‘I don’t mind busy ” it’s well paced,’ Butler said, calling from his Fremantle home.
‘It’s just the nature of the beast of it a bit. When you get the car started and the engine’s humming and you’re warmed up, you keep on going. You don’t take breaks for 15 minutes, you just won’t get anywhere.’
Flesh and Blood is the John Butler Trio’s sixth studio album, but fans who managed to catch them at a recent stint of capital city gigs have already been introduced to some of the new material.
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READ NOW‘I made the album that I wanted to make and I’m really happy with the songs, and the lyrics in particular, and the musicianship in particular ” it’s the right balance,’ he said.
‘It’s always a big leap to be hearing a song for your first time in a venue and go ‘OK, do I like this’… but yes, they got some good responses.’
Fans were also introduced to the new trio line-up with drummer Grant Gerathy.
‘I think he brings a sense of grounding and a focus to the trio,’ Butler said.
‘It’s made for some really great music and some really great live music and some good times ahead.
‘I’m really, really excited and feel like everything is how it should be.’
Before embarking on a string of national tour dates, the trio are touring the US and Canada with shows in New York selling out in less than an hour.
‘It feels like something’s just jumped up to the next level,’ he said.
‘I can’t explain what’s happened but I like it. I like what’s happening.’
The Flesh and Blood album tour then kicks off in Fremantle on March 27, with the trio playing three outdoor WA shows before jetting off around the country and to Europe.
‘I think that’s how some of my audience prefer to see me ” in the amphitheatre, in the outdoor setting,’ Butler said.
‘There’s something about, for want of a better word the organic, ‘rootsy-ness’ of our sound that seems to match the environment.
‘I love the home crowd vibe and the fact that I’m playing to the people who have basically made this happen for me.
‘But you got to remember, wherever we go in the country, we’re going to people’s homes.
‘We’re very lucky to have a fan base, but even more so a musical community, a family that likes what we do and just make us feel like we’re always welcome and always at home.’
The trio’s WA shows will also feature The Stray Sisters (Vikki and Donna from The Waifs) and Emma Louise.