Episode 11: Benson

Episode Transcript

Adam Burke:  Welcome to The Cockatoo reporting on what Australians are up to in music in the USA. My name is Adam Burke, and we're coming to you from Hollywood, California, which is Tongva and Chumash country. In these interviews, we get into musical journeys to the United States. Today, we are joined by Ben O'Connor, who performs as Benson, a DJ and producer originally from Melbourne.

Having performed at the big Australian festivals, including Splendour in the Grass, Beyond the Valley and Falls, Benson moved across to the US where he now lives and has already found himself on stage at Coachella. He continues to write, produce, remix, and perform, and has formed the label Medium Rare Recordings. Let's get the scoop on what's going on behind the scenes with his US journey. Welcome, Benson.

Ben O'Connor: Thanks so much for having me.

Adam: It's an absolute pleasure to have you. Let's just get a little bit into your origin story. Where'd you grow up?

Ben: I grew up out in the eastern suburbs in Melbourne, Victoria. I spent a lot of time in sort of Croydon Hills around the Ringwood region out in the east. I went to school out there, went to Norwood Secondary College, went to primary school in Croydon Hills. Yes, I started getting into it, getting into DJing later in my high school years, just taking over a few house parties for a slab of beer and $50. Then that's sort of where it all started really.

Adam: Yes, that's a pretty good way to get rolling. Do you remember your first paid DJ gig?

Ben: Yes, I think it might've been in year-- maybe I was about 16 or 17. There was a guy out there called Ricky C. He was DJing a lot of these sort of formals and 21st and afterparties. I sort of shadowed him for a few years and sort of learned some tricks of the trade. I think, yes, it would have been probably year 11 or 12, I would say.

Adam: Right. What year was that?

Ben: I'm 34 now. I'd say 2006, 2007.

Adam: Got it. Right. You've been at it for a while.

Ben: I have.

Adam: When did you move to the US?

Ben: I moved to the US in September 2022. I was originally planning to go right before the pandemic, but it obviously ended up pumping the brakes with that. Also, I think it worked out for the best because I think I was a little bit more prepared having those extra few years at home, sort of getting everything organized and ready. It ended up working out okay.

Adam: Absolutely. Roundabout, obviously, this has been a bit of a process for you. It's taken some time with that pandemic break, but how did you go when you eventually decided to make the move? How did you go about it? What did you do in terms of being able to find somewhere to live and getting a visa or knowing people? How'd you make it happen?

Ben: I first got an O-1 visa, which is a three-year visa, in 2017. I did a couple of small tours on and off for those two or three years that I had that. I would come out and do four or five shows over a three-week period and then go back. It wasn't really financially viable. I did one at the start of 2017 and then back again for New Year's Eve, right before the pandemic.

In 2019, I signed with a record label out there called Ultra Music. During that period, I also had an agent, which I was lucky enough, which my agent here in Australia had sort of connected me with and he sort of petitioned for me to get that visa. Then I guess when I moved, it was really all up in the air. I was lucky enough to move over with a friend of mine who had come back during the pandemic, but he'd lived there on and off for six or seven years. He had some rental history and credit rating, which made it a lot easier for us to get a property because I don't think I would have really been able to get on a lease without him. That was also very handy as well.

Adam: You said you toured the US in 2017?

Ben: Yes.

Adam: What did that tour look like? How far and wide did you go?

Ben: I believe the shows were San Diego, LA. There was Whistler and Montreal as well. I believe there was a fifth one, maybe San Francisco. It was my first experience of really touring properly overseas. I think after that first tour, I just really just set my sights on it. That was something that I really wanted to pursue.

Adam: Let's start with, just before we get to the community, because I think that's a really interesting part about this, but let's start with the period in which you're making the move and trying to choose where to live. How did you decide where you're going to live when you come to the US?

Ben: Michael, the guy I moved with, he'd spent a bit of time around West Hollywood. When I had gone out there previously, a lot of my friends were sort of in that area. I feel like it's quite a hot spot, especially for Australians when they first move. It's quite central, as in a lot of the studio sessions rather, sort of around that region or studio city. You can duck over through that Laurel Canyon and 20, sort of 30 minutes from Silver Lake, 30, 40 minutes to downtown. Then the same with Santa Monica and Venice, it just felt like the right spot at the time. Over being there for almost two years now, I've grown around, floated around a bit, and checked out some other areas, which I really enjoy as well.

Adam: Yes, it's a big city. There's a lot of places to check out. You land yourself in West Hollywood, you finally make it, you wait out the pandemic. Tell me, how do you go about connecting and getting into the community here? What sort of stuff are you doing to try and get in the mix?

Ben: I think the lucky thing for me was I'd been running a boutique label with a friend of mine, his name's Tom. He's a producer as well, called Load 99, and he's based in Sydney. We had been doing this for, probably up until today, about 10 years. The good thing about it is we were releasing a lot of music, not just from Australian artists, but artists over in America as well.

It felt like through that platform, my own music connections and just reaching out to people via the internet, I felt like when I moved over there, there was a lot of people that I'd connected with online that we hadn't met in real life. I guess the beauty of social media these days is you can see a lot about someone online and gauge what sort of person they are to some extent and can really connect like that. Just having that platform where you can help other people and release their music is really handy when you're building that community because you've got something to offer as well.

