The John Butler Trio

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The John Butler Trio
Current members of The John Butler Trio as of late 2005
Current members of The John Butler Trio as of late 2005
Background information
Origin Flag of Australia Fremantle, Australia
Genre(s) Jam band
Bluegrass
Psychedelic rock
Years active 1995–present
Label(s) Jarrah Records
Website Official website
Members
John Butler
Shannon Birchall
Michael Barker
Former members
Jason McGann
Gavin Shoesmith
Rory Quirk
Andrew Fry
Nicky Bomba

The John Butler Trio is primarily 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 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.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Searching for Heritage - the early years

John Butler was born on April 1, 1975 in Torrance, California from 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 1930's 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. 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 and later to become John Butler's manager, was one of the people who bought Searching for Heritage. He offered Butler his first residency every second Tuesday at Mojos bar, which he owned in 1998. John Butler further built his fanbase 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Sunrise Over Sea - a new trio

Sunrise Over Sea
Sunrise Over Sea

In late 2003, John Butler entered Woodstock Studios in Melbourne owned by Jo Camilleri, the leader of Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons 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. On the album, Barker lent his percussive talents on various tracks and laid down the main drum track on "Betterman".

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 probably a reference to his home in Byron Bay which is the most easterly point in Australia and therefore one of the first points to see the sunrise (as opposed to his native Western Australia where the sun rises over land and sets over the sea). 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.

[edit] Grand National

The newest studio album, revealed to be entitled 'Grand National', was released on the 24th March, 2007 in Australia and New Zealand, and released on March 27th in the USA & France. A single off the album titled Funky Tonight has already been in radio circulation and has reached a high of #15 on the ARIA charts and #12 on Triple J Hottest 100 for 2006. The single Better Than has also been released. In conjunction with the American release, the trio has scheduled a small American tour consisting of only five cities starting in Los Angeles and ending in New York. They have posted that they will be busking while in L.A.

On July 7, 2007 they will be performing in Sydney's Live Earth concert.

[edit] Discography

[edit] EPs

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label ARIA
???, 1996 Searching for Heritage (Cassette) None
July 31, 2000 JBT EP Jarrah Records

[edit] Albums

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label ARIA
December 27, 1998 John Butler Jarrah Records
April 18, 2001 Three Jarrah Records #24
March 8, 2004 Sunrise Over Sea Jarrah Records #1
March 27, 2007 Grand National Jarrah Records #1

[edit] Live Albums

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label ARIA
February 10, 2003 Living 2001-2002 Jarrah Records
December 05, 2005 Live at St. Gallen
Jarrah Records

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
ARIA US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock
2003 "Zebra"
#22
 Sunrise over Sea
2004 "What You Want"
#29
 Sunrise Over Sea
2004 "Somethings Gotta Give"
#47
 Non-album
2006 "Funky Tonight"
#15
 Grand National
2007 "Good Excuse" Grand National

[edit] DVDs

DVD Cover Date of Release Title Label ARIA Peak
December 05, 2005 Live at St. Gallen
Jarrah Records

[edit] External links

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