John Butler Trio

The John Butler Trio is fronted by John Butler on vocals and guitars. He started his career as a busker in Fremantle, Western Australia and released a self-recorded cassette, Searching for Heritage in 1996. Gavin Shoesmith on double bass and bass guitar founded Katamaran in Darwin with Mark Hoffman on didgeridoo and Grant Smith on percussion.[1] With Butler, Shoesmith and Jason McGann on drums, John Butler Trio was formed in Fremantle in 1998 and independently released the John Butler album in December.[2] It was produced by Butler and included re-recorded versions of two tracks from his Searching for Heritage.

The trio toured throughout Western Australia in 1999, then The Waifs invited Butler to perform solo on their Australian tour – he also performed his own gigs. The John Butler Trio then launched their own tour where Butler met his future wife Danielle Caruana in Broome.

The John Butler Trio released the four-track extended play, JBT, in April 2000 with songs short enough to win radio play. It was produced by Butler and Shaun O'Callaghan.[2] Radio station Triple J chose the track "Pickapart" to put on high rotation. The band began to develop a wider reputation with a performance at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay in 2000.[3] Butler recalled that his first gig had about 50 people, the second gig started the same way when "it absolutely pissed with rain and 3000 people ran into our tent. And the show just went berserk. It was like a suffocated fire – you lift the lid and it explodes".[3] The John Butler Trio has become a regular artist at the annual event.[3]

In April 2001, John Butler Trio released Three and relocated to Melbourne to promote the record on the east coast. The track, "Betterman", was on high rotation by Triple J.[4] Three peaked at No. 24 on the ARIA Charts.[5] It also remained on the alternative charts for nine months reaching No. 3. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001 the album won an award for 'Best Independent Release'.[6] "Betterman" reached No. 5 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2001.

Shoesmith left the trio to form his own band, The Groovesmiths, Butler replaced him with 19-year-old Rory Quirk, who was on their first tour of the United States in 2001. Quirk, in turn, left in 2002 to pursue a career with his band, Quirk. Andrew Fry joined as the next bass player.

The success of Three led to its release in the US in 2002 and two tours of the US 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. Butler, his manager Phil Stevens and fellow Western Australian folk artists, The Waifs, founded Jarrah Records in July 2002.[7]

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. Butler took a brief break after five years of solid work since 1997 for the birth of his daughter Banjo.

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 on 15 March 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 No. 7 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004 and also was the first John Butler Trio single to gain significant airplay on commercial FM radio across Australia, although it was still quite popular on Triple J. John Butler would win an Australasian Performing Right Association award for Song of the Year in March 2004. On 20 October 2006, the track also appeared as the opening music for the episode 'Traffic' (Season 3, Episode 5) of the popular US Crime drama Numb3rs.

In 2005 John Butler and co-founder Danielle Caruana (his wife) inaugurated the JB Seed grant program. "The Seed aims to help Australian artists from any background, creating art and music across any genre, to establish themselves as self-sustained, professional artists."[8] Caruana also plays independent music, she plays under the name Mama Kin.[9]

John Butler Trio in 2006.

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 19 January 2007, and finishing in Perth Western Australia on 4 February.

Their fourth studio album, entitled Grand National, was released on 24 March 2007 in Australia and New Zealand, and released on 27 March 2007 in the United States and France. The first single off the album, titled "Funky Tonight", reached a high of No. 15 on the ARIA charts and No. 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 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 No. 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 7 July 2007 they performed at the Australian leg of Live Earth in Sydney. On 31 July 2007 the John Butler Trio performed their song, "Better Than" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On 4 August 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 the Australian Independent Record (AIR) Award[10] for Best Performing Independent Album as well as Best Independent Release and Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Awards.

On 3 August 2008 they performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago. The John Butler Trio concluded the summer of 2008 touring the U.S. with G. Love and Special Sauce.

