The John Butler Trio

Infobox musical artist
Name = The John Butler Trio


Img_capt =
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Fremantle, Australia
Genre = Jam band
bluegrass
psychedelic rock
Years_active = 1995–present
Label = Jarrah Records
URL = [http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/ Official website]
Current_members = John Butler
Shannon Birchall
Michael Barker
Past_members = Gavin Shoesmith
Jane Renfrey
Nicky Bomba
Darcy Watt

The John Butler Trio are an eclectic roots/jam band from Australia led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. Two of the band's albums, "Three" (2001) and "Living 2001-2002" (2003), have gone platinum in Australia and reached the top ten of the Australian album charts in those years. The 2004 album "Sunrise Over Sea" debuted at number one on the Australian charts on March 15, 2004 reaching gold record status in its first week on sale. Their next and latest release, entitled "Grand National", was released on March 27, 2007. The band's releases are marketed independently by Jarrah Records which John Butler co-owns with West Australian folk band the Waifs.

The band won an ARIA award for "Best Independent Release" for "Three" in 2001 and again for "Grand National" in 2007 and has been nominated for three others. "Three" was released in the U.S. in 2002 and the John Butler Trio toured the U.S. in that year supporting the Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer.

History

"Searching for Heritage" - the early years

John Butler was born on April 1 1975 in Torrance, California to an Australian father and American mother. He was named after his paternal grandfather, a forestry worker who died in 1952 while fighting a bushfire in Nannup, Western Australia. He moved to the small Western Australian town of Pinjarra on January 26, 1986 when he was eleven.

At sixteen, he started to learn the guitar and his grandmother gave him his grandfather's 1930s dobro guitar. This guitar was to be presented to the first grandchild to learn the guitar, as none of his grandfather's children took up the guitar. It is still one of John Butler's most treasured possessions.

In 1996, John Butler attended Curtin University in Perth studying to be an art teacher. At Curtin University, he learned open finger tuning which allowed him to play Celtic and Indian music. He started busking on the streets of Perth where his home grown compositions received a strong response. In mid 1996, he released a self-recorded cassette of his own instrumental compositions called "Searching for Heritage" which eventually sold 3,000 copies in Perth. By the end of 1996, he had dropped out of Curtin University to pursue a musical career and started playing at open mic nights.

Phil Stevens, a local music promoter who later became John Butler's manager, was one of the people who bought "Searching for Heritage". He offered Butler his first residency every second Tuesday at the North Fremantle bar, 'Mojos', which he owned in 1998. John Butler further built his fan base at these gigs and by the end of 1998, he was planning his first professionally recorded album.

With Jason McGann on drums and Gavin Shoesmith on bass, the first version of the John Butler trio recorded the "John Butler" album in December 1998 which was launched at Mojos. The band toured throughout Western Australia in 1999. The Waifs invited John Butler solo to perform on their Australian tour and he also performed his own gigs. The John Butler Trio then launched its own tour where John met his future wife Danielle Caruana in Broome.

The John Butler Trio released the "JBT EP" in April 2000 as an attempt to put out three to four songs that would be short enough to win radio play. Triple J picked up "Pickapart" and put it on high rotation. The band also developed a reputation on the east coast of Australia with a stunning performance at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay in 2000. The John Butler Trio has become a fixture at this event.

"Three" - an evolving band

In April 2001, the band released "Three" which was the first album recorded as a full band and moved to Melbourne to promote the record on the east coast. "Three" stayed in the Australian alternative charts for nine months reaching as high as #3 which was an outstanding success for an independent band. The album won an ARIA award for Best Independent Release, and first single Betterman came in at #5 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2001.

Gavin Shoesmith left the band to form his own band Katamaran. The band replaced him with 19-year-old Rory Quirk, who toured with the band on their first tour of the U.S. in 2001. Rory Quirk in turn left the band in 2002 to pursue a career with his band Quirk. Andrew Fry joined the band as the new bass player.

The success of "Three" led to its release in the U.S. in 2002 and two tours of the U.S. followed. The band supported the Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer as well as playing at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and the South by Southwest Festival. The band also played at the Splendour in the Grass Festival in Australia.

As a result of intensive touring, the band developed a great live reputation in Australia. The band released "Living 2001-2002" in February 2003, a double live album which had a top ten debut in the ARIA album charts and went on to achieve platinum sales. John Butler took a brief break after the five years of solid work since 1997 for the birth of his daughter Banjo.

