Loving the spotlight-The Citizen Newspaper

Bruce Dennill catches busy local singer and songwriter Dean Meldau during a quiet moment.
Many South African musicians seem to land up with a career as a happy accident, the result of a part-time hobby that snowballed into something sustainable.
For Dean Meldau, though, such things as chance and circumstance are unacceptable details. His approach involves precise planning, heavy networking and a commitment matched only by his slightly overwhelming ambition.
GROUNDWORK COMPLETED
At the age of 24, Meldau has already spent two years studying music overseas, at The Musician..s Institute in Los Angeles. The Institute..s alumni include artists such as Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) and Keb Mo.
While there, Meldau appeared in music videos for Vanessa Carlton and Marc Anthony, as well as an extra in the film The Matchstick Men, which starred Nicolas Cage.
Arriving back on home soil, he hooked up with Barry Dean of Liquid Grooves (TK, Marc Beling) to kickstart his marketing drive, and then started up his own company, Vegastar Records, to sort out distribution. Clearly, the man has a plan.
In person, Meldau has the effect of making you check for inconspicuous cameramen. This is because his image as a pop star extends to his meeting-for-coffee persona .. the clothes are carefully chosen, and the hair, though far longer than in his album publicity pictures, is tousled in a way that suggests hard work rather than laziness.
For all that image awareness, though, Meldau is a very down-to-earth, enthusiastic guy. When asked to reference his sound, he resists answering in thesis form .. a sure sign of arrogance .. preferring instead a simple: ..It..s kind of James Blunt-ish...
He..s right there, and even has a single called Beautiful to further support the comparison. He doesn..t have Blunt..s overworked angst, though, preferring a more positive worldview.
TOUCH OF HUMILITY
That attitude includes a refreshing approach to the issue of competition in what is a relatively small industry in this country. Where so many artists and groups embrace a strategy of promoting and developing their own situations exclusively, Meldau sees more benefit in combining forces with other acts.
..In a practical sense, it is .. to me, anyway .. a huge advantage,.. he says. ..Playing live in Johannesburg so often involves an arrangement with venues whereby they will provide the space if you can bring a crowd.
..And if you can plan properly with other artists so that the audiences numbers can double, but also enjoy the other music being played, then everybody wins...
Meldau doesn..t touch on the angles of who would be the headline act and who would play a supporting role, and you sense it..s not really important to him, as long as he gets his songs heard and sees people enjoying the music he..s created.
The man is something of an anomaly .. trained in an environment that has spawned great successes (the title for his debut album, h.i., stands for Hollywood Inspiration) and yet willing to sacrifice potential prestige for the sake of develo-ping the talent of those around him.
Cynicism says that this approach will yield one of two results: success, and a sound reputation to go with it, or abuse of his generosity, and a disillusioned shell of a (well-groomed) man reduced to busking at Park Station to buy bread.
The aforementioned ambition should ensure that Maldau ends up somewhere in the first area, even if the specifics of his dream require some tweaking.
And, if the worst should happen, he..s certainly nailed down all the details regarding providing the platform for a pop career.
He could offer comprehensive preparation for wannabe Idols competitors, advising them on every aspect of the changes needed to take them from nowhere to, at least, the cusp of success.

This story was last updated
10/27/2006 3:05:11 PM
Printed from www.citizen.co.za
at 10/28/2006 12:04:54 PM