John Butler (musician)

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John Butler
Butler at the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival
Background information
Born	April 1, 1975, Torrance, California, United States
Origin	Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Genre(s)	Bluegrass Alternative Jam band
Occupation(s)	Musician, Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Didgeridoo
Years active	1996 - present
Label(s)	Jarrah
Associated acts	John Butler Trio
Notable instrument(s)
1930s Dobro Maton twelve string

John Butler (born 1 April 1975 in Torrance, California) is an Australian musician having moved to Australia on 26 January 1986 with his Australian father and American mother. He is the leader of the John Butler Trio, a jam band that has achieved two platinum records in Australia with Three (2001) and Living (2003). Their 2004 album Sunrise Over Sea debuted at number one on March 15, 2004 and shipped gold in its first week of release.

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 child to learn the guitar and as none of his grandfather's children did take up the guitar, it was awarded to the first grandchild to learn the guitar.

In 1996, John Butler attended Curtin University in Perth studying to be an art teacher. At Curtin University he learned to use open chord tunings for the guitar. The different tonalities that these provide in comparison to standard tuning can lend themselves well to playing Celtic and Indian music. 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.

After growing up in Pinjarra, Butler began his musical career as a busker in Fremantle, before achieving his current fame. His band's first two albums (John Butler-1998 and JBT EP-2000) were moderately successful, allowing him to establish a largely word-of-mouth following. The breakthrough came with the Three album in 2001, featuring the tracks "Take" and "Betterman", both of which received considerable radio airplay on Australian alternative youth radio station Triple J and rated highly in their annual Top 100. Appearances at Big Day Out and other major festivals followed. By the time Sunrise Over Sea was released three years later, the single Zebra (so named because Butler was listening to Led Zeppelin and reggae music at the time he wrote it) was getting extensive airplay on commercial radio and proved a major hit for the band^{[citation needed]}. In 2006, the band promoted the album extensively in the United States.

Butler is known for his looks, in particular his dreadlocks. He is also outspoken on his left-wing political views, often making political statements at his performances. He is also known for his long pointed fingernails, naturally grown and hardened, which are required for his unique hybrid picking style that he uses in certain songs.

As befits a former busker from Fremantle, Butler is famous for the quality of his live performances and his rapport with his audience. His playing style incorporates Western and Eastern styles such as blues, Indian and Celtic. He also performs lengthy instrumental solo pieces including Ocean, Mist, Spring and Under an Indian Sky. Additionally he plays harmonica, didgeridoo, drums and chooses amplified acoustic instruments such as the 12-string (although he removes the G-6th string to play more intricate solos), lapsteel and banjo (in his recent productions). Butler uses mainly Maton 12 strings, he amplifies them using a Marshall Amplification JMP Super Lead Head, with a Marshall 4x12 cabinet, recognizable by the Southern Cross Flag painted on the front. He has a variety of effects including: distortion, reverb/delay and wah pedal effects to achieve a fairly unique sound. For a full list of equipment go to- [1]

The present rhythm section for the John Butler Trio comprises Michael Barker (drums) and Shannon Birchall (bass), although Nicky Bomba played drums on Sunrise Over Sea before returning to his own band. Previous members are drummer Jason McGann (1998-2002) and bass players Gavin Shoesmith (1998-2001), Rory Quirk (2001-2002) and Andrew Fry (April 2002-November 2002).

In September 2006, John Butler Trio released a promotional studio diary of their recording progress of their latest album, Grand National, which is expected in March of 2007. In December 2006, the Funky Tonight EP was released, coming off an expected future album including many tracks from their live shows, such as "Daniella", "Fire In the Sky", and "Funky Tonight".