For three hours every Saturday morning across Australia, Recovery tapped into the music culture of the country. Last Sunday the original cast and crew reunited for a few memories and a few more beverages.
The Recovery reunion was organised by co-host Jane Gazzo who gathered up presenter Dylan Lewis and film reviewer Leigh Whannell as well as the shows creator’s Paul Clarke and Bruce Kane.
Recovery began on ABC in April 1996. It recently quietly passed its 20th anniversary.
Recovery fell foul of ABC budget cuts and was cancelled in 2000. Its demise has also left a hole in Australian television that has never been filled.
After Recovery went off the air commercial television failed to commit to a real music show, instead opting for either clip shows or Barbie doll presenters. Recovery’s appeal was in the devil-may-care format hosted by people who looked like the audience. Music was programmed by what the audience was going to see, not what Top 40 charts suggested they were buying and Australian artists were given a priority to appear.
As such the show became the place to be on Saturday morning for visiting and local rock stars. Metallica were treated the same as Tumbleweed. There was no extra production for a global act and Metallica performed to exactly the same back-drop (live on a Saturday morning) as any other act.
The principal hosts of the show have all gone on to big things, especially Leigh Whannell who created the ‘Saw’ horror movie series. He was Recovery’s film reviewer.
Jane Gazzo kept up TV appearances after the show ended. She first moved to London working for Capital FM then the BBC. She even worked with Courtney Love for a bit before returning to Australia to join Channel V then Max and is now working at Triple M Melbourne.
Dylan Lewis hosted a Recovery spin-off ‘The 10:30 Slot’ in 1999 and 2000 on the ABC before taking over Pepsi Live. Lewis also played an extra in Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones’. He now works on radio for Nova.
The Recovery reunion had many in the room posing the question “will the show return?” The answer is “not yet” but there will be a Best of DVD for Christmas.
Meanwhile flip over to YouTube and do a search for Recovery. You will find many gems such as this bizarre interview by Dylan with a sleepy Rivers Cuomo.
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
Noise11.com
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Never miss a story! Get your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to the Noise11 Music Newsletter here
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
