MIXEDplate
KA LEO
PAGE EDITOR: TAYLOR HALL
8 Wednesday, April 9, 2008
mixedplate@kaleo.org
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: ARIEL PEASE
TRIO IN HONOLULU
John Butler Trio
plays Pipeline Café
John Butler, center, showing off his tattoos. “They stand for some pretty personal stuff,” Butler said. His arms will be featuring some
fresh ink at the O‘ahu show, as he has recently added a yin-yang type of symbol above the stripes.
By Taylor Hall
Ka Leo Features Editor
John Butler’s voice is notice-
ably exhausted, but his manners are
keeping him on the phone. He will
be touring until September with a
stop at the Coachella Music Festival
in two weeks, but for now John
Butler is a very tired man.
Butler has just finished a gig in
Japan hours and he is presently wait-
ing to fly into Honolulu for his first
Hawai‘i show and a rare mid-tour
rest on O‘ahu.
“It was wonderful. They (the
Japanese) are a funky, beautiful peo-
ple,” Butler said.
The John Butler Trio has
been compared to the likes of Jack
Johnson and Dave Matthews (both
of whom will be participating in this
years Kōkua festival at the Waikīkī
Shell) for his prevalent use of the
acoustic guitar and feel-good party
vibe. But the Australian-born Butler
separates himself from his contem-
poraries purely by his delivery.
Despite playing a variety of
instruments, from the didgeridoo
TAS TE THE LOVE
to the banjo, Butler’s instrument of
choice is still his 11-string guitar,
whose highest string is purposely
removed. “I just don’t like the
sound of the high G. ... Plus, it
breaks a lot.”
The bright notes of the instru-
ment allow him to play everything
from funk to open-tuned instrumen-
tals with an individual sound aided
by a custom array of pedals.
His virtuosity with the instru-
ment is well-demonstrated on
YouTube, where a video of Butler
performing his song “Ocean” has
become a viral hit with three mil-
lion views. He sits alone under
a spotlight, telling the audience
about the first time he held his
daughter, Banjo, in his arms. Then
he plugs in the guitar and begins
tapping the strings Van Halen
style. What follows is five min-
utes of open-tuned bliss.
“I use a lot of standard tun-
ing, well, the standard open tunings.
Mostly open C ... dropped open D.”
And when the talk turns to
Hawaiian slack key, Butler is enthu-
siastic. “I’ve just started trying it.
COURTESY PHOTO • MYSPACE.COM/JOHNBUTLERTRIO
I really like it, definitely want to
hear some more of it when I am out
there. We’ve been wanting to go (to
Hawaiʻi) for years. I can’t wait to
see Waikīkī. I know we’re going to
go somewhere on the North Shore.”
A quick mention of Oʻahu
being a laid-back concert-going
community spurs Butler’s humor.
“I hope not. We’re pretty laid back
too; I don’t know if two laid-back
groups – you know – I don’t know
if that’s best!”
Last advice: “Be prepared to
go on a ride. We’re going to rock
you, funk you out, some instru-
mentals, we don’t really do one
specific thing. Be prepared to go
on a journey.”
John Butler Trio
Tonight, 8 p.m. at Pipeline Cafe
Tickets: ticketmaster.com $35 for
loft seating, $20 for standard.