With “PRISM”, the Australian guitarist, singer and multi-instrumentalist John Butler releases the third part of his four-part cycle. The album, which was originally intended to go in a completely different direction, ended up being an intense test of his creative and inner balance. Created at a time of personal turmoil and loss, Prism marks the moment for Butler when he withdrew to find new paths alone – without a band, but together with producer James Ireland (Pond, San Cisco). Today, Butler describes the path to Prism, which he describes in detail in our interview, as a kind of hero’s journey and one of the important lessons of his life. In November he will present the album live in Germany with a new band. On November 8th, 2025 Butler will play in Cologne (Live Music Hall), on November 12th in Hamburg (Docks), on November 13th in Berlin (Astra Kulturhaus) and on November 15th in Munich (Tonhalle).
ROLLING STONE: John, your album “PRISM” is released as the third part of the four-part cycle – which wasn’t initially planned that way. Can you outline the origin story, which is anything but simple?
I initially recorded PRISM alone and my computer kept crashing. My anxiety, my mental health wasn’t good, my marriage was suffering. My father had just died, and so had my wife’s father – both within 40 hours of each other, in the middle of lockdown, on opposite sides of the country.
I was just at a point where everything collapsed. Recording “PRISM” was actually a beautiful thing for me, it was a comfort – being alone and working creatively, that was my safe place. But when that suddenly didn’t work anymore, I somehow lost my footing. I had to give up. You know, I couldn’t finish the album and I didn’t want to work with anyone on it. I just wanted to be alone.
But there is something beautiful in giving up because it leaves room. And in that room a kind of inspiration came – like a download, like a little epiphany. There was this idea: Go back to something really simple. Do small projects that you have wanted to do for a long time. Things that don’t need a band, just you – so that you can regain trust.
And then it came down pretty quickly, like out of nowhere. I heard within myself: “Do the ambient album first. Simple. Heal yourself. You’re obviously not okay.” So the first season was “Heal”.
Then came “Begin Again” – a new beginning. That meant: Make another instrumental album, like your first busking tape. The third season began with Going Solo – which meant: throw the band overboard. You don’t need a trio, that doesn’t make sense right now. And finish “PRISM,” maybe you’re ready now, maybe you’ve learned what you were missing from Running River and Still Searching.
And the fourth chapter is still to come. Maybe I’ll do it with a band, maybe I won’t – I don’t know.
I just realized: I was in the middle of a cycle without knowing that I had even started it. And when I realized that, I knew I had to document it. It was like a spiritual odyssey – like Homer’s Odyssey. A hero’s journey. I had to fail to become new.
John Butler in an interview: “The Butler of the Soul”
They said that giving up, letting go, was an important part of this process – this “Surrender”. When you started working again and saw the whole thing as part of a cycle: what did that feel like? Was there a certain sense of risk?
John Butler: Yeah, I thought, “God, I hope this works.” It was like trying to put a saddle on a very stubborn horse – and I wasn’t willing to break that horse’s spirit just so I could ride. I didn’t want to break the songs just to record them. I had to keep an open mind, just like the whole process had shown me.
So, James (my producer) and I spent almost two weeks in the studio – and it just wasn’t working. I said, “Bro, I’m listening to this on the porch with a joint, and the song just says, no.” And I was like, “Damn, what’s wrong with these songs?” And James said, “Let’s not give up. Come to my house.”
I took my pedal steel with me and suddenly it became clear: This is how they want to be created. I make a beat on my favorite guitar first because that’s where the energy is. These beats are the foundation. And if I can sing about them – something that grooves, that works – then everything else comes from that.
We imagined it like DNA: the beat is the core. Then come the synths, then the drums, then the rest.
It was the third attempt – the first alone, the second with James, the third again with James – and this time it worked. I just had to keep listening. That’s the most important thing as a musician: listening.
It’s easy to deceive yourself into thinking you’re making art to serve yourself. But that’s not true. I don’t make art to serve me – music uses me to create itself. I am just a tool, an instrument. I am the servant of the song. The song is not my servant. I am the butler of the soul.
Many people discovered you in the early 2000s through your piece “Ocean”. Do you remember when you published the piece?
I first released “Ocean” on my busking tape – on cassette when I was playing on the street. Then it went on my first album, and later I released it again as a studio version, I think in 2012 or something. I had already made a version five years before that.
There are so many versions of it on the internet – live versions, studio versions, recordings. Some have 18 million views, others have five. I’ve never counted, but there are an incredible number of them.
