Three Things I Love: What first struck John Butler about his chosen hometown

Each week, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature John Butler, who was born in the United States but moved to WA when he was 11 years old, living in Pinjarra, Margaret River and now Fremantle. His accolades span #1 charting albums, platinum records and multiple ARIA awards and he has performed at iconic global festivals and sites including Glastonbury, Coachella and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. He has just returned home after a national tour performing his new album, Still Searching, but when WAtoday spoke with him, he was on his way to Newcastle for a protest against new coal project approvals.

John Butler.Credit: Nick Mckinlay

I love that Freo is a city that ultimately feels like a village. It’s a hard combination to get right; where you can walk around in a metro area, but still know all the people. If I walk down High Street between 8am and 12pm I will see up to 10 people I know quite easily. If I don’t feel like talking, well, I’ll have to pick another street!

Butler performing at the markets. Credit: Fremantle Markets

I love Fremantle’s beaches. Fremantle has some of the best beaches in the world, cleaner and clearer than the Carribean or the Mediterranean or the South of France. That’s wild for an inner-city area in global terms, but it’s very Western Australia. My go-to is South Beach, where I walk my dog, and it’s as clean as any postcard beach. That was what I was struck by, moving to Western Australia from Los Angeles: that every beach was like something out of an idyllic Hollywood paradise film, and literally every beach you can see all the way to the bottom. To live in a city, but still to have that, is surreal.

I have a big soft spot for the Fremantle Markets. It was like my university in performing, and where I met the local music industry members who became my community; almost every musician and every band and every venue in the area. It was like a little nest for me, it held me safe and allowed me to perform and busk, and like all good parents it kicked me out of the nest eventually – I literally got kicked out. There was a [food court] we called the Upmarket just across the street and that was the best and cheapest place to eat, we’d go there all the time for Japanese. The juice shop was amazing there, I’d get juice from Kester Sappho, daughter of blues artist Lee Sappho, and Kester eventually became my tour manager. Now she’s assistant manager of my career, designs covers with me, toured the world with me for 15-plus years. I still love the produce section at Fremantle Markets; I’m now waiting for the cherries to arrive.

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