VIEWS THROUGH THE PRISM
IN THE YEARS SINCE HE WAS DISCOVERED BUSKING ON PERTH STREET CORNERS, JOHN BUTLER HAS ACHIEVED PHENOMENAL SUCCESS, BRINGING HIS SIGNATURE SOUND TO FANS ACROSS THE WORLD.
IN SUPPORT OF HIS 2025 SOLO RECORD, PRISM, JOHN WILL JOIN US AT CIVIC HALL IN SEPTEMBER. WE CATCH UP WITH HIM BETWEEN SHOWS IN AMERICA TO CHAT ABOUT HIS MUSICAL LIFE.
It’s taken some time, but John Butler’s learned to take care of himself on the road these days. He found a sauna and ice bath not far from his hotel (“I’m one of those guys!”) and has his routine down pat. The moment he arrives at a new venue, he sets up a “mobile alter” backstage. “After 20, 30 years on the road, you have to start bringing your comfort zones with you.”
So, if you see wafts of smoke drifting out of Civic Hall come September, don’t worry: it’s just palo santo and sage burning slowly in the hands of the headliner. “It’s a transient life and it does weird things to your adrenals,” he says, “So I like to set up the space to feel intentional.” Once that’s done? The man of walking contradictions and contrasts likes to “sniff out an army surplus store” to do a spot of shopping.
A NEW RECORD, A NEW SHOW
PRISM is many things. It’s John’s newest record, his sixth solo record, the third in his body of work that’s been dubbed his 'four seasons’ collection. Last year, he shared ambient album Running Rever and instrumental album Still Searching. That process brought him to PRISM, which also happens to be the first of these three albums he ever tried to make. But the universe had other plans.
"The challenge – to record and engineer an album on his own – was a new one. And after almost three years, he didn’t just hit a bump in the road: the brakes screeched at a dead-end, logistically and emotionally “I failed. My computer stopped working. I had 20 tracks that wouldn’t play."
"It was a “world stop” moment, he says, and one brought about by more than just tech hiccups. He and his partner both lost their fathers, within 40 hours of one another. Even if he’d been able to summon them, all the endurance and tenacity and motivation in the world wouldn’t have been enough to make it on the other side of grief.
CHANGING THE LINE-UP
It’s been six years now since the John Butler Trio went their separate ways. After over two decades at the heart of a household name, John sees the last few years as an act of coming “back to the nucleus of what I do.” He says the result is a live show that really flexes his performing muscles and gives audiences something genuine to grab onto. “Long story short: I'm better than ever at what I do. I feel like it's finally getting easy. For so many years I just did everything with fear. I was always anxious, because it's a scary kind of job: You go on stage in front of a bunch of strangers and rip your rib cage open and say, ‘this is my battered, torn heart. I don't know what's making sense’."
"I feel better than ever at what I do now: I sing better than ever, I play better guitar, I think I'm a better band leader, I think I'm writing better songs. That’s my subjective point of view. But those are the things I've learned over this journey. This show is the destination.”