With just two decades of air under his belt this young man hasn’t wasted a breath. He is a man of many talents, graphic designer, dj, producer, label owner, streetpress sub-editor and part-time alco’ The only thing stopping him is the fact he can’t clone himself to get more out of the day. Holding a residency at Tramp (Melbourne) and gracing the airwaves around it on Kiss FM – his poison is House and Techno. Last year Jiay Mills launched his own label, Recovery Collective which recently produced their 14th release and holding the number one spot for 14 weeks on Beatport’s minimal charts with the tune Three, Two, One.
How did you get into the industry and start DJing?
“My family’s been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. My father was a DJ and entertainment agent, I ran around his nightclubs during the day at only about 5 or 6 years of age. Throughout the years I’ve been involved with his company successfully on various levels while developing my own projects. I’ve been DJ’ing for about 3 years now and now hold a residency at Tramp and religiously run a muck at few of the watering holes both local and interstate, recently ticking Sky Garden in Bali off my To-do List!
What else do you do apart from DJing?
I’ve just finished my Graphic Design course at Swinburne and have been running my own graphics business for the past two years create the design art for many of clubs in Melbourne. I also work for PEARL Magazine a Melbourne streetp[ress publication – starting with basic design work whilst at school and later developing the BPM section mirroring my growing involvement in the club scene… or was legally allowed to anyway. In August 2014 I launched my own House and Techno record label with a close friend (Benny Mac), and this was the birth of Recovery Collective. A label comprising of quality undiscovered music from up and coming artists that deserve more recognition. We have just signed our 17th release, from not only local and national artists but also over the seas in Brazil, Ukraine, Italy and Germany. We have had a few releases go well in the charts. At the moment we have held the #1 slot on Beatport Minimal Charts for over a month now with Sonny Moko’s release ‘Three Two One’ which is going really strong, and will be releasing a pretty solid remix EP soon featuring mixes by Prosdo, TomNTys, Less Is Moar & City Keys.
Who influences you musically?
On a large scale, international artists like Huxley, Eats Everything, Catz ‘n Dogz, Format B, Thomas Schumacher, Booka Shade, Maceo Plex, Boris Brejcha, Alex Stein, Oliver Huntemann and Groove Delight – but I also think that a few of the big local House & Techno vikings also play a pretty big part. I have been getting into a bit of Kalya Scintilla and Opiuo too but they’re on a completely different page haha.
Any stand out gigs from last year?
My number one gig from last year would have to be one of the few Earthcore sets I got to play, probably my solo set Friday arvo when everyone was still fresh, hadn’t smashed it too hard (yet) and the weather was perfect – playing at outdoor festivals is mental, the vibe and environment are something different. Either that or my set from Beyond The Valley on New Years, I ended up playing about 8 hours over the course of the week which was pretty fun. I also played my first international gig in December: Ultraglow Bali, to a pretty much full main arena at Sky Garden – not sure of the venue capacity but I’m pretty sure there was a few thousand there and the most I’ve ever played to. Also supported artists such as Seth Troxler, Thomas Jack, Cause & Affect, FiveAm and more…
Have you considered producing some of your own tracks?
Between being so busy with the label, the magazine, all my graphics work, a full time uni course, djing and getting loose whenever I get the chance – I haven’t really had much time to dive headfirst into production as much as I would have liked to, I have been looking forward to the year finishing and finally getting some tunes polished off. Have just finished a colab with Benny Mac ‘Close To You’ featuring vocals from Alex Latham, and have probably another 4 or 5 tracks sitting at a pretty much finished stage which I’m really looking forward to putting out.
What’s on for 2015?
So far… I’ve been locked in to play Rainbow Serpent with the fellas from the Welcome To The Jungle Themed Camp, and the few interstate gigs locked in for Feb in Adelaide and Sydney. If all goes to plan I should hopefully be moving to Ibiza to work over there for the summer season, from May through ’til October, where I would be doing a range of things: playing, helping hand at club events and boat parties, event photography, graphic design and online marketing – just in the process of going through interviews and stuff at the moment, fingers crossed hey.
How many Baroccas per day?
None, more bevs.
www.soundcloud.com/jiay-mills
www.recoverycollective.com.au
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