John Butler & Band Members
Questions and answers relating to the people that make up the band
1. Where is John from and the band from?
2. Why does John have long nails on one hand?
3. What does John’s tattoo mean?
4. Is John Married?
5. Who has been in the band?
6. Why is there different people on the CD and on stage?
7. What are the past members of JBT doing now?

Music
Questions relating to the musical side of JBT
1. List of currently available released songs
2. What Music Videos have JBT released?
3. What live performances have been taped?
4. The JBT Unreleased Songs List
5. Why was ‘Release’ not on Sunrise Over Sea?
6. The story behind – ‘What Can I Be?’ & ‘The Violet Burning’

Historical
Questions that relate to past projects or events that make up the progress of JBT
1. What is Searching For Heritage?
2. How did JBT begin?
3. What albums are officially released?
4. What other recordings has John played on?

I could be rich like a wandering gypsy
I could be poor like a fat wallet lost
I could be first or I could come last
It’s not who breaks the ribbon, it’s how you get across
I could be red, blue, black + white, sunset, darkest at day or brightest at night
I could be the sun man, I could be the moon
I’m made up from the stars man, I’m shining so bright

Da Da dada Da….

I could be asleep man, I can be awake.
I can be alive or be the walking dead.
I can be ignorant or I can be informed
I can lead my life or I could be led.
I can be anything I put my mind to man all I have to do is give myself half a chance.
I could bring love back into my life,
And share it with the World if I got some balance.

Lyrics to JBT's songs can be found in CD booklets and in the JBT Song Archive

3. Where can get lyrics to other JBT songs?
Lyrics to officially released JBT songs are located at http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/JBTsongs.htm

4. Where can I get Guitar tablature & music scores?
There is no official tablature or sheet music commercially available and no plans in the future have been made to have JBT’s music made available in that way.
Fan’s have been contributing their own interpretations on JBT songs and submitting tab’s for guitar and bass to this website. They can be found here: http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/tab.htm

5. Is there or will there be a JBT DVD available?
In 2002 JBT performed two separate shows at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre which were filmed for a possible future release. Unfortunately the first night of video didn’t stand up to the quality JBT were after and was not shot for DVD which requires a higher quality of filming. That video has been scrapped as a potential release. The second show played at the Forum was also recorded with a higher level of recording and was recorded with camera’s suitable for DVD. There were plans to have this video released as either a whole show or a edited down live DVD but shortly after, Rory Quirk, the bass player at the time, left JBT and plans to release that show as a statement of JBT’s live show were also scrapped thinking it unwise to release a JBT DVD with a band that is no longer together. Also the performance on that night wasn’t up to John’s standards and the decision was made to leave any JBT DVD release for a future project, some songs that we're considered up to standard were released as audio on Living 2001-2002.
There has also been a lot of video shot since the Forum shows of behind the scenes at shows and during the making of ‘Sunrise Over Sea’ with ideas going around of making a compilation of Video spanning JBT’s complete career.
– No plans have been made yet and there is no DVD available for purchase, hopefully soon there will be a    DVD release but JBT will always wait until the right time rather than rushing a release.

6. Can I please get JBT to sign something for me?
Everyone who asks is JBT's 'biggest fan' so please understand that unfortunatly we cannot have JBT sign items and we can’t have items be sent to JBT to be signed and returned to sender, it's not possible.
The best place to get a signature is after a show or at a festival. Understand JBT can’t sign after every show and sometimes need to leave early because of family and other commitments but they are usually more than happy to sign when available.
JBT’s official online retail shop, www.musicplug.net often has signed merchandise that they give away so check them out, join their mailing list and find out when that is available.

7. Who is the current bass player and drummer?
Since August 2003 to date:
The current bass player for JBT is Shannon Birchall.
The current drummer is Michael Barker.
This is the JBT band you have seen live since August of 2003.

