A new John Butler Trio album is always an entrancing blend of head and heart: lyrical themes that dwell on the interconnectedness of the planet and the people who inhabit it, and music that explores the pure humanity and emotion of real instruments being played by real calloused fingertips.
Due February 7, ‘Flesh & Blood’ was recorded in Fremantle in the aftermath of the Trio's biggest tour yet of the US. The band wanted to go further and deeper than 2010's ‘April Uprising’; more earthy and emotional. "Every album is a sum of the last few years and everything I've done or written in between albums," Butler says.
"But two songs from this album came from a really deliberate writing session that I had with Nicky [Bomba, drums] and Byron [Luiters, bass] where we got together and I didn't bring my songs in. We just jammed. Because we all have so many great flavours, and a lot of times when I write a song, the song dictates quite a lot of the flavours right away, so we wanted to see what we could create without any input. And 'Blame It On Me' and 'Devil Woman' came out of that. That's a completely new thing for me and the Trio.
“And then there was lots of traditional writing of songs and bringing them to bands to see what happened. And one song produced itself in a dream! And working with [producer] Jan Skubiszewski, he was instrumental, a fourth member of the band. He was a great conduit for all of us: me as an employer, a band leader, a co-producer and songwriter I can get a bit heady and probably a bit confusing, kind of this multiple personality that understands itself but I'm starting to understand that not everybody understands what I mean by 'funky, dirty and angry!' So Jan was amazing. A great producer and a great engineer.”
One of the tracks cuts particularly deep for Butler: "'Wings Are Wide' is about my grandmother Phillipa passing away," Butler says. “She is the matriarch of my family, the one who, when I was 16, passed me down the Dobro guitar which once belonged to my grandfather John, whom I'm named after. She's the reason why I play music; the cornerstone. It's about her going to see her man again, after all this time."
The delivery is especially goosebump-raising. "Singing that song was shocking! I was bawling my eyes out! It was completely unexpected. I hadn't grieved. I had written this song and all of a sudden I was singing the lyrics to it and I was literally running out of the room… 'Sorry guys… whoa!'"
'Blame It On Me' is an interesting track because it contains a deep-groove instrumental section that really takes its time, appreciating its own space and hanging in the moment for a while; not as indulgent as a 'jam band' but not as insistent as a funk one. It's something musicians often do together in the privacy of their respective garages or rehearsal spaces, but not something you often hear on albums that are destined to reach a lot of ears. “Yeah! That was the first song, literally the first ever music we played in the songwriting sessions. The groove just gets deeper the less you fuck with it, y'know? It marinates. You play it exactly the same way but it sounds different.
“That was a great little lesson — I wouldn't say for Nicky and Byron so much, because their experience far exceeds mine, but for me it was great, having been in the bubble of the John Butler Trio for the last 15 years. And playing that song live it's like 'Steady… steady…' You're trying to capture this lightning, which is hard to do when the red button is pushed down.”
At this point it's firmly established that people are going to buy John Butler Trio records: it's going to have to take a pretty monumental clanger for that to ever change, and it certainly won't happen with ‘Flesh & Blood’.
With that in mind, does Butler feel pressure from listeners, knowing that his music will be heard and that people are waiting to attach their own resonance to it? "There's a bit of that, I think. I don't think people listen to me because I write for them. I write strictly for my ears and for the Trio's ears and what we want to hear and what we want to express. And we trust what we do enough to say: 'This is what we've done and this is all we know how to do'.
“I'm sure there are some people who would like me to play more funky reggae all the time because that's what 'Zebra' was but I just can't do that because then I'd become a parody of myself. All I can keep on doing is to do what's in the moment and hope for the best. I'll be the first to say I hope people like the album, but if they don't I don't think I'd have written it any other way. I don't think I'd know how to! I hope I'm never in that position where I have to write something to keep someone else happy."
Written by Peter Hodgson
‘Flesh & Blood’ is released February 7.
The John Butler Trio Tour Dates 2014
Thu 27 March - Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle WA (Over 18)Fri 28 March - Belvoir Amphitheatre, Swan Valley WA (Over 18)
Sat 29 March - Old Broadwater Farm, Busselton WA (All Ages)
Tue 1 April - Palais Theatre, Melbourne, VIC (All Ages)
Thu 3 April - Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA (All Ages)
Sat 5 April - Botanic Gardens Amphitheatre, DARWIN
Mon 7 April - Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD (Over18)
Wed 9 April - Newcastle Civic Theatre, Newcastle, NSW (All Ages)
Fri 11 April - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW (All Ages)
Sat 12 April - Royal Theatre, Canberra, ACT (All Ages)
Sun 13 April - Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul, NSW (Over18)
Thu 17 April - City Hall, Hobart, TAS (All Ages)
Sat 19 April - Bluesfest, Byron Bay NSW
