The multi-platinum Australian powerhouse JOHN BUTLER TRIO will be releasing FLESH & BLOOD, their first studio album in four years, on February 4, 2014, marking the band’s debut on Vanguard Records.
FLESH & BLOOD is JOHN BUTLER TRIO’S sixth studio album and the long-awaited follow up to the band’s internationally acclaimed 2010 release APRIL UPRISING¸ which debuted at #36 on the Billboard Top 200, marking their first entry onto the U.S. Charts, and yielded a #1 single in Australia with “One-Way Road.” The album also debuted at #1 on the Australian ARIA chart (their third consecutive #1 Album).
Recorded at The Compound, Butler’s studio in Fremantle (Australia), FLESH & BLOOD took a mere 20 days to record and though beautifully structured in sonic terms there is a rawness and honesty to the album that reflects the brevity of its laying down. "There's something really exciting about that moment when you're writing a song and it's flowing and you stand back and look at it and hear it and feel like it explains things that you've been trying to explain all your life, or it expresses something that feels universal," Butler says. The first single "Only One" presents a fresh take on JBT’s signature sound with cascading acoustic riffs, sun kissed steel drums and an inspirational melody that flows over the driving rhythms.
Check out the official lyric video of “Only One” here:
The crisp and beautifully spare production of FLESH & BLOOD accentuates the sense of limitless space: the drums (courtesy of the aptly named Nicky Bomba) kick with dub explosions, while the bass (‘Lord’ Byron Luiters) goes on inspired transient walkabouts. Butler’s voice, free of the ‘anger’ that has dogged him for so long, now soars with both melancholy and purity.
Of the approach, Butler says “We wanted the grooves to get deeper and thicker and as a songwriter I wanted the songs to be a lot more guttural and fleshier. I wanted to smell it and feel it a bit more. And my voice to be more convincing."
In February, the band will embark on an initial North American tour visiting some of their favorite rooms beginning with an underplay on February 3rd in New York City (Bowery Ballroom) through February 24 in San Diego, CA. (Tour dates listed below). The tour will introduce new band member, Grant Gerathy, who has taken over the role as the new JBT drummer replacing Nicky Bomba who has left the group to front his own Melbourne Ska Orchestra.
February 2014 Tour Dates:
2/3 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
2/4 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
2/6 Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall
2/7 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
2/8 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
2/9 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
2/12 Missoula, MT - Wilma Theatre
2/14 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
2/15 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
2/16 Vancouver, BC- Commodore Ballroom
2/18 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
2/21 San Francisco, CA - TBD
2/22 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre
2/24 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
Find out more at www.johnbutlertrio.com