John Butler & Band Members
Questions and answers relating to the people that make up the band

1. Where is John and the band from?
John Butler was born in Torrance California on April 1st, 1975. His father, wanting to return to the country of his birth, moved back with his family to Australia in 1986. They moved from LA. to a small town in Western Australia called, Pinjarra.
He currently lives with his wife and child between homes outside Byron Bay and in Melbourne.
Shannon Birchall (bass player) lives in Melbourne.
Michael Barker (drummer) is from New Zealand originally and currently lives in Melbourne.

2. Why does John have long nails on one hand?
Johns right hand has extended nails cut too a point which out of context can look a bit strange. The reason for this is because of his unique picking style on the guitar. Rather than using a guitar pick he uses each of his fingers to pick the strings when he plays which can result in a more complex and faster style. John uses synthetic nails and also a strong nail hardener to build up and keep the nails on that hand hard enough to be able make a clean picking sound that simulates folk finger picks that other artists will wear on each finger to produce a similar picking style. It’s a lot of work to keep them in a usable condition plus living with them all the time. Its not a recommended thing to do to your nails and won’t help your playing style, John’s hand is unique as with the way he plays his guitar so it suits him to play like that, he will be the first to tell you his technique isn't very correct!
More information can be found in the Technical Forums

3. What does John’s tattoo mean?
John has a tattoo of three thin blue rings around his forearm which he has had since at least 1998.
These rings represent a lot of personal things to John in many contexts and he prefers to keep that private, the number 3 is the main importance of the tattoo and can be contributed to many things JBT related as well as the personal reasons.

4. Is John Married?
Yes, in 2002, John was married to Danielle Caruana and they have since had a beautiful baby girl named ‘Banjo’. Family is very important to John and Danielle has been a very important part of JBT in the management/touring side since 1999.

5. Who has been in the band?
Although each JBT album has guest musicians on certain songs, the ‘official’ band line-up has changed a few times since the start. Below is an order of players:
0 - 1998
John Butler
1998 – 2001 April
John Butler, Jason McGann (drums), Gavin Shoesmith (bass)
April 2001 – March 2002
John Butler, Jason McGann (drums), Rory Quirk (bass)
April 2002 – November 2002
John Butler – Jason McGann (drums), Andrew Fry (bass)
*6 Month break due to birth of Johns Child – no performances*
August 2003 – Current
John Butler – Michael Barker (drums), Shannon Birchall (bass)

6. Why are there different people on the CD and on stage?
All releases up until ‘Living’ feature the original band members, John Butler, Jason McGann and Gavin Shoesmith thou the album ‘Three’ was toured with both Gavin Shoesmith and Rory Quirk as bass players in separate tours promoting that album. ‘Living’ features live recordings of both Rory Quirk and Andrew Fry with Jason McGann on drums.
After a long break with the birth of his first child, John wrote many new songs and talked about a project working with good friend and brother-in-law Nicky Bomba who fronts the band Bomba. Unknown to a lot of people, Nicky Bomba is an amazing drummer and John had been interested in working professionally with him for a while. In 2003 the time came to start recording on the latest studio album ‘Sunrise Over Sea’. Since there was no official band in place this gave John the opportunity to work with Nicky Bomba as drummer. Shannon Birchall was signed on as bass player and rehersals started. The album was essentially recorded in July of 2003 with Shannon on bass and Nicky on drums. In August there was a national tour planned and Michael Barker was signed on as the official JBT drummer. The reason Michael became the touring drummer and not Nicky was because Nicky Bomba already had commitments with his own band Bomba and couldn’t do both. Later in 2003 and early 2004, the final recordings for ‘Sunrise Over Sea’ were completed and Michael Barker added percussion to most songs and is credited on the album for his work.
So you will hear and see Nicky Bomba on the album but you will see and hear Michael Barker at the live shows.

7. What are the past members of JBT doing now?
Currently, Jason McGann who drums on ‘John Butler’, ‘JBT Ep’, ‘Three’ & ‘Living’ is playing with songwriter Carus Thomson in the band Carus & the True Believers - www.carus.com.au
Gavin Shoesmith who plays bass on ‘John Butler’, 'JBT Ep’ & ‘Three’ has played in a few bands around Australia including Katamaran. Currently Jason and Gavin have re-united in Melbourne after both living in various places around Australia and are talking of doing a side project together.
Andrew Fry who played on ‘Sista’ on the ‘Living’ album and 'Losing My Cool' on the 'Zebra CD' continues with his band Johnny Amigo who play around Ballarat and Melbourne.