"Sunrise Over Sea"

In late 2003, John Butler entered Woodstock Studios in Melbourne owned by Joe Camilleri, the leader of Jo Jo Zep and the Black Sorrows. He had a new band consisting of percussionist Nicky Bomba and upright-bass player Shannon Birchall. After recording the album, Bomba returned to his own reggae band and was replaced by drummer/percussionist Michael Barker.

John Butler told the Australian edition of "Rolling Stone" released in April 2004 that he wanted greater freedom to pursue his vision. "Essentially what I learnt out of this process was, more so than ever, I'm the keeper of the music. I have the intuition and the foresight to pick the right players to my music. I've learned it's not always about having the same players for five, six or 10 years, it’s having the right chemistry for these songs at this time. Some of my favourite Jimi Hendrix music is off-the-cuff stuff with Band of Gypsies."

The title "Sunrise Over Sea" is taken from the lyrics to the second track, Peaches and Cream. The album debuted at number one in the national album charts in March 15, 2004 and achieved gold record status in its first week of release.

The "Zebra" EP was released in December 2003 and made the ARIA singles charts in early 2004. The song was voted #7 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004 and also had significant airplay on commercial FM radio across Australia. John Butler would win an Australasian Performing Rights Association award for Song of the Year in March 2004. The track also appeared on the popular US Crime drama 'Numb3rs' as the opening music (Season 3, Episode 6).

Following the Boxing Day Tsunami, the John Butler Trio appeared at the Wave Aid fundraising concert in Sydney, to raise funds for aid organisations working in disaster affected areas.

The John Butler Trio played at all venues for the Big Day Out music festival, starting in Auckland, New Zealand on January 19, 2007, and finishing in Perth Western Australia on February 4.

"Grand National"

The newest studio album, entitled "Grand National", was released on the 24 March, 2007 in Australia and New Zealand, and released on March 27 in the United States and France. The first single off the album titled "Funky Tonight" reached a high of #15 on the ARIA charts and #12 on Triple J Hottest 100 for 2006. A second single, "Better Than," was also released. In conjunction with the American release, the trio scheduled a small American Tour consisting of only five cities starting in Los Angeles and ending in New York.

In April 2007 "Grand National" was the initial album nominated for a J Award by national youth broadcaster Triple J. "Better Than" which was released as the first overseas single from "Grand National", reached #1 on the Triple A format charts in United States in June, 2007. It also reached the top ten international songs at Japanese Radio and has been a major radio hit in France where the video made MTV’s video of the week.

On July 7, 2007 they performed at the Australian leg of Live Earth in Sydney. On July 31, 2007 the John Butler Trio performed their song, "Better Than" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On August 4, 2007 they performed at Newport Folk Festival playing a set that included "Used to Get High", "Better Than", "Ocean", "Funky Tonight", and "Good Excuse".

In 2007, the John Butler Trio won "Best Independent Release" and "Best Blues and Roots Album" awards at the 2007 Aria Awards.

On August 3, 2008 they performed at Lolapalooza in Chicago. The JBT is currently on tour with G. Love and Special Sauce.

Discography

EPs

ingles

DVDs

External links

* [http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/ John Butler Trio official website]
* [http://www.musicplug.net/jbt JBT's official online merchandise store]
* [http://www.myspace.com/johnbutlertrio John Butler Trio @ myspace]
* [http://www.johnbutlertrio.fr/ John Butler Trio french website]
* [http://www.clifgreennotes.com/band.php?id=20 John Butler Trio and CLIF GreenNotes]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/JohnButlerTrio John Butler Trio collection] at the Internet Archive's live music archive
* [http://www.songmeanings.net/artist.php?aid=9349 John Butler Trio Lyrics]
* [http://www.bmoretunes.com/?page_id=65 Interview with John Butler] by Matt Carr of Bmore Live
* [http://www.afrenchphotographer.com/photos_musique/2006-03-15_John_Butler_Trio/ Live pictures in Paris]
* [http://www.fuzzmagazine.com/Features%20%26%20Reviews/C68740F6-F65F-4D2D-B2D1-0F0D57CB23EB.html FUZZ Music Magazine Album Review: "Sunrise Over Sea"/John Butler Trio]
* [http://www.blender.com/JohnButlerTrioInterview/video/2267.aspx?src=dx1 John Butler Trio Interview at Bonnaroo]
* [http://www.patrolmag.com/index.php?id=124 11/7/07 Live Review: John Butler Trio in Washington, DC]