this Australian trio is known to put the
funk in roots rock and reggae music hi
my name is Stephanie welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
to the John Butler Trio I like to start
off the interview with a bit of
background info could you tell us how
the John Butler Trio came about
I started guitar when I was 16 I got
obsessed when I was 21 and I started
busking on the streets and instrumentals
and singing songs and then I started
getting asked to do lots of shows by
other artists I wanted to make an album
with the band got a trio together and
the birth of the trio began how would
you describe the John Butler Trio sound
the best thing I can do is say it’s like
if you if you were to put blues and a
reggae hip-hop a bit of tool
and let’s say something like funk and
then smashed it all up together that’s
kind of us
I’d like to talk about your latest album
which is called April uprising and what
musical direction did you take that
we’re pretty schizophrenic so we got a
lot on a lot of different journeys as as
a band we’re not like a band that’s one
style I guess the modus operandi was to
have a focused powerful song driven
album cut all the fat off it there was
this all killer no filler
and where do you get your ideas or your
inspiration for your lyrics and your
songwriting it’s not a lack of subject
matter to pull from when you look around
you you know so there’s lots there’s
lots that we’re living in pretty
powerful times right now and so yeah
it’s hard not to write about those times
and how they affect me and how I process
them would you say there are any
differences between the North American
versus the Australian music scene
Australia’s like a little it’s not
isolated become a colony which is really
great because you know through
technology we get lots of influence
coming in but we like the animals we
kind of recreate our own unique blends
like any culture does and yeah Australia
has its own flavor and its own attitude
you know I think more so than anything
is probably an attitude I say you know
in one way or another a little bit of
like a you kind of attitude it but I
like where it’s like we have something
to prove to the world or something I
don’t know how to put it but we’re kind
of belligerent in some ways and no I
don’t think we’d like idolizing you know
UK or America as being you know the
kings and queens of music we’re just
gonna go we’re just as good as anyone
else we’re just gonna show you how we do
it I think we kind of come up with that
attitude a business and the nicest
possible way
can you tell us a bit more about the JB
seed program and how you’re involved
with that jb seed it’s now called the
seed I finally got my initials taken off
it after years of trying there’s
something that Danielle my wife and I
started to contribute back to Australian
culture I guess we got given a lot of
grants in the early days and got a lot
of support so by the time we were
financially well-off
you know enough and sustainable to do if
we thought we’d give back to other
artists and so it’s in its sixth year
it’s giving away over you know five
hundred thousand dollars to probably
about three to four hundred different
projects and artists a lot of other
artists that pitch into it now not just
myself and Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly
and the cat Empire yeah I guess our
whole idea is to get the music community
to support the music community
believe in culture culture gives a
person in the society a sense of place
and a sense of purpose and an identity
and without culture we were lost to the
corporate behemoths that surround us and
try to feed his constantly so
with culture strong culture and strong
connection and whether it be literally
whether it be dance music art food
graffiti whatever it is but a strong
culture makes a strong country and so we
are totally committed to strong culture
thank you so much thank you too
funk in roots rock and reggae music hi
my name is Stephanie welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
to the John Butler Trio I like to start
off the interview with a bit of
background info could you tell us how
the John Butler Trio came about
I started guitar when I was 16 I got
obsessed when I was 21 and I started
busking on the streets and instrumentals
and singing songs and then I started
getting asked to do lots of shows by
other artists I wanted to make an album
with the band got a trio together and
the birth of the trio began how would
you describe the John Butler Trio sound
the best thing I can do is say it’s like
if you if you were to put blues and a
reggae hip-hop a bit of tool
and let’s say something like funk and
then smashed it all up together that’s
kind of us
I’d like to talk about your latest album
which is called April uprising and what
musical direction did you take that
we’re pretty schizophrenic so we got a
lot on a lot of different journeys as as
a band we’re not like a band that’s one
style I guess the modus operandi was to
have a focused powerful song driven
album cut all the fat off it there was
this all killer no filler
and where do you get your ideas or your
inspiration for your lyrics and your
songwriting it’s not a lack of subject
matter to pull from when you look around
you you know so there’s lots there’s
lots that we’re living in pretty
powerful times right now and so yeah
it’s hard not to write about those times
and how they affect me and how I process
them would you say there are any
differences between the North American
versus the Australian music scene
Australia’s like a little it’s not
isolated become a colony which is really
great because you know through
technology we get lots of influence
coming in but we like the animals we
kind of recreate our own unique blends
like any culture does and yeah Australia
has its own flavor and its own attitude
you know I think more so than anything
is probably an attitude I say you know
in one way or another a little bit of
like a you kind of attitude it but I
like where it’s like we have something
to prove to the world or something I
don’t know how to put it but we’re kind
of belligerent in some ways and no I
don’t think we’d like idolizing you know
UK or America as being you know the
kings and queens of music we’re just
gonna go we’re just as good as anyone
else we’re just gonna show you how we do
it I think we kind of come up with that
attitude a business and the nicest
possible way
can you tell us a bit more about the JB
seed program and how you’re involved
with that jb seed it’s now called the
seed I finally got my initials taken off
it after years of trying there’s
something that Danielle my wife and I
started to contribute back to Australian
culture I guess we got given a lot of
grants in the early days and got a lot
of support so by the time we were
financially well-off
you know enough and sustainable to do if
we thought we’d give back to other
artists and so it’s in its sixth year
it’s giving away over you know five
hundred thousand dollars to probably
about three to four hundred different
projects and artists a lot of other
artists that pitch into it now not just
myself and Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly
and the cat Empire yeah I guess our
whole idea is to get the music community
to support the music community
believe in culture culture gives a
person in the society a sense of place
and a sense of purpose and an identity
and without culture we were lost to the
corporate behemoths that surround us and
try to feed his constantly so
with culture strong culture and strong
connection and whether it be literally
whether it be dance music art food
graffiti whatever it is but a strong
culture makes a strong country and so we
are totally committed to strong culture
thank you so much thank you too
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