In July 2009 "Betterman" was voted number 47 by the Australian public in Triple J Hottest 100 of all time.[11]

On 26 March 2009 John Butler announced that the current bass and drum musicians of the John Butler Trio, Shannon Birchall and Michael Barker are separating from the band.[12] For purely artistic reasons, John feels that it is necessary to change the line up in an attempt by John to discover new inspirations with new members. John stated in his announcement;

Michael and Shannon have been by far the best line up I have performed with in The John Butler Trio to date. They have been a pleasure to live, love, learn, record and tour with. Their professionalism, musicianship, and commitment have been unwavering and for that and a whole lot more I am truly thankful.

— John Butler, 2009

Michael Barker went on to form Swamp Thing with guitarist/singer Grant Haua, based in New Zealand. Their first album Balladeer was released in May 2011.

On 30 June 2009 John Butler announced the new bass and drum musicians of the John Butler Trio to be Byron Luiters as the bassist and Nicky Bomba as the drummer and percussionist. Bomba, Butler's brother-in-law, had previously been a member of the John Butler Trio.[13]

The new line-up has spent the last few months in a studio in Fremantle, recording the band's fifth studio album, which was released 26 March 2010. The album will be called April Uprising, named after Butler's voyage to find his ancestors on SBS Television's genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?.[14][15] The recording process for the new album has been shared with fans via a special studio sessions page on the band's website. The first single from the album, "One Way Road", was released on 4 December 2009. Butler described the song as being

the combination of pretty much most of my musical influences; dancehall, roots & rock. Some how we found a way to bring all these feels in a way that sounds natural and not too contrived or cerebral. I’m really happy with how we captured the vibe of this song.[16]

The band, according to billboard.com, recorded twenty two songs at Butler's home based studio in Fremantle, this was eventually cut down to the fifteen that appear on the album.[17] The album was released in Australia, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and The Netherlands on 26 March 2010, in New Zealand and France on 29 March, in the UK on 5 April, and in the USA / Canada on 6 April.

April Uprising debuted at No. 1 on the Australian ARIA albums chart on 5 April[5] and whilst the first two singles from the album, "One Way Road" and "Close to You", charted at No. 15 and No. 36 on the Australian ARIA singles charts they both reached the top five in the Spins radio airplay charts, the former reaching No. 1.[18]

On 4 June 2010 John Butler Trio played a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre,[19] which was streamed live to fans around the world at Livestream.[20]

In 2010, the John Butler Trio received the award for Most Popular Independent Artist at the Australian Independent Record (AIR) Awards[10] while April Uprising was nominated at the ARIA Awards for 'Best Blues and Roots Album' and 'Best Independent Release'.[6]

In February 2012, John Butler recorded a studio version of the Trio's instrumental single "Ocean", at The Compound in Fremantle, and uploaded it to the band's YouTube channel later in that year.[21][22] The 12-minute video clip went viral, and has accumulated over 35 million views online.[23]

On 31 August 2013, it was announced by John Butler that Nicky Bomba (drums and percussion) will be leaving the band.[24] Subsequently, on 8 October, Butler announced that Grant Gerathy of Ray Mann Three will be the new drummer for the Trio.[25]

Flesh & Blood, produced by Jan Skubiszewski, was released on 7 February 2014, with the initial single "Only One" released on 15 November 2013. While the single ranked 87th in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2013,[26] the album itself received the 2014 ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album,[27] debuted at No. 2 on the Australian charts,[28] and reached No. 7 in the Hungarian charts. The trio also undertook a large national tour in February and March 2014 to support the release of the new album.

Singles from Flesh & Blood were performed by the Trio on the American late-night talk show Conan on 24 February 2014,[29] and for Triple J's Like a Version on 11 April 2014. Their roots rock cover of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" features on the CD and DVD releases of Like a Version's Volume Ten.[30][31]

John Butler Trio released the first single and title track "Home" in August 2018 ahead of the album, Home, which was released on 28 September.

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[40]

The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The John Butler Trio have won six awards from twenty-eight nominations.[6]

The J Awards are presented annually from 2005 by the Australian national youth radio broadcasting station, Triple J.

The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016.