Janine Schaults

Don't cop an attitude with John Butler. The U.S.-born, Australia-reared musician refuses to put forth energy into anything pulsating with negativity, whether it's the news media or just people looking to suck blood.

"I can't afford to look at the world in a bleak way," Butler says in a lilting voice. I'm 32 years old, I'm a young man. I have two children. I am part of a positive change on this planet and there's no room for me to be thinking negative, because negativity only attracts negativity."

The latest release from the environmentally aware John Butler Trio, "Grand National" (Atlantic/Wea), explores taking responsibility for ourselves as humans, both emotionally and in terms of how our interactions with others affect society and the environment.

"Used To Get High" dissects all the vices inherent in the world interfering with spiritual growth and curbing interpersonal communication, despite gadgets made to shr ink the distance between folks, not just the illegal stuff. "Gov. Did Nothing" berates the Bush administration for its failures during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Butler and crew deliver these messages in their signature groovin' style, complete with deft guitar work on the lap slide by the man himself.

Images of helpless New Orleans residents and war-torn Iraq blazoned across the television screen inform much of "Grand National"’s material. Butler tries to stay focused and not let the news dictate his mood, because, he says, good forces are at work too.

"Watching Fox [network], I just lose hope. I want to just slit my wrists," Butler says from his hotel bathroom as not to disturb his sleeping wife and two young children. "You can totally look at what's going and get really bummed out, but there's a lot of amazing things going on as well. If you talk to the youth and you get on the streets and you see there's a lot of people that care, first of all. There's a lot of humanity out there. There's a lot of people who do care about wanting a positive future and they do want peace and they do want an America and they want a world that is tolerant and is hopeful."

Butler often cites his family as his biggest inspiration, and this album is no different, with at least two odes to his wife appearing within the first five of the album's thirteen tracks ("Daniella" and "Funky Tonight"). And the birth of his children also gives him cause to celebrate.

"I found that I have a lot more hope than I've ever had before. I'm a lot less angry. It's a strange thing that's happened to me. A lot of people say they have kids and they feel less hopeful for the future, but this didn't happen to me," Butler says. "It totally made me realize that human beings have a huge capacity for love. We get taught how to be ignorant. We get taught how to do stupid things. We get taught how to be racist."

But how does one stay positive in the midst of everything? "With great effort," Butler says. "It's so much easier to be dramatic. It's so much easier to be angry. It almost feels right. It's harder to love somebody like George Bush than it is to hate them. I could easily hate the people who are making this world a bad place—terrorists on both sides, whether it be terrorists dropping bombs from the U.S. or the terrorists strapping the bombs to themselves. I could easily be angry at that. It's harder to love those people."

Yet, love may come more willingly for someone so seemingly blessed—great family, great career, healthy fan-base. Those slaving away in downtown office buildings or on the factory lines might conserve their energy to stay afloat. Butler acknowledges this on the album's first track "Better Than," where he sings "So why/oh why/do I look to the other side/‘cos I know the grass is greener but/just as hard to mow."

Butler says an attitude of gratitude is key. His gratitude spills over into environmental action and the Australian artist grant foundation, The JB Seed, which he started with his wife, Danielle, to help the country's artists fund projects, like independently releasing an albums.

This summer, after a tour around the U.S., including a stop at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, the John Butler Trio will participate in Al Gore's twenty-four-hour Live Earth concert on July 7 from Sydney. Performing alongside the likes of Madonna and Damien Rice, Butler hopes the concert will spur people on to keep the issue of global warming at the forefront.

"The most important thing is to keep it in people's minds after it's not popular anymore," Butler says.

John Butler Trio plays June 2 at the Riviera Theatre, 4746 North Racine, (773)275-6800, at 7pm. $10.

(2007-06-01)

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