John Butler Trio Release 'April Uprising' Plus Tour Dates

John Butler returns with his first album in three years, April Uprising, on April 5, 2010. The album finds the multi-platinum Australian artist with a new line up and a new label in the UK, Because Music (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Justice, Manu Chao). Recorded at The Compound, Butler’s self-built studio in the heart of his hometown of Fremantle, Western Australia, and mixed in Melbourne, Australia at Sing Sing Studios, April Uprising is the follow-up to 2007’s critically acclaimed and internationally successful release, Grand National. This album reached gold status in Europe and received rave reviews for its sophisticated mix of guitar stylings, hip hop beats and intelligent, socially conscious lyrics. The release also attracted a global audience and found the former busker appearing at music festivals worldwide performing as John Butler Trio.

 
April Uprising, Butler’s most focused, diverse and accessible album to date has already yielded a No.1 song on the Australian airplay charts with its first single ‘One Way Road’. This is one of the tracks directly inspired by revolution, it not only harnesses Butler’s experiences and opinions, it sets the tone for the whole album.

Butler comments on the new single: “One Way Road is the combination of pretty much most of my musical influences; dancehall, roots and rock. Somehow we found a way to bring all these ‘feels’ in a way that sounds natural and not too contrived or cerebral. I’m really happy with how we captured the vibe of this song”. The excellent and technically unusual video for ‘One Way Road’ can be viewed on the JBT website – www.johnbutlertrio.com.  

The album’s spirit of renewal and rebirth was the culmination of an especially momentous period in John’s life. It began with the seemingly innocuous act of cutting his hair and taking a few months off in late 2008. But it was his appearance on the TV series, Who Do You Think We Are, which takes well-known artists and traces their family trees, which turned out to be a life-changing experience, leading him on the personal and spiritual journey that inspired the revolutionary title of the album.  
April Uprising consists of the experiences that ultimately inspired the album’s title. This came about through Butler’s incredible journey with the series’ documentary filmmakers. He started the voyage hoping to find poets, musicians, and revolutionaries in his past.  He traced the Butler name through generations of hardship to a matriarch who sang for her survival and his Bulgarian ancestry to a forbearer caught up in a violent revolt. Getting to know his ancestors – trailblazers, idealists and bona fide revolutionaries – helped him to make profound sense of his passions as a writer and musician.

 
Butler unveiled his new bandmates in June 2009: Melbourne musician Nicky Bomba (drums and percussion) and Byron Luiters (bass) from Sydney outfit Ray Mann Three. The newly revitalized John Butler Trio recorded at The Compound with long-time engineer Robin Mai and found themselves with 22 songs – 15 of which made it on the album – and a whole new musical palette in the can: playful and explosive, rhythmically complex and melodically immediate, charged with new purpose but more committed than ever to the principles of classic song craft. The tracks also feature innovative sounds, from the trippy steel drum detail on ‘Take Me’ to the roaring anthemic chorus of ‘To Look Like You’ and the tender ache of ‘Steal It’ and ‘Fool For You’, to the rustic folk of ‘Ragged Mile’ and the hysterical rock attack of ‘C’mon Now’.   

Between the epic opening track ‘Revolution’ and a whispered acoustic coda ‘A Star is Born’ dedicated to John's son, April Uprising is an album that combines the personal, the political and the musically memorable with skill and passion.

 
Live Dates

JBT will be touring their highly acclaimed live show to all corners of the including a European tour of UK and Ireland, followed by a full US tour scheduled for late May through June 2010.
 

April Uprising UK Tour Dates

Thurs 8th April          Dublin Olympia

Friday 9th April         02 Glasgow Academy

Saturday 10th April    Manchester Academy

Monday 12th April     Southampton Guildhall

Wed 14th April          London HMV Hammersmith Apollo