Adam: Back in, well, just before the pandemic, before, obviously, you waited that period out before you actually moved. Do you remember the feeling or the thought at that time where you said to yourself, "Yes, I'm going to do this, I'm going to move across to the US"?

Ben:  It was definitely a big move because I'd sold everything, pretty much everything I owned. I didn't have any big assets like a house or anything. I was renting. The car, all the furniture, appliances, and everything like that. I was quite the businessman on Facebook Marketplace for a couple of weeks leading up to the move, doing some deal in there, which was fun.

Initially, when I moved, my agent was like, "We've only got a handful of shows for you. If you do come out, we're going to make it a lot easier."

Adam: Australian DJs are obviously having a decent amount of success out here in the United States. If you look at, for example, the Coachella lineup this year, 100% of our artists were DJs, which is I don't think anything I've ever seen before. How would you describe the scene for Aussie DJs looking to make it to the US?

Ben: The great thing about America is it's just so big. I feel like there's just so much to share and there's so much success to share and go around. Just the State of California alone, there's probably more clubs there that you could play than the entire country of Oz. You've always got Los Angeles, which is so big with multiple clubs. You've got your San Diegos, you've got San Francisco, you've got some of those smaller towns like Santa Barbara. With Australia, you do have your capitals and some regional towns, but it feels like you can do a tour run and then you can't really-- you have to be taken out of market for quite a while. Otherwise, it's oversaturating. Within America, you can just continually keep playing all year round.

The beauty about Australians in dance music in America, I feel in terms of music, America is still growing in that aspect as in dance music is still really building over there. Within Australia, I feel like we have a slight advantage because I feel like it goes UK and then trends hit Australia quite soon after that. Then there's a little bit of a gap before it starts to flow into America. You do have a bit of a head start on the trends if you're tapped into the Australian market. It feels like you're not quite chasing a tail with what the next big thing is, because if you're Australian or from the UK, you're already in it before it hits that market in America.

Adam:  Let's just talk about a little bit your work as a record label. Are you looking creatively when you're signing or working with artists that you're releasing? Are you trying to pluck them out of Australia and get that new sound, or are you looking more for US domestic talent, or how's that going down?

Ben: It's a little bit of both. I feel, a majority of our artists definitely would be Australian. As far as signing artists to more of a longer-term deal, I feel a lot of those chats and signings have been Australians. We also just do one-off records, just singles with no other commitment from artists in America and overseas. I feel, yes, the more time and the bigger, longer projects, predominantly Australian-based artists, and then trying to grow that overseas for them.

Adam: Right. You're providing a pathway for Aussies to come into this market here in the US.

Ben: Yes.

Adam: Love it. Let's talk about you and collaboration because, obviously, the DJ world is as good as any in working together, collaborating, remixing, all of that. We're increasingly seeing it pop up with featured artists in other genres becoming the main. Let's talk about yours. You've worked with names like Dakota, Dom Dolla, Liza Cass. How do those collaborations come about, and how do they end up manifesting themselves creatively?

Ben: Everything happens through mutual friends, I feel. To me, Dom's obviously really exploded into the US market. He's one of the biggest DJs in the world now, but originally, he used to be my graphic designer about 10 years ago and he used to come and watch me play on Friday night to the nightclub called Tramp in Melbourne. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's on King Street.

Adam: Yes.

Ben: That's sort of how me and Dom's friendship started off. He now just lives down the street from me, about 500 meters, in LA. It's pretty funny how those two things have-- we weren't too far apart then and he's just down the road now. The others, those other collaborations, we had the likes of Liz that was through a mutual friend in America working at Ultra Publishing. Dakota, I went to Coachella a couple of years ago and sort of just met her there. We just happened to be staying at the same house, and that's how all those sort of things just started off, yes, through mutual friends really.

Adam: Just hanging out, just being around.

Ben: Hanging out, just straight up, just hanging out.

Adam:Old fashioned, yes. Obviously Dom has announced, what, is it two shows at the Historic State Park, AKA the Cornfield in LA?

Ben: Yes, I believe he just might've maybe sold them both out as well already.

Adam: Yes. For people listening who don't know, that is an unbelievable achievement because it is a huge piece of land with no stage, like building a festival for yourself. I also remember that Rufus really just catapulted themselves into the LA scene after doing the same thing themselves, virtually creating their own mini-festival, right? Do you see that kind of event as a gathering of the DJs for Aussie DJs here in LA or in the US?

Ben: the great thing about Dom, which him and his manager James are really good at, they're great at bringing up other people as well, especially Australians, and giving them opportunities on a bigger stage, which they might not necessarily get without him sort of flying that flag. Not just Aussies, but he does it for a lot of other people that are up and coming in America, like American-based DJs, but also other people, other artists from around the world who are trying to break into that market.

Dom's generally just fans of their music. He brings them along. He brings a lot of people along for the ride, and which is, it's great to see because it tends to be sometimes, in dance music or just in life in general, there's sometimes a few gatekeepers, and Dom's just the complete opposite of that, I've found.

