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John Butler Trio.
John Butler: well-respected man, poet and voice of social justice.
He and his eponymous Trio are making their triumphant return
to Adelaide after successful US and European tours this year,
but despite his international success Butler remains well spoken,
humble and generous: he's one of those guys who's so nice you'd
feel bad inside for not liking him.
Adelaide hasn't seen Butler for quite a while, but he's clearly delighted to be returning to our town. "We're really looking forward to it, Adelaide's actually one of my favourite cities in Australia to play, they're a really awesome crowd, really enthusiastic and they really give a lot back. When anyone ever asks me what my favourite gig in Australia is, I say 'Adelaide!'" Butler insists. "We've got two albums of worth of new songs but there hasn't been enough time with how busy we've been to get through them in the way I'd like to, I'm pretty picky how I want a song to end up. There'll be a few oldies, a few off 'Sunrise Over Sea' and a few newies as well."
He's also clearly enjoying the vibe within the band at the moment. "We're currently going to court and suing each other for smiling at each other and being too nice on the road, we're just not a rock'n'roll band. We're in legal problems trying to sort out how we can become a tough rock'n'roll band and we're blaming each other for it, which is the sad part," he laughs.
"I really enjoy playing with Michael [Barker] and Shannon [Birchall], they're awesome musicians and they're great to be on the road with, we do our best every night to play good music, that's why we tour nine months of the year because we love music, that's all we're really concerned with. It's the first time since '3' that I have a recording band as the touring band so there's a really good chemistry going on and I'm feeling really good about the whole thing," he enthuses.
What with all the touring and assorted commitments, it's surprising to hear that Butler has little trouble coming up with songs. "I'm always writing new material and enjoying the process as usual and I'm looking forward to recording them and I'm really happy with most of them. I've been really enjoying crafting songs and making them up and I'm looking forward to giving them to the band and seeing what happens," he muses. "I write all the time and I don't really have time when I'm not writing. It's like reading a few books at once, every once in a while you pick up a book and you can't put it down and you finish it the day you started. Others you read over months and that's how I write, I always have a few on the boil, and I always have one or two I've written quite quickly."
He's been drawing widely for inspiration as well. "There's a common line of musical evolution going between my albums that seems to be getting more funky and rhythmic. I'm getting more into reggae and old 1970's Toots And The Maytals, as well as dancehall stuff and I'm enjoying the Indian beats that are coming out. I'm always constantly seeing this thread that connects them all and I'm looking to put them all together in my own way. So I might go, "I want to hear a hip-hop beat to this really roots-y slide guitar," so it becomes a fusion more than a rip-off."
A lot of people have this set idea of Butler as some sort of radical, flag waving hippy. Yet with 'Sunrise Over Sea' and some telly appearances, this image seems to be softening. "As much as people like to think I'm a political writer, for me I'm just talking about the human condition and there's a lot of different factors that play into that, whether that be love, hate, pain, politics, environment. I write about everyday issues that are going on between the spectrum of love and politics that affect us. There's always inspiration, whether it's missing my wife and baby on the road or global politics. It's not really a soapbox position I come from. When you have dreadlocks that helps people stereotype you even more!"
Lauren Boxhall
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dB Magazine proudly present the John Butler Trio at Thebarton Theatre on Tues 6 Dec and Wed 7 Dec, with Carus & The True Believers and Richard Walley.
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