John Butler Trio, independent at all costs - Rolling Stone

Avec « Home»», l’Australien démontre l’étendue de ses qualités de songwriter féru de bluegrass, de grands espaces… et de Beyoncé.

This Monday morning, in the offices of his Parisian label, John Butler is very good.Even if he made a long trip by plane, that he found himself stuck in closed clogs with a driver in a bad mood and that the jet lag, in addition to that, is there.When we knock on the door, we hear him sing.Butler is not the type to move without his guitar.Red checkered shirt, multiple tattoos, cheese rooted around the neck and Jean Troué, the musician respects the rock’n’roll codes - surfer trend, in view of his hair discolored by the sun.This does not prevent him from leaving his career with a master's hand.He founded his own label, Jarrah, and his group, with Grant Gerathy on drums and Byron Luiters at Lower.Although the agreement is not questioned, they only intervened in the making of Home, the seventh studio album. « Ce disque, je l’ai écrit dès la sortie du précédent, Flesh & Blood, en 2014, explique Butler.In hotel rooms, airports, vans, in my room on Garageband ... It was a very personal initiative which required that I was in front of myself, which was also the case for most of theregistration.I wanted to integrate the beats that I imagined, rather hip-hop, with the finger picking which is mine.The result is both folk and pop, western and tribal.Indeed, Butler stayed in India, where he studied different types of ropes, while listening to the Lemonade loop of Beyoncé!"Missy Elliott, Bon Iver, Ed Sheeran, Celtic music, Pharrell Williams, Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman ... All appear in my songs, in one way or another.Blues, I already have my head, so I never refuse a tube of Britney Spears or Bruno Mars!»»

An eclecticism which is also found in the roots of Butler: Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece ... If his mother is American and he was born in California, his father is Australian.Child, he moved to Pinjarra before studying in Perth, where he currently lives.Baptizing his album Home is therefore not trivial: "My house is first of all my body and my mind.I have to live in peace with them.It is also my family, my wife and my children.Finally, this is the region where I grew up, western Australia, its smells and its colors.»Committed to the preservation of the environment, a convinced vegetarian, Butler has supported many actions for the safeguard of the environment (Save The Kimberley in Australia, WWF for the Queensland Corail barrier, etc.) as for the protection ofpopulations, especially that of southern Papua.However, he did not play the card of the Song protest this time: "I wanted above all to express my questions about my identity as a man, of white man not necessarily very clever, who tries to do his best inA world where, between 25 and 45 years old, men do not only die because of drugs, surfing or crime, but also, very much, because they commit suicide.»» Butler chante donc sa condition de père (son ls apparaît dans le clip de « Wade in the Water»» où tous deux font du skateboard), de compagnon, d’artiste, mais aussi de fils, notamment avec le morceau « Coffee, Methadone & Cigarettes»», qui fait référence à son père, traumatisé par un drame familial, le grand-père de Butler étant mort en voulant éteindre un incendie dans un bush, laissant sa femme et ses huit enfants désemparés."A family trauma can be transmitted over six generations, and this pain has reached me.»»

With Home, Butler therefore takes stock of a life hitherto full, with its ups, its stockings, its victories and its regrets: "When I had their twenties, I cheated on my partner, I lived everythingexcessively intense way.At the birth of my first child, I was 27 years old, I was still very immature, my wife had to follow me on tour with the baby.What selfishness on my part!I would have liked to grow earlier, not to wait for my children to finally make me the man I am today.Besides, if the world is so bad, it is because it is governed by little boys who have not grown up, like Donald Trump.»»La peur de ne pas réussir un disque ou de rater un concert, de ne pas trouver la sérénité, de ne pas gérer son ego comme il le devrait font de John Butler un adepte du « carpe diem»» : il ne souhaite rien d’autre que ce qu’il a déjà.Besides, he is very proud of the accomplished path: "Some artists only pass.If I no longer have a platinum disc as it was the case in Australia, my audience is very faithful to me thanks to the tours.And that is because I founded my own independent label, that I no longer work with a major who has the sole interest in turnover that I can bring in him.I had the chance to cultivate my own garden, which feeds me, even if it takes a lot of dealing with it.Twenty years after my beginnings, he is still fertile.It allows me to live the life I have always wanted to have, that of a musician free to sing what he wants.»»

Sophie Rosemont