Blood On The Floor

John Butler Trio

According to John Butler, “every album is like giving birth”, but Flesh & Blood, John Butler Trio's brand new full-length, has come to the world smoothly and without drama. “It's kinda like when you go for a run and the first part is a bit tricky and tough, then you get about halfway, three-quarters of the way through, and you start going into this trance, it happens very easy,” he relates. “I don't know if that is a great metaphor, but the album was easy to record, it was very easy to sing and play, and it all just happened very naturally which is really nice because a lot of times things take a great effort to get over the line.”

This lack of complication is the culmination of 15 years hard labour for the American-born, West Australian-bred roots hero. The momentum behind JBT was created long ago, and though there's been various line-up changes in the trio – the most recent seeing drummer Grant Gerathy replace Nicky Bomba, who departed late last year to focus on his Melbourne Ska Orchestra – the group have found an enduring place in hearts around the globe.

Flesh & Blood is John Butler Trio “standing back from the canvas” and taking stock, not just looking towards the horizon. Some tracks are tributes and based on truths (Wings Are Wide), some are fictional (Livin' In The City); others were birthed during trips away (Cold Wind) and a couple have come directly from the jam room (Devil Woman). Butler was inspired and driven by every facet of his life – living in the now, for the now – and more than ever his bandmates shared the creative process, the frontman happier to be shown how to do things rather than trying to lead the way into unfamiliar waters.

“There was a huge part of my life where I thought I knew it all,” admits the 38-year-old, “and it was my way, the world was the way I saw it. And the longer you go down the road you start realising, 'Oh, that's a cool way of doing it, I don't do that, and that's a cool way of doing it, and that person does it that way; oh, I actually work with them, they have a lot to offer, maybe I should just shut up and see what happens rather than explaining what I think they should play',” he laughs.

“The majority of the songs are probably always going to be coming from me, just because of the nature of the ship that I created. [But] I've always essentially produced albums with my trio, because I realise... I'd bring them a song and they would always make it better. But to go, 'Cool, that's a great bass line', and, 'Oh, that's awesome drums', and I'll do something to your stuff, it can be a bit more of a forum for something to happen as opposed to a forum for my things to happen.

“It's always going to be the trio, but it's just a bit more open. I've been working with the primary colours, but there are a lot of other colours out there, and if it works, why wouldn't you do it? [On] the last two albums – whatever sounds good; we don't care whose idea, whose song, whose lyrics, whose instrument, we don't care if you're playing the keytar or a double bass – whatever works. The song is in charge, and that's becoming more apparent and powerful.”

Butler has always written pretty eclectic albums, “My love of NWA, Snoop Dogg mixed with Tool and Gillian Welch, Bon Iver, and Celtic bagpipe music helps that whole thing,” he chuckles. But for the most part Flesh & Blood is noticeably more restrained, recalling JBT's landmark 2004 record Sunrise Over Sea more so than the group's previous two LPs. Butler reveals that his Tin Shed Tales tour in 2012 directed this release, saying those solo dates provided the boost of confidence he needed, while showing him that the most intense and powerful moments were also usually the quietest, “where you can hear a pin drop, and if you breathed the wrong way you could knock the song over”.

“Singing in public – you might as well be standing naked,” he admits. “It's like ripping your chest open and going, 'Here's my heart: blub, blub, blub'; it's a very vulnerable thing, and [with this release] the ribcage is ripped open a little more than it was before. I think I'm just able to explore some different emotions, and I'm interested in exploring them.”