Fifth Generation Activist

The celebrated folk performer has won, and been nominated for, heaps of awards since he burst onto the scene with his band as John Butler Trio, releasing their self-titled album in 1998. “I’ve come up with good and bad habits to deal with that,” he admits. “Meditation, which has helped me stay in the moment and be less time-anxious, and then there’s habits like just not answering my emails. Like, I’m not fucking doing that. But yeah, people ask me where I’m going to be in a couple of months and I can’t tell them, chiefly because when you’re going to 120 cities a year, it’s hard to keep track of it all. It does mess with your head a bit. People ask, ‘What are you doing next weekend?’ and it’s like, ‘Ahhhh, I’m gonna have to look at my calendar. I don’t know.’”

Butler’s activist roots actually date back to the 1800s when his great-great-grandfather fought in Bulgaria. It’s a passion that has been passed down through the generations. “I got it from my dad, who got it from his mum, who got it from her grandfather. He was a simple goat herder who didn’t want to be oppressed by militia and dickheads...

"He was a simple goat herder who didn’t want to be oppressed by militia and dickheads..."

"I am an environmentalist, but not in a sense that I love trees because I love trees. I like them because they’re good for the air. And what pisses me off most of all is… that I don’t think you need to chop down hundred-year-old trees to make into wood chips or burn it to make electricity; that’s just stupidity. That pisses me off more than my love for trees and culture. It’s the social injustice of it all... it kills me. At least sell it for $1000 a tonne, I’d be less pissed off. Don’t insult me! The lack of common sense is what pisses me off most of all. I hate it when stupidity reigns.”

Having released his most recent album at the beginning of 2014, Butler is focusing on balancing his life between work and play. “I have an amazing abundance in my life, and most of that is the health of my family and myself. I just want to enjoy my 12-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son and my beautiful wife of 14 years – there’s so much there to really enjoy, and my career has a life of its own; I spent so much of my energy getting this snowball rolling, and it runs by itself now. It’s like, ‘Whoa, I gotta try to catch up with it.’ I'm just trying to keep my attention on enjoying my career and my family. It’s ambitious, and I really try hard to balance it, because a lot of it is ego-based stuff. The ego is never quite ever satiated, you gotta keep it happy. I try to be driven and goal orientated, but not chasing my tail and trying to fill a hole that will never be filled, I guess.”