Man in the Mirror: Kurt Bailey on Ric Rufio, starting a label and why friendship is magic

Kurt Bailey is the director of management company Mirror Music Group, which last month announced a new label offshoot, Mirror Records. Having had serious success – and gained crucial experience – as the longtime manager of Sydney favourites Gang Of Youths and then 2016’s breakout stars Middle Kids, Bailey dove headfirst into being a label boss last year almost by default. TMN spoke exclusively to Bailey from New York about latest signing Ric Rufio, mixing best mates with business, and going global.

Bailey has been based in Williamsburg for about 18 months now, and says that while packing New York and Sydney work hours into the same day (“On a good day, I get to sleep at 1am, but most days it’s emails and calls ’til three”), it’s worth it. The experience of working in the US has helped him build experience, contacts and a knowledge base within the industry there, but it also helps him keep “a global perspective”. The “build an audience in Australia first, then go overseas” approach makes no sense any more, he says, if it ever did.

Gang of Youths have already relocated to London, partially due to visa issues but also to put in one or two years in a vital market; Middle Kids might relocate to the US this year, as they’ll be spending a good deal of time there anyway.

“I think it’s important for a band early on in their career like Middle Kids, to realise if they want to make something of this, they have to really commit a lot of time in the other markets. That is the only way that I found that you do build the other markets is by committing the time there, and investing.”

And it’s hard to argue that having that international focus from the get-go hasn’t paid off – Middle Kids played live on Conan O’Brien last month, and were handpicked by Ryan Adams to support them on his upcoming Australian tour. GOY, meanwhile, have sold out all three of the London dates on their upcoming UK/European tour.

Early on, Bailey moved from playing in bands to interning in A&R at major labels, which put a new spin on his long term goals. “I dabbled in [the label world] a little bit a few years ago with trying to do a few things, but I just didn’t have the experience, networks, or even confidence to feel like I could achieve what I wanted for the acts.”

After a couple of years of steering Gang Of Youths through a spectacular yet sustainable ascent, however, he began to feel like all those things were falling into place. Then last year, adding Middle Kids to the Mirror stable turned out to be the catalyst the label needed.

“I was managing them, and we weren’t sure how we were going to put out the first two singles, and so that’s why I was like, ‘Let me do this as a label’, and that’s what we did. I serviced our digital platforms myself internationally, like Spotify and Apple. Work those areas, put in their radio team, put in their publicist. That all kind of happened before we ended up doing label deals, and it went really well. Then that’s when we got some really decent offers from some of the mainstream labels, so it made sense to shift it into those label teams.”

While Mirror Management and Mirror Records are separate companies, Bailey and Stephen Goodhew – the former FBi Radio music director will be heading up A&R as well as being the “boots on the ground” in Australia – are intentionally building a one-stop shop for their artists, with a philosophy of keeping it transparent and artist-focused.

“We’re operating still very DIY and indie and I’m inclined to kind of keep it that for awhile. We’ve had some discussions about partnering with other people here and there, but we kind of want to keep everything quite in-house and back ourselves, and back our artists as much as we can with our own resources. That’s the way I plan to operate. Coming from the artist background as well has given me more passion and drive just to make sure that the things I do, always with integrity and very artist friendly. Whether that’s from the management side or whether that’s from the label side, that’s a big goal and ambition for both companies.”

One of the things that’s shaped that goal is the growth of Bailey’s management career alongside that of Gang Of Youths, who have been known to refer to Bailey as the “sixth member” of the close-knit group. “The love that they all have for each other is so amazing,” he says. “I think because they’ve all kind of grown up together, and I guess that’s what we share too… We’ve been through so much together.”

Crucially, Bailey says they have clearly enforced boundaries between the management relationship and their friendship. “When it’s come to business we put our business hats on, and sometimes when we do have to be harsh with each other we are, but everyone knows that it’s because we’ve got that hat on. “

That degree of intimacy, Bailey admits, is not something that’s going to be feasible or sustainable for every Mirror artist – but the relationship he has with Gangs has made personal connection and a sense of trust a crucial consideration as he and Goodhew build their roster. “That’s something that I hadn’t realised, a lot of the bands and artists that I work with, it’s been a real organic kind of thing because I’ve known them for quite a long time, and then it’s just naturally turned in to us working together, which I think is really cool.”

This is what’s happened with their latest signing – Ric Rufio will be officially revealed tomorrow as the newest Mirror artist, joining Middle Kids, garage-pop outfit Sloan Peterson and a couple more still-in-the-works artists on the fledgling label. A fixture in the Sydney scene for some time as a backup and session vocalist, he’s worked with a genuinely broad range of artists: Daniel Johns, Kirin J Callinan, Adele. As you do.

“He just wanted to step out and start doing his own thing, and he sent me these songs a while back, and I really loved them, and became quite passionate about them,” says Bailey. “So we got him in some more producers, some more writers, and we’ve put together an EP, which I think is pretty special and he’s very happy with it.

Richard Kingsmill premiered the first single from the Rewind EP, So Wonderful, on 2017 last night, and it’s a clear indication that Mirror isn’t just about guitar bands; Bailey describes Rufio’s sound as “somewhere between Childish Gambino and James Blake”, but So Wonderful has a texture and gonzo groove that recalls Jonti and The Avalanches. It’s radio-friendly without sounding like a pop song: built around slick R&B vocals and a loping beat, it bristles with textured samples and blips, and plays its smitten earnestness against an uneasy vulnerability.

“It wasn’t something that I kind of scout for or have my ear out for,” admits Bailey. It was just something that emerged out of an existing relationship – already a recurring theme in the short history of the label. His long-standing friendship with Goodhew, who he says has been an invaluable sounding board for years, means that they’re going in with a firm idea of what they want to build.

“I don’t want Mirror to stick to a certain style or genre. I just want to work with really great artists that are committed and making good music, and are in it for the long haul. Stevie’s the same. When he came on, and when I offered him this role, he asked me. He’s like, what are you looking for? Then he told me, this is what I want, and we both connected on that… It just kind of felt very natural again.”

In case it wasn’t clear yet, Bailey believes that gathering the right people around him early on, personally and professionally, and making a habit of investing in the people he values has been the crucial factor in putting him in the right place to start a label that will support artists in the right way.

“As much as a manager I invest in my artists, I want to invest in really good people that want to work in music too. I still do have a lot of good people around me like Todd Wagstaff and John Watson who have been my absolute mentors, and they’ve guided me in so many ways and have been so generous with time and conversations and advice, that I just want to make sure that I’m always giving back as much as people like that have given to me.

To hear Bailey describe the evolution of Mirror so far, it sounds like he’s had a certain amount of ease and good luck – but he’s not planning on getting complacent. “I guess there’s always going to be stuff that I feel like I could do better. I kind of lack that mentality as well, because I never want to feel like that I’ve got this under control. That’s what keeps me going and wakes me up at night, and in the morning. It keeps me up until 3am, it’s because I want to keep getting better.

“I just hit a point where I was quite excited to branch out on my own, and try to build my own team around my artists. That’s what I’m really determined and prepared to do for the next, oh, I guess as long as I can.”