Adam:  Do you see an era more of collaboration and welcomeness, for want of a better word, and less gatekeeping happening in the future of at least Australian dance music culture?

Ben: Yes. I feel like as things are growing, like collaborating and working with other people, you can really work and build off each other and helping each other, rather than competing for the same spot. That being said, in the US market, since I've been here, I've found that a lot of people are doing that.

A lot of artists are doing joint parties, whether it's Dom collaborating with another guy called John Summit to throw their own parties under a moniker called Everything Always. A lot of other big artists do a lot of back-to-back acts and cross over with each other's fan bases and sort of build off the back of each other. In the end, it gets them in front of more people, more faces, and different crowds in general.

Adam: For you so far, what have been the most exciting gigs that you've had out here in the US?

Ben: I've been lucky enough to play a few of the big clubs there in LA, like Sound Nightclub, Academy, Exchange. I think the biggest one for me was probably Lollapalooza last year, which was a really great experience. There's another festival called Lost Lands, which is out in Ohio. There's another festival called Bass Camp, which is over in Reno as well, in Nevada. I've played three or four times in San Francisco as well since I've moved, which seems to be a really big hub of dance music. All those cities, but I think, so far, Lollapalooza was definitely a really incredible experience.

Adam: What are your objectives for the rest of 2024 for the label, for you as a DJ, creatively, business-wise?

Ben: It's quite an exciting time for me. I'm just switching management, which I've been working with a friend of mine, Ben, for the last 10 years, pretty much my entire career. We've been the best of friends for this period. He was also managing another act called Peking Duk, which was a really big Australian act as well. Ben has recently just started working at Mushroom Music Group in Australia, which is super exciting for him. We've really been on this journey together for such a long time, and for him to get that opportunity is amazing.

That being said, working full-time for him now has sort of brought me to a crossroad where now I've just signed with a separate management company under a completely mutual departure from both of us, which doesn't always happen with these sort of things. For me, it's just an extremely exciting time to have some fresh ideas, just a different insight from other people around me, which is really great. That's just happened in the last few weeks.

Towards the rest of the year, I've got a collaboration coming out in a week or so with another Australian artist called What So Not, who does some really great shows all around the world, especially in America. Basically, at the moment, yes, just sort of rallying all the new music. I've got three or four singles coming out towards the end of this year. It feels like everything, even though it was a big change initially, and I was like, "Oh, this is going to be a bit of work," it's now really exciting.

I'm working with a longtime friend as well, Tom, who we actually run the label together. I was chatting with a few different management people in America, but I felt like I didn't really know someone that I didn't know them well enough. For me, I really need to have a personal relationship with a person. I actually caught up with Dom Dolla's manager to chat about it. He was like, "Why don't you work with Tom? Because you guys have worked together for 10 years, you know each other really well, you know he's good." Yes, that's how that all happened.

 it also brings us closer together because we're working on two really major things at the same time. It was just always in contact all the time. I can see that the label growing, we've got some new artists, which we're about to release their albums from. For me, I'm also been working on-- I always hate when someone says they're working on an album because then it puts the pressure on it. I've got enough music there for an album now, but it's just about sort of building that out. Maybe it's something because I do have it on a list of goals for 2025 for that to be on there. We might push it out a little bit later, but that's something that I'd really love to do one day.

Adam: Right, you're putting the finishing touches on it.

Ben: Yes, yes, exactly.

Adam: Love it. Great. In summary, your old manager and good friend Ben is now at Mushroom, and then Tom, your partner in Medium Rare Records, is now your manager out of Australia and you're holding things down in the United States in LA.

Ben: Yes, that's correct.

Adam: All right, that's the launching pad.  I know you haven't been out here that long and I know that you haven't-- yes, it was fairly recently, relatively speaking, that you made the decision to move. If you did go back to around the time that you started the move here, is there any advice that you'd give yourself a few years on?

Ben: I think a short time feels, when there's not a lot happening, it feels like an eternity when you're away from home and family, but things really do start to happen if you really just focus and give it a go. I think it's about managing your expectations as well. I thought if I could just try and-- I thought in the first 12 months, I'd lose money, and then in that next 12 months, start to break even, and then it'd be like a two to three-year plan. The only thing I would change is just really managing your expectations and also not comparing yourself to other people who might've been over there for a bit longer than you because you all started at the same spot.

Adam: You're in a pretty good spot right now. Thank you very much for joining us today. Absolutely love this community approach with all these Aussie DJs and DJs from around the world working together. It's such a lovely undercurrent for a music industry that is often so harsh. Really appreciate your story and think you're going to have a wonderful future coming up, Benson.

Ben: Thanks so much for having me on as well. I really appreciate it.

Adam: Yes, good on you. Thank you. This has been The Cockatoo interview. We're the Australian Music Alliance and The Cockatoo is our newsletter where we keep you updated on what's happening with Aussies in the United States. We're all under the Pitchkiker Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, supported in any way you support nonprofits, including in particular, looking at what we do online, sharing it with your friends and family. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll catch you on the next edition.