Mike Love Shares What Inspires His Music & Message

Hey, everyone, this is Derek Brose with the Conscious Resistance Network, and I am in Kansas for the Thrive Alive Fest. I'm hanging out with Mike Love. How you doing, brother? Good, bro. And thank you for, for taking some time to be here and to chat with me. I think I first heard your music in 2012, 2011, so it's been a while. It's getting to tune in and kind of watch you. Tonight will be the first time I get to do you live, so that'll be cool. Actually, maybe one time I saw you in Vision Fest, but that wasn't as close as tonight's going to be. But yeah, I wanted to just share a bit about your message with my audience, which is going to include some people who are familiar with you and others who have no idea who you are. So maybe we just start there. Like, how would you describe what you do? I mean, you do a lot of.

Different things, but yeah, you know, I mean, for me, the kind of, the root of it is that, you know, is in its, is in its spiritual nature. It's music of healing, of awakening, of unity and togetherness. You know, it's reggae music. So it's, it's rooted in, in Rastafly. And yeah, it's a, it's really just about, you know, connection.

Yeah. And I mean, because you're doing guitar, you're doing live looping, I mean, you're a multi instrumentalist.

Yeah, yeah, I do a lot of, you know, I have a, I have a big band that I tour with sometimes and I also do a solo act that, you know, includes a lot of leaping.

It's beautiful instruments. And definitely I'll include some links to some of the videos for those who haven't heard. And I wanted to start there. You mention the spiritual side, that's, that's one of the questions I wanted to ask you. I mean, you talk about Rastafarianism and obviously in your songs you make references to Jah. Is that something that is like, core to your personal spirituality or more inspiration.

By it or what's that? Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely part of the core of it. You know, I mean, I, at this point in my life, I, I, I think I, you know, I do my best to just move beyond labels and, and I think that, you know, a spiritual path is more than ever, I just believe that we each have such a, you know, unique spiritual path that nothing really truly organized can, can really be applied, you know, like the broad stroke. Sure. To, to anybody. And I think more, more and More, you know, I just see that organized religion is, you know, you just a basis for control. Absolutely. Used as a basis for control. So. Yeah, I think, you know, my. My. My spiritual practice and. And spiritual beliefs are, you know, in a way, sort of indefinable as they're personal for me. But, you know, I. I just try to share. Yeah. The. The core of that. And I think, you know, like, really any of the, you know, any religion you look at, you know, if you take the core of it, it's. There's a good seat. Yeah, exactly. You know, and it's. It's. It's the way that it's used to manipulate people, that becomes a problem, you know, and it becomes organization where human leaders. Yeah.

You know, claiming that they're doing things for their God.

Right. Not profiting off of that. Benefiting from the lulls of power.

Yeah. Cool, man. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. I know that it is a. A personal thing, but obviously, you know, anybody who's listened to your music can tell there's that deeply, like, deep belief in. In a creator, let's just say some kind of something that is beyond words. Right.

And it's reggae music. So, you know, all of the. All of the music that's influenced me in that is, you know, is roster music. So there's a lot of different kinds of reggae music. But the kind of music that inspires, you know, has inspired me is really the. The roots right here, born out of Jamaica in the 70s and. And the 80s, that's very much rooted in the spiritual practices of Rastafari. And. Yeah, that's. That's kind of where that core comes from in all the music that I do, even.

Even the stuff that's not written. When I think what. What I appreciate about that and. Which is unique to your music and maybe some others that allows people, let's say if they're a Christian or whatever sort of label they might want to attach themselves, they could still listen to what you're speaking about, which is a deeper kind of universal connection to the divine and still find that connection. Right. Even if the words might be different or the labels might be different, but they can understand what you're calling out and calling. And I think that's important. Yeah. And then the other big part of your music is. Is obviously, like, sociopolitical and kind of speaking about different issues in the world and things like, I mean, you talked about obviously, like the Babylon system, talked about one thing that I really resonated with different songs of kind of Encouraging people to step beyond, like, maybe just the nine to five thing that we've all been told is the only way to happen. So for some people, maybe that works great and they find, you know, something that fits for them. And for others of us, maybe it feels more like a cage or the matrix, so to speak. Why do you think. I mean, what makes you feel, like, so called to do that again? Does it just go back to the roots of reggae kind of being that way as well? Political radical in a sense? Or is it just that you. This is the way that you can kind of share your views and message?

Well, I think, you know, it's. It's pretty universal. I think that, you know, my most popular song is Permanent Holiday. Right. And, you know, the more that. The longer that song's been around, the more I realize why so many people just resonate with it across the board. Because, you know, we are all, whether we like it or not, we, you know, we take corn in the system. Me too. You know, and I'm on a. I'm on a permanent holiday because I'm doing what I love and I'm supporting my family with it. I'm supporting many of my friends with it, and I'm bringing healing music to people and. And sharing a amazing energy with people all over the world. Bringing people together, uniting people and, you know, bringing a spiritual awakening. Yeah, through music. And it's an amazing thing to be able to do and to be able to be sustained by that as well. Suppose, you know, and then. But there's money attached to it, and then that's, you know, a systemic problem really, is like, the root of it all comes from, like, capitalist system. You know, that's always gonna apply to the. Or appeal to the, you know, the worst parts of human nature. Right. So taking part of that, you know, is still, you know, being part of the system. Right? So it's like, sorry, I got off on it.

No good. But I think. I think what you're saying there, though, is that you're still, though, able to provide for yourself, do something that you love, help millions of other people. And then still, even with that, there's ways that we are all still plugged in to these systems that we might not want to be a part of just because of the nature of the world we're born.

Right? But singing about that, you know, people resonate with it so much because, yeah, of course, we, you know, we're. We. We all, in one way or another, are enslaved by this system. And I think, you know, people that are stuck in jobs that they hate are definitely feel that more than anybody else. Right.

And just stuck in that grind and trying to survive.

Right? Yeah. And working three jobs just to. Just to survive, just to pay the bills. And it's hard, you know, and it's especially hard to see any sort of, you know, light at the end of the tunnel or way out of that when you're entrenched in that. And the, you know, the rent and the cost of living keeps getting higher and higher and higher, you know, and the wages stay the same, you know, the taxes get higher, and. And it just feels like, you know, you're treading water. And I think more than ever, what we've seen, you know, in the last five or 10 years, too, is like, that, you know, in America, and I'm sure, you know, all around the world, it's, you know, it's even more prevalent than ever. But we're seeing our economy here in America kind of tank and. And people that have been at this kind of level of, you know, living pretty comfortably are now, you know, so getting closer to the poverty line and getting closer to Jenna just scraping by and having to work more and more and more, and that just, you know, there's no quality of life in that. There's no quality of Life. And working 60 or 80 hours a week, you know, and then just being. Coming home to your kids and your family and just being angry or depressed or just tired, you know, too tired to enjoy your time with your kids. And.

Yeah, yeah, the music, I think it gives. It gives people a little bit of hope in that, which is, like, at the least, at the end of the day, that's the power of music. Right? Somebody can be in this musical situation for a moment. They can put on a song and kind of feel like they're given a little hope. Like, okay, I can. Maybe there's a way out for me. Like, I was.