INTERVIEW: The Road to Recovery Collective
We chat with Jiayden Mills about how a small label from the Mornington Peninsula reached the number one spot on Beatport…
Think back to when you were 18 years old. How did you spend your time? I spent a lot of mine smoking cheap weed out of interesting bongs (go the apple whoo)—that, and devouring music at a rapacious pace. No doubt many share that narrative - and hey, I don’t regret a minute of it - but if only we had the drive to start up our own creative agency we could’ve found ourselves in the position of the then 18-year-olds Jiayden Mills and Ben Maclachlan.
The Mornington Peninsula duo (featured in the main pic), who also doubles and produce as a DJ team under the names JYDN and Amuze, is behind the record label Recovery Collective, an agency which serves as a one-stop-shop for all your music industry needs: think photography, graphic design, digital media, events, workshops, artist management & development and pandemic control. (Ok, the last one not so much but you get it, they have well and truly escaped the shackles of the word ‘dilettante’). However, the sexier part of their operation is the in-house record label of the same name.
Something which they started in 2014 as an outlet for up-and-coming artists breaking into the scene, has now turned into… well, they still value being an outlet for emerging artists, but their portfolio now includes DJ chart-toppers. Halfway through the pandemic their release from local producer Fabrication, the Dustpig EP, reached the number one spot on the global dance music platform Beatport and stayed there for an impressive 6 weeks. To put that into perspective, Beatport is a dance music marketplace where more than seventy thousand record labels are selling over nine million tracks. Not bad for two kids from Melbourne, eh.
A Family Affair
The Recovery team's core is a three-person affair. Working alongside Jiayden and Ben is Bongani Buckland, who helps with A&R and release management. (Under the moniker BONGANI he is also a producer of note). It takes a close team to build a robust operation, and for Mills, the team’s familiarity is part of what makes them operate smoothly: ‘We are all pretty equal when it comes to the decision-making process. There’s always such strong energy flowing between us.’ That energy lured some of Melbourne’s most promising producers to their stable. It’s a space where artists are part of the family.’Forming a strong bond and friendship with everyone we welcome onto our catalogue is important for us. We intend to nurture these relationships well into the future’. Indeed, it’s hard to promote someone if you don’t like them personally. (Shout out to Eddie McGuire’s publicist)
Today, many of Recovery’s artists are well known on the local and international melodic and progressive techno scene: Fabrication, Handsdown & Leigh Boy, John Baptiste, Alegra, Tom Baker, Connor Mac, Laura King, Doshpot, Kalkara, Boy With Boat, Willing & Abel and Ebony Willis to name just a few.
Left to right: Handsdown & Leighboy, Laura King, Steve Bleas, Ebony Willis
Europe Calling
Finding talent and signing tracks are just one part of the equation, and promoting your releases is where the real work begins. As Mills explains, it might be the most challenging part of the process. ‘One of the most crucial stages would have to be the pre-release PR, ensuring your music is put in the hands of established and influential artists, platforms and publications.’ Indeed, in a very crowded scene, it must be hard to stand out. ‘Yes, we’re constantly trying to go above and beyond for each release; refining processes, trying new things and working with new people.’
In 2017 that drive for trying out new things took them internationally with their Bridging the Gap tour. The team took their sound and main artists to villa parties in Ibiza and Lagos alongside club shows in Barcelona and Amsterdam. It was a venture Mills will always cherish. ‘That was a great trip and was our first real taste of networking and playing overseas.’ In 2019, they ran another tour in conjunction with Rhythm Abroad. That tour kicked off in Berlin with a show at AVA, a club located on Warschauer Straße behind the train station in the city's centre. ‘The turnout was crazy and was incredible to see how many familiar faces and Melbourne heads rocked up to support.’ Makes sense, it is probably easier to find a Melburnian in a club just behind a train station in Berlin’s central CBD than it is to find an actual Melburnian at a pre-COVID Breakfast Club sesh on a Monday morning.
From top left to right: Jiayden Mills, Laura King, Leighboy, Handsdown on tour
Aussies revere the European scene, which is ironic considering the amount of Europeans frequenting our nightclubs. The grass is always greener hey. What do you think make up the main differences between the two scenes? ‘I feel like the European scene is quite deep, established and feels somewhat free – whereas the laws and restrictions we have here in Australia can be somewhat restricting on the scene as a whole – especially compared to other cities like Berlin, Amsterdam and Spain.’ True dat, in 2004, I travelled to Prague and smoked a highly extravagant local bong in the chill-out room of Club Roxy. I tried that once in Melbourne; it didn’t go well. But our bush doof scene seem more interesting than theirs? ‘For sure, our outdoor parties are pretty unique and special, a dancefloor energy like no other. We gotta give that to the Melbournians – they love to party. Sometimes a little too much, but it is what it is.’ Yeah, I totally agree, one year at Rainbow Serpent Festival I saw a guy so high he was doing lines of dirt unironically. 🤷🏿♂️
From Deadmau5 to Beatport
The crew’s first pinch of global recognition came in 2017 when Deadmau5 faxed Melbourne via London (instead of Berlin). The Canadian robotic rodent aired the Steve Bleas production ‘ANNEX’ on BBC Radio 1. In this case, the adage that the universe will reward you if you work hard definitely applies. ‘We were quite surprised how this even happened. At that stage, it hadn’t even been sent out as a pre-release promo. It just happened by chance - prolly Deadmau5 digging deep’. The result was an almost immediate increase in the label’s online popularity—a trial run of sorts for Fabrication's future success.