JBT's Music

1. What are the songs JBT have released?
To find a list of songs available and where they are available, check out the 'JBT Song Achive'.

2. What Music Videos have JBT released?
JBT have release the following video clips:
Pickapart (2000)
Betterman (2002)
Home Is Where The Heart Is (2003)
Zebra (2004)
Treat Yo Mama (2004)

Also an unofficial video from The Wilderness Society of John playing Treat Yo Mama acoustically up in a tree sit in Tasmania’s Old Growth Forest has been released through their website and was screened on Rage. Not an official JBT release but a performance and video that was made for the WS furthering awareness about Old Growth logging in Australia.

3. The JBT Unreleased Songs List
To find a list of songs that haven't been officially released, check out the 'JBT Song Achive'.

4. Why was ‘Release’ not on Sunrise Over Sea?
The song titled ‘Release’ which was featured during the ‘Post Natal Expression Tour’ in September 2003 before ‘Sunrise Over Sea’ was released was recorded during the ‘SOS’ sessions but during mixing John decided to leave that song off the final master because he thought ‘the first half is boring’. He wants to work on the song and re-do a better version for the future rather than releasing it at a level he’s not satisfied with.

5. The story behind – ‘What Can I Be?’ & ‘The Violet Burning’
On file-sharing programs like Kazaa and Morpheous there are two song’s by ‘John Butler’ that have had fans puzzled.
Firstly the song, ‘What Can I Be?’ is a recording of John solo and acoustic that was recorded, as John guesses, at a friends place in the US while he was over there visiting in the late 1990’s, most likely on a family/friend visit after his first album was released. He’s unsure when or where it was recorded and it’s possible he wasn’t aware it was being recorded so it’s hard to place exactly thou it is an original song of John’s.
The song, 'The Violet Burning’ is NOT a JBT song and has no affiliation with John Butler as we know him. Somewhere that song has been contributed to John which is false. 'The Violet Burning' is the name of the band who wrote and recorded that song but have no affiliation to John or JBT at all.

Historical

1. What is Searching For Heritage?
‘Searching For Heritage’ is a cassette tape that John recorded and sold while he was busking on the street of Fremantle in 1996. This tape is highly sort after by collectors and is very much unavailable other than from second hand dealers. No copies remain for sale from JBT and John has stressed that it won’t be re-released anytime in his foreseeable future.

2. How did JBT begin?
John started out by busking on the streets of Fremantle. From there he did shows at local venues in Fremantle on open mic nights and begain playing regularly at Mojo’s Bar which at the time was run and owned by Phil Stevens, JBT’s manager. John started building up a collection of songs that he started recording for his first release, ‘John Butler’ (1998) and asked Jason McGann and Gavin Shoesmith who we’re known players in the WA scene to play drums and bass on some songs featured on that album. After the album was released there were a couple small tours done around WA and the East Coast in which all three of them played as a band. Eventually that became The John Butler Trio and each show was with the band with solo shows being the rarity.

3. What has JBT officially released?
(1998) John Butler (JBT001)
(2000) JBT Ep (JBT002)
(2002) Three (JBT003)
(2003) Three US Version
(2003) Living 2002-2003 (JBT004)
(2004) Zebra CD single (JBT005)
(2004) Zebra 12” Vinyl (JBT005V) – Limited to 1500 copies
(2004) Sunrise Over Sea (JBT006)

All titles are available from www.musicplug.net

4. What other recordings has John played on?
John has featured on other artists music including:
Album: Song’s From Martin St
Artist: Carus
Song: Moonrise – Lead Guitar and Solo

Album: Everyone Deserves Music
Artist: Michael Franti & Spearhead
Song: Feelin’ Free – Guitar and backing Vocals

Album: Marking Time
An album of songs made for the ABC mini-series, Marking Time.
Features songs by JBT and collaborations

Album: Fatherhood Project
Artist: Compilation CD
Song: Spring