Hot AC singles, 10 Top 25 AAA singles, and three Billboard Top 5 Rock Albums. His 13th studio album, Big Big Love, released in November 2023, debuted in the Top 5 on the iTunes Pop Chart behind Taylor Swift. Praised by American Songwriter as “an energizing batch of songs that spotlight the common threads that connect us,” the album features 17 tracks co-written by Franti, showcasing his signature tenacity, inclusiveness, and optimism.

In 2025, Franti will embark on the Welcome To The Family Tour, a large summer tour across the US that celebrates connection, unity, and community. Additionally, Michael is set to release his brand-new album this year, Welcome To The Family, continuing his legacy of creating music that uplifts and inspires. It is slated to be released on March 28th, and will be his 14th studio album, featuring 13 incredible new songs!

At the end of 2024, Michael & Spearhead concluded their worldwide Togetherness Tour, performing in over 90 markets, including iconic venues like Red Rocks, The Greek Theatre, and Pier 17, along with limited runs in the UK, Europe, and Australia. The tour featured a diverse lineup of special guests, including Stephen Marley, Trevor Hall, Niko Moon, Citizen Cope, Trombone Shorty, and more.

When not on tour, the Bay Area native resides in Bali, where he owns Soulshine Bali, a 32-room 5-star boutique hotel in Ubud. Focused on joy through wellness and music, the hotel offers unique retreat opportunities, accommodations, and special events. This spring, Soulshine Bali will expand with the addition of The Sanctuary, five new luxury rooms designed to elevate the guest experience.

Franti also fosters community offstage through his wish-granting nonprofit, Do It For The Love, which brings individuals with life-threatening illnesses, veterans, and children with severe challenges to concerts around the world. To date, the organization has fulfilled over 3,500 wishes and touched the lives of more than 15,000 people, continuing to inspire hope and connection worldwide.

The Record Company

When The Record Company pick up their instruments, the members—Chris Vos [guitar, lead vocals, harmonica], Alex Stiff [bass, backing vocals], and Marc Cazorla [drums, backing vocals]—participate in a musical back-and-forth akin to a formative and supportive conversation among siblings. The nuances of their personalities seep through loose, bluesy guitar leads, airtight drum grooves, thick bass, and vividly evocative lyrics. With such fluidity, the musicians respond to one another so instinctually you’d swear they were telepathically linked. However, there’s no such superpower necessary when you’ve got the closest thing to a brotherhood that three musicians unrelated by blood can share…

The GRAMMY® Award-nominated trio only amplify the power of this bond on their fourth full-length offering and 2023 debut for Round Hill Records.

“We know each other’s personalities on the instruments, so we reconnected with one another and really found that brotherhood again,” explains Chris. “It's always been there, but we got back into a room where it was like a circle of stone. We’re creating something that will go out into the world. We all stand behind it equally, and we’re willing to put our lives and love into it. When you put your career, your future, and your art into another person’s hands and you know they’re doing the same for you, there’s a different level of trust. That’s been our secret since day one. When it’s challenging, we’re all trying to figure out the challenge. When it’s good, we’re all experiencing it together.”

They’ve experienced everything as a family since forming back in 2011. Along the way, they served up a tested-and-proven epic in the form of their 2016 debut, Give It Back To You. The release earned a GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Contemporary Blues Album” and spawned “Off The Ground,” which reached #1 at AAA Radio and tallied nearly 40 million total streams and counting. Beyond a string of stunning late-night television appearances, they performed on CBS This Morning, at Bonnaroo, and on an extensive tour with John Mayer in addition to headlining coast-to-coast. They maintained this momentum with All Of This Life [2018] and Play Loud [2021]. On top of praise from American Songwriter, Classic Rock, and more, NPR hailed the latter as “the band’s biggest and most dynamic record to date.”

In 2021, the guys hunkered down and commenced creating what would become their fourth LP. Working out of an intimate home studio in Beachwood Canyon, they wrote, recorded, and self-produced the music. Outside of cutting drums at the legendary Sunset Sound, it proved to be a homegrown affair through and through.

“We got back to our old perspective, which is to trust the idea, get out of the way, make something, listen, and respond to it,” affirms Chris.

Alex elaborates, “We decided to record the organic thing that got us really excited to play music as a band in the first place. That was the general theme of this record. Keep it as close to a three-piece sound as possible. Keep the music raw. It’s a return to form in a way, but we’re still growing.”

“We’ve been doing this for a while,” adds Marc. “As long as we sound like us, we can be proud of it. It’s not going to be for everybody, but we’ve never been prouder of what we’re doing.”

The Record Company kicks off their next era with the single “Dance On Mondays.” Guitar cries through a hypnotically hummable bassline and head-nodding beat. Meanwhile, a chantable hook instantly takes hold with grit and gusto as Chris affirms, “I don’t dance on Mondays.”

“Somebody asked me to go see a band on a Monday night, and I just said, ‘I don’t dance on Mondays’,” Alex recalls. “I wrote it down in my phone. The phrase signifies, ‘I’m taking my life back, and I’m not going to dance for anybody’. It goes back to where we are as a band and us being The Record Company.”

Then, there’s “Talk To Me.” Bass practically dances atop a simmering groove punctuated by tambourine before guitar kicks back in as Chris urges, “So, why don’t you talk to me?” Marc goes on, “It reminds me of one of those rare Blue Note groove records with a chill vibe.”

Launching into toe-tapping bounce, harmonica wails on “Darkest Days” as the stomp and 12-string guitar underline a soulful vocal. “Highway Lady” shines with a Laurel Canyon meditation in the glow of swooning slide guitar.

“We wanted to make music you could listen to “Highway Lady” on a road trip in the car with the city’s lights behind you,” Alex says. “This song had this big vibe of feeling good both musically and spiritually.”

“Lyrically, it’s my favorite,” adds Marc. “It could be about so many different things. I moved into this house with a little pool, which I’d always wanted in Southern California. When it’s hot as shit out, you naturally develop all of these new friends during the summer. You make a pool playlist, and I wanted one of our tunes to be a contender. To me, this is one.”

In the end, The Record Company are stronger than ever as a band and, more importantly, as brothers.

“I’d love for people to hear this record and feel like they’re in the house with us making it,” Alex leaves off. “I want them to feel like they’re part of this unpolished and homemade thing, because that’s what we were trying to get back to.”

“We’re a trio, and that’s the completion of this circle,” Marc concludes. “The fourth member of this group is the space between us. We embrace that space as part of the raw element. That’s what we explored on this album, and it’s beautiful. We can’t wait to bring it on the road.”