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Taken from The Canberra Times (Mar 15, 2022)
John Butler to return to Canberra Theatre Centre for his solo show An Evening with John Butler
by Amy Martin
John Butler. PhotoCredit: Kane Hibberd |
It's been two years since John Butler first announced he was bringing his solo tour to Canberra.
But while other cities had their performances of An Evening With John Butler cancelled thanks to the pandemic, the Australian roots singer said he never wanted to give up performing in Canberra - even if it took this long to rebook the Canberra Theatre show for April 14.
"Canberra's just been this family for me. There are great fans that have always just been there, right from the beginning," Butler said.
"And it's my job to bring the music to the fans. As much as things are that we live in a viral age and a digital age and everybody has access to everything ... I still think it's a really beautiful thing that you can't download the chills yet.
"For me, I finally realised after everything is not about activism or virtuosity or album sales or singing completely into the highest register or the fastest or the slowest, or the most in time. It's giving people the chills. That's my job."
John Butler is in the middle of recording his upcoming album. Picture: Supplied |
The live show will showcase what Butler describes as the nucleus of the songs he usually performs as part of the John Butler Trio.
Tracks such as Zebra, Better Than and Used to Get High will be stripped back, to provide a more intimate incite into the artist's songs.
And this solo style of performance is something Butler has found himself drawn to in this post-pandemic world. Not just because it has been easier to move around as a solo act, but because Butler has been genuinely enjoying his own creative company.
It's a sentiment that the singer has for both performing and the creation of his upcoming album.
A project that he started during the pandemic has seen him "making beats, playing with synthesizers and being a wacky professor" until the early hours of the morning.
"I'm enjoying playing music, probably more than I have a long time. And it wasn't like I wasn't enjoying it before but I think it's it's just the right time," Butler said.
"And I've been recording my own music, alone. I've learnt how to engineer for the first time in my life ... and that's been fun, staying up until five o'clock in the morning, trying to make something sound good by myself. I'm not going to try to be a genius on engineering, but if I can capture something that's special, that's also cool.
"Having worked with teams of people for last 25 years, it's actually a real relief, to be by myself. We're complex as humans. I know I'm no not necessarily the easiest person to be around all the time, especially in the creative space."
Butler is at home on a stage - be that in a theatre, as part of a festival or busking on the streets, where his musical career started. So with that in mind, it's hard to believe that music was not always his goal in life.
In fact, as Butler sees it, it's a career path that he just happen to stumble upon.
It wasn't until he was 21 and at university to become an art teacher - his second choice in career following professional skateboarder - that the singer started to become obsessed with the guitar.
"So I quit uni to busk," Butler said.
"The biggest dream at that point was to get this trolley that had pump up tyres, so that I can be like this weird feral Mad Max and hitchhike around the country and play hippy festivals. Or just pay on the street and be a complete gypsy. I just love the idea of being a gypsy, I didn't want to be on radio or be playing music venues.
"But that's just how it ended up happening."
An Evening With John Butler is at the Canberra Theatre Centre on April 14. For tickets go to canberratheatrecentre.com.au.
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