And I’m still discovering how far-reaching the piece is. I meet young people all the time who tell me, “I just graduated from music school playing “Ocean.” Or: “That was my exam piece in the 12th grade.” Or I see dance productions that are choreographed to it.
The piece is like a little scout flying in front of me. It attracts people who normally don’t like guitar music – especially not instrumental, slightly crazy guitar music. But “Ocean” invites you into this world that I create. This whole, strange, idiosyncratic world with all the collisions of styles – from “Zebra2” to “Better Than” to “Going Solo” to “The Way Back”. And somehow it all makes sense under my roof.
How do you divide the very elaborate beats and percussion parts between you and your drummer live?
Beats, rhythm – it’s like a science. The drum kits and 808 beats go to the drummers, my percussion parts on the guitar – bongos, sticks, traps – go to the percussionist. I’ll send them the stems from the studio so they can analyze it. We call this “ghosting” – you have five drum tracks and merge them into one. Ian (Perez) does the same thing with the synths, sometimes playing bass and singing at the same time. I chose the musicians because they can all play as if they were two or three people in one. We are like an orchestra made of beats – but without backing tracks. That’s important to me: everything real, everything faked.
If you play with playback, you lose the magic. If I played Ocean with a recording in the background, you’d wonder what part of it was real. But this is how the audience knows: This is really happening right now. And that’s the magic. We work very precisely, almost like an orchestra. There are rules about who plays what, but there is still room for fire and improvisation. And we just play everything without tracks, even though we sound like a whole ensemble. This is the result of decades of live experience, and I don’t think you should make it “cheaper” by simply running a playback. When I play with a band, I want the audience to really feel how four people bring this sound body to life.
Are you actually following what’s happening in the acoustic guitar scene right now?
Not really intense, but I love seeing what people do. The guitar is an incredibly dynamic instrument – essentially a hollow wooden drum with strings. You can stretch them in any direction. I recently heard Ben Howard – he uses similar beats, open moods, I really like that. And then there are these new social media guys who are doing really crazy things. One person plays all the parts at the same time and still talks (laughs).
I often don’t even know their names. But I see these young players and think to myself: Wow, they’re getting things out of an acoustic guitar that you didn’t think were possible before. The instrument is simply built for this – it is so versatile. You can make it sound like a banjo, a sitar or a drum, you can amplify it and it suddenly sounds like an electric guitar. It’s limitless.
What I love about it: It’s only limited by your imagination. And because I like so much rhythm, so much groove – for me the acoustic guitar is the perfect combination of drums and harmony instrument. I can make beats on it, play melodies, create pads – it’s like a whole universe made of wood.
And what’s next – the fourth part of your cycle?
(laughs) No idea. I honestly don’t know much about the whole thing, I just had to keep listening to see where the music took me. Maybe the fourth chapter will be a live album, maybe a live studio album with a band – that would make sense: from the ambient album to the instrumental album to Prism and then finally a band project. But I don’t know. I don’t want to get in my own way and have no expectations. I’m currently taking Prism to Europe, so I’m in the middle of sharing this music. For me it always takes two or three years. In the meantime, I might write, make jewelry, leather work, just play guitar – and keep listening to what the music tells me.
What is it like listening to “PRISM” today? Do you actually listen to your finished albums again afterwards?
When I’m making them, I hear them all the time – when I’m writing, when I’m mixing. But I really enjoyed listening to this album afterward. It may be the first one that actually sounds like what I hear in my head. I am proud of the path it has taken me, of the patience, the endurance, the trust.
I had to learn again to let people into my life. I was extremely anxious and didn’t want to have anyone around me. But to finish the album, I had to be vulnerable – in front of others. That was scary. And that’s exactly the beauty of art: it forces me to meet myself. She pushes me out of my old exoskeleton and into a new skin. I have yet to find anything else in life – other than my family – that can do that.
Finding your calling is a journey, a very personal one. It’s about letting go of your own ego, your fears, your expectations. That’s the job – the music can only come through if I get out of the way. We all have this “genius”, this spirit within us, but we have to learn to let it in. And to do this you have to know yourself very well: your triggers, your weaknesses, your ego. This is a life’s work. For me, art is the tool to practice this. And that is the greatest gift. The fact that I’ve been able to do this for 30 years – and that it feeds me – is just incredible.
John Butler on tour:
08.11.25 Cologne – Live Music Hall
11/12/25 Hamburg – Docks
11/13/25 Berlin – Astra Kulturhaus
11/15/25 Munich – Tonhalle
Special Guest: Noah Dillon