In a serendipitous twist of fate, Billy Garrett aka Fabrication was raised only a few doors away from Recovery co-founder Ben Maclachlan; in fact, they even went to school together. But, as Mills remembers, that didn’t automatically mean BFFs 4EVA: ‘Their friendship didn’t really kick off until after school when they started to bond over a shared passion for electronic music.’ Fabrication’s first release on Recovery was 2017’s ‘Foreign Prospect’, a tune which bristled with NRG and caused a minor stir amongst the Youtube commenters (‘These tracks are damn lit m8’). A couple more releases, a full-length (the 11-track Colors) and one pandemic later, the team rolled out the two-track Dustpig EP. Not only did it claim the top spot on Beatport for six weeks, but it also didn’t drop below the number two spot for almost 6 months. (As of writing it’s still sitting flush on the site’s Hype ‘Melodic House & Techno’ charts at number one). It even received attention from major mainstream players like Armin van Buuren and Hardwell. The appeal isn’t surprising: it sports a highly polished engineering sheen that packs an emotional punch. But, as Mills confirms, it was impossible to predict the success it would garner: ’It took us by surprise, to be honest. We didn’t think that it would reach or achieve anything as crazy as it had!’
Billy Garrett aka Fabriction
The Industry
For a small Melbourne label and artist to take the top spot on the podium of the biggest DJ market platform must’ve been quite a vibe. ‘Before Dustpig we had never really made it into the overall charts, let alone to #1. So yeah, it is safe to say we were excited!’ Yes, of course, stupid question… it obviously must have been a vibe. BUT, we guess after reaching number one that must be it? Retire and enjoy the fruits of your labour yeah? Well, not so much - and the reality is actually pretty disheartening. ’As unfortunate as it is, there’s not really much money in music sales. Beatport is probably the main store that we generate income through but it’s not much in the grand scale of things. Before the artist or label even see a cent, the store takes half, distribution takes a bit more and then honestly there’s rarely much left – nothing really in comparison to how much we invest into promoting and marketing each release.’ Goddamn Capitalism, you strike again.
Could Spotify pick up some of the financial slack? ‘Not really. Streaming platforms like Spotify are great for reach, but with their crazily low royalty rates (like $0.002 per play or something like that), it really rips the guts out of the industry and any chance of musicians making future income from selling records.’ Fuck. So what about subscription-based services like Patreon? By offering brands the opportunities to really test their audience’s support they might be a solution? Yes, absolutely. Like we mentioned before, record sales aren’t really paying the bills so we’re constantly trying to find new ways to grow, adapt and keep on top of the market. Patreon is a great membership and community-building platform that we will be launching very soon.’ What about Onlyfa… you know what let’s move on.
Road to Recovery
Like everyone out there, we have a COVID hangover. But it’s hard to have any discussion without the subject creep its way into the convo like a virus. And when you consider live music, clubs and DJs… well, lockdowns made a right mess of that. How did the Recovery team go during that period? ‘Obviously, last year was quite a rollercoaster. But keeping busy, productive and active has helped us keep sane. With the label, we have done our best to maintain momentum, pushing through with releases and keeping up our online presence.’ Thankfully, things seem to be getting back to normal. ‘Yeah, small events and gatherings seem to be popping up, but it’s such an uncertain playing field at the moment and is really hard to judge how things will move forward.’
At this stage, the future is indeed an open book. What does the road to recovery look like for …um… Recovery? ‘We are putting the finishing touches on our new website/platform which will be launching pretty soon with a shop and all our new merchandise. A new members/community section which will include some awesome features. Following that, we have our 100th release that we are super excited for. The resuming of our educational programs and workshops. Our recent release by Fabrication with a Jamie Stevens and Anthony Pappa remix… another rather thrilling moment to have these two Australian legends on board the label. Apart from that, hopefully, we are back in full force running events without COVID restrictions as soon as humanly possible. We miss it so much.’
The glass-half-full approach could see this moment be a catalyst for the scene to reset and form new habits. What would you like to see more or less of? ‘More female producers for sure. In comparison to males, there are nowhere near as many females in the industry. But I think it’s quite reflective of the global industry as a whole. We are actively searching for and working with upcoming female talent to work towards gender equality on our label roster. We believe this is of great importance for the landscape of the industry moving forward.’ Finally, as a man who has been doing this since the age of 18, would you have any advice for aspiring producers when approaching a label? ‘Keep writing the music, send it to labels that would suit, and push for individuality with your sound. Most importantly, stay humble.’
The core Recovery Collective team: Jiayden Mills, Ben Maclachlan and Bongani Buckland