The JOHN BUTLER TRIO’s new release April Uprising has been a huge success. Of course it has. That’s what John Butler Trio releases are. First they are made with the complete artistic control afforded by being an independent artist (Butler owns and operates his own label, Jarrah Records). Then they sell in quantities matched by only a handful of other Australian artists. And then a sizeable chunk of the profits are channelled into the arts grant program, The Seed, that Butler runs with his partner Danielle Caruana. It’s an impressive virtuous circle.
So it’s little wonder that he sounds like he’s in a good mood as he talks to me from his home in Freemantle, Western Australia. “I’m good, man,” he says in his curious hybrid accent. “I’m really proud of the record and really excited to be touring with the new material. We just want everyone to hear it.”
Butler has been so successful for such a long time that it’s easy to forget how remarkable his success is. He has sold nearly a million albums in Australia and has sold out every show on his last seven years of touring. He’s played on Leno. Better still, he’s played on Letterman. And he’s done all of this with a blend of folk, blues, rock and roots.
The transition from Freemantle busker to nationally renowned artist (even my mother has heard of him) is probably best put down to sheer talent. He’s an incredible musician. The longevity of his success derives, I think, from his continual struggle to better his art. He has that combination of brazen self-confidence and unshakeable self-doubt that motors so many of the more impressive careers in the arts. Clearly he is ambitious.
“We wanted to make songs that would last,” he tells me. “When we started mixing (April Uprising) at Melbourne’s Sing Song Studios, the question we were asking was, ‘Is this a great song?’”
This focus on tighter song craft began a few albums ago. It was there in songs like Peaches and Cream on Sunrise Over Sea. It’s even more pronounced on this record. “One epiphany that appeared during this album’s process is that less is more. I feel more comfortable saying a lot more with a lot less; allowing the songs to breathe and react naturally. I really tried to focus my efforts on creating songs rather than forcing them out (I recommend musical fibre for such ailments – Bossman). If the song wasn’t there or something became unhitched, I just left it by the side of the road.”
Along with staggering commercial success, the other consistency in the John Butler Trio is the inconsistency of the trio – they are forever changing. For now they are drummer Nicky Bomba, who played on Sunrise Over Sea and is Butler’s brother-in-law, and bassist Byron Luiters. The renewal of his trio has been inspiring for Butler. But it’s also been upsetting. He sounds uncomfortable as he talks about it. “It’s always a little sad. It’s like a relationship coming to an end. It just kind of came upon me. I was unclear about what I wanted to do on this album. And then I jammed with Nicky and it became very clear. But in that clarity I knew; I needed a new trio. But, yeah, I wasn’t expecting to do that.”
As the subject turns away from breaking up the old trio and towards making music with the new one, Butler’s enthusiasm returns. “We have a great chemistry. They often hear and see things I couldn’t even imagine for a song, but end up totally working. It’s a blessing to have them in my back pocket.”
Butler links the renewal of his trio with his ideas on revolution, which he describes as “a constantly renewing beginning”. Many songs on the new album explore Butler’s thoughts on revolution. The seed for this was his appearance on SBS’s genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.
“I went to Bulgaria last year to look into my lineage and found out that my great great grandfather fought in an uprising called the April Uprising against the oppressive regime there back in 1875. That’s where the name came from. I started toying with it for a name for the album because there was so much, sort of, revolutionary spirit on the album.”
While there is undoubtedly a revolutionary spirit on the album, there’s also a playful one coexisting with it. The foot-stomping lead single One Way Road is a great example of this, with Butler name checking political revolutionaries (“my Martin and Mahatma”), and half-raps, half-sings “this guitar is my cannon”. It’s political, sure, but it’s also a lot fun: owing as much to Third Eye Blind’s pop as it does to Public Enemy’s ferocity.
This playfulness seems to be a result of a happy recording process. “We all lived in-house and had some amazing people looking after us. We just had a good time.” He says he’s sure the new trio will continue to enjoy themselves on this tour.
Butler’s career has been built and maintained by the quality of his live act. With another successful record released, more great songs to his catalogue, and a new trio eager to reinterpret old ones, this will no doubt be another stellar tour. And it will, of course, be another sell-out. Little wonder he’s leaping around in the tour’s publicity shots.
The JBT play at The Royal Theatre on Wednesday September 15, with Blue King Brown in support. Tix are $70 + bf. Doors open 8pm.
