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John Butler.
Words such as "inspiring," "passionate" and "grounded" spring to mind whenever I hear music by John Butler and after speaking with him was happy to learn those ideologies make the man as well as the music.
All his hard work paid off when 'Sunrise Over Sea' debuted at number one: "It was quite an unexplainable feeling," Butler enthuses. "It was very surreal and hard to grasp that it was actually happening. My manager had been working it really hard, getting it in to the shops and creating a big vibe for publicity but it was still a surprise, you know, with all the major labels out there. It's great that it happened for an independent band. It goes to show there are many ways to achieve one goal."
Taking six months off when daughter Banjo was born allowed Butler to collect his thoughts and re-evaluate his place in the music scene. It also gave him time to consider exactly what he sought in the next album. "I wanted to make this album with a couple of new musicians, Nicky Bomba on drums and Shannon Birchall on bass," he states. The album was beginning to turn in to a family affair as Butler's wife, Danielle Caruana, sang backing vocals. "I've heard Dan sing for years and I just love her voice. I enjoyed working with [brother-in-law] Nicky because he is just an amazing drummer. We had a good synergy together and I knew he was going to do the right things by my songs. They are both really professional musicians in that sense. We're all artists and it was my painting, but I knew they we're going to do the best thing by it and luckily we all agreed on most things."
'Sunrise Over Sea' came together in three one-month blocks of recording. "It was really easy to let go of it," he says. "It's funny, it's said that you have to 'release' an album and that's exactly what you have to do, physically, mentally and emotionally. You've raised it and now you have to let it go and have it's own life. I was able to do that a lot easier because I really enjoyed it and I'm really proud of it and I was just ready to share it."
Butler sings about a broad range of topics, drawing inspiration directly from his life and everything that happens around him. "I look at politics and how that affects me," he reflects, "having a child, how I feel about my partner, to seeing friends screwed up on drugs. Anything I release is really just a personal view of what's happening to me or what's going on around me. I'm just trying to make sense of this world just like everybody else and sometimes I just use a song to help me make sense of it."
On listening to Butler's lyrics it's easy to see how he's pigeonholed as a political musician. "I feel that it's slight misunderstanding," he gently corrects. "I never see anything as being 'political' or 'environmental.' It's just human beings reacting to their environment, so it's really just a social, human approach to what issues are going on around me. I'm definitely not on a soap box trying to tell people how it is - I think that would be really condescending."
It's evident that Butler is passionate about current affairs
and has strong, well formed opinions but he refuses to push
them on anyone."I think the best way to try and teach people
is by example - it's one person speaking their truth and living
their truth and that's what I try to do," he reaffirms. "For
example, with the single Home Is Where The Heart Is,
I really wanted to bring that out at that time for a lot of
reasons. The refugee issue that was really hotting up around
that time and I figured my voice would just be good out there
amongst all the other opinions. It's good to have a lot of different
points of view out for debate."
Even though he realises his public status Butler doesn't feel any obligation to voice opinions on anything he doesn't want to.
"I do realise that my music is going to be a voice for a group of people who agree with it. That's the relevance I give it, I'm going to speak my truth about this matter and that's probably going to speak for some people, but it's not my responsibility to write a song about it. That would make the art really contrived; rather, it comes from a 'heart' place, not a 'have to do' place. That would be like having an assignment, which wouldn't be very creative."
There are many artists in the world who rarely follow through their words. Butler, however, is one of the first to put his money where is mouth is and donates a portion of ticket sales to various charities. "One dollar goes to the Refugee Action Coalition, one dollar goes to the Wilderness Society" he says of tickets for his current Australian tour. "I want to help to make a difference and publicity and money really helps those causes a lot. This is how I choose to be an activist. Not having that money is not going to make a difference to me but it makes a big difference to those people."
Butler's attitude is both refreshing and enlightening. While taking it all in his stride he is also aware at how fortunate he is to be doing what he's doing and living this life."It's living one's dream, living one's truth and being true to oneself. If you can live your life to your ethics and your dreams and do want you want in your life and with your creativity and not compromise it as much as possible that's personal success," he says.
"There are so many great musicians that have to take a day job because they can't pay the rent and buy enough food through their art, so for me now that I can support my family, it just doesn't get better than that. That's professional success. Everything else is a bonus."
Kelly Parish
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dB Magazine proudly present the John Butler Trio for two nights at Thebarton Theatre on Tues 29 June and Wed 30 June. Both nights have sold out - but check out Prize Frenzy™ in this issue!
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