Long before the show’s “Singing Family” appeared on television, we already had our own rock family duo. Father and daughter – Johnny Salamander and Meldra. On Thursday, May 19, at the VEF Culture Palace, they celebrated the 18th anniversary of the beginning of their joint music making.
Meeting with both musicians in one of the pubs in the quiet center of Riga, it quickly becomes clear that neither the passage of time nor the fact that Meldra has been living and working abroad for a long time has changed the most significant thing for both – they are like a glove hand and pot with lid »and still have a strong shoulder that supports each other.
As far back as I can remember, she never names Meldra Johnny, but only as a father, while Mr. Salamander himself (he is also Janis Gūza) fondly calls her daughter Meldruk or Meldruca (when it comes to her childhood).
Although we are in the pub, I feel like I have not come to the interview, but to the family celebrations – here is also Johnny’s wife Dacele, Meldra’s husband Jonathan and the two-year-old boy Ronnie. But what a wonder about everyone wanting to be together, if Meldra came to Latvia from Great Britain for the first time since 2019 due to the problems related to Covid-19.
The first games
The two first took the stage together when Meldra was 16 and Johnny was 36. However, it is quite difficult to define the exact moment when the father and daughter’s musical cooperation began, even when the two put their minds together. Was it when Meldra took to the stage to play the guitar in one song at the presentation of his album “Johnny Salamander”? When Johnny helped her out as a young singer and guitarist? Such a specific moment is really important only for the worms of encyclopedias and lovers of statistics, so we give peace of mind to the discussion. If once 18 years on stage together, then 18 they are too!
Everyone who is somehow interested in Latvian rock music, of course, knows Johnny Salamander – a real “old school” rock guitarist, who, unlike many of his brothers, quickly started a family and, taking responsibility, did not give in to uncontrollable bohemianism. Asked if he had inspired Meldra to play, Johnny said no. But the music was played very often at home, and that made an impression.
“Meldra, who was about 14 at the time, was interested in music herself. We lived on Antonijas Street, and across the street was my group’s rehearsal room, which also had a guitar. When Meldra thought he wanted to learn to play, I just gave him the keys and said – go, plug in your guitar, play it, understand how you feel. And she thought very quickly that she was really interested, “says Johnny. Further learning to play the guitar until he left for Great Britain continued through self-study and home-study. “Dad, of course, was my main mentor and teacher,” says Meldra. Even before forming her group, she performed at the young artists’ show in Saldus. “I didn’t learn much at that time, but a month later I had to go on stage. But nothing, I learned, »laughs Meldra. Johnny was, as he puts it, a “background bass player” at the time, with the help of his drummer. “The start was very exciting, romantic and cool. And I was very happy that Meldra started to perform more and more, “joins Johnny. Meldra started playing guitar when he was in eighth grade, but he formed his band in tenth grade.
Special year 2004
However, the year 2004 is considered to be the dividing line that marked the 18th anniversary of creative cooperation this year. What makes it special? Eurovision fans will answer this question without hesitation – it was the year when Johnny Salamander and Meldra won second place in the national selection with the song “We Share The Sun” without going to the European Song Wars. It is felt that Johnny’s pain still hurts, but Meldra is in his element, emphasizing that “there is no need for any negation” and only good thoughts.
“It simply came to our notice then. For me – the group “Meldra”, but for my father – “Johnny Salamander”. We decided that we needed to take part in a song contest, but before that we went on a tour of Latvia, »Meldra recalls. At that time, she was studying in the 10th grade of the French Lyceum in Riga, and it is logical to ask whether the music did not negatively affect her studies or whether her father did not have to write any signs that the child was ill or anything else. “No, no,” both laugh. “I went to school very diligently, but good time management is part of the success,” says Meldra, who studied during the day and went to another rehearsal or concert in the evenings. Since then, the two’s joint performances have become more frequent, and it seems to me that the logical result was the overthrow of the band Meldra, as their young musicians were unable to compete with the “salamanders” who ate a few puffs of rock rock.
It is a great blessing to perform on one of the stage boards with your child – this is what Johnny told a lady who addressed her on the street shortly after the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, and the musician absolutely agrees. On stage, they don’t even understand half a word, but no words at all. “It’s like telepathy,” adds Meldra. “Meldra is always able to shake me,” says Johnny, not hiding that during a pandemic, when he stopped, he sometimes felt hopeless and lost his joy. “It’s terrible – the feeling that you wake up and know that in a week everything will be the same and you won’t be able to do anything. And then suddenly one call and an offer from Meldra, and I’m on horseback again, “he says.
Meldra abroad
Since 2006, Meldra has been predominantly abroad, initially studying in the UK and the US and then working as a session musician in the UK (performing at Wembley Stadium with Sir Rod Stewart) and starting his own music business. .
I ask how Meldra is currently positioning himself – as composers, singers, songwriters? “Well, get big now,” Johnny urges. “I probably already consider myself a songwriter and the head of a production company. I give lectures on songwriting and the music business at a UK university. He writes songs for Japan with his publisher in Denmark and has his own production company in Birmingham with his beloved husband, Jonathan. Every now and then I do the work of a session musician. I do not have much desire to run through various events, it is better to write, record, run a business. I work with young artists. ” Johnny, although not a young artist, recorded it in the studio. “But sometimes it happens that when he arrives, we are all overwhelmed with fun and being together. It should be planned better, because Dad has a lot of fantastic material that should be recorded, ”says Meldra wisely.
As an optimist, she does not complain that during the pandemic, “everything was shut down”, saying that modern technology allows music to be recorded remotely, but personal contact is also very important for creative people.
But how has the industry changed as a result of these modern technologies and social communication tools? “In the past, a huge marketing department and maybe financiers thought about how to put an artist on the right platform so that the light on them shines beautifully. But now artists need to learn more and be able to position themselves. The music still speaks for itself, but it is important for the artist to know what to do with the music, ”says Meldra. However, it also offers more opportunities, because several decades ago it was not possible to reach the audience at all without the financial support of record companies.
Remote attempts
We have to come back to the topic of pandemics over and over again during the conversation. Meldra arrived in Latvia in April this year for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. During the rupture of Covid-19, she bought six or seven plane tickets to Riga, but the trip had always had to be canceled due to current restrictions. Johnny and Dacele are lucky in this respect, because a couple of times they managed to get out to the British land to visit their daughter, but last time they also got to know their grandson, who is called Ronchik in Latvian. Throughout the interview, Roncik is restlessly seeing that his mother is next door, but he can’t be on her lap. From time to time, he begins to whisk vigorously on the table with one of his toys, demanding attention. “It looks like the drummer is growing,” I say, which Meldra laughs heartily at. “But yesterday he jerked the string of my acoustic guitar and listened with interest to the vibration of the guitar,” adds Johnny.
Apart from very recent compositions, all the songs are already well known to both. But which is the favorite? “Now I have to say ‘Let it rain’?” Meldra asks. This song has really become a symbol of making music together, and Johnny remembers that at the summer festivals, in this way, they sometimes really called something that the musicians who had to step on the stage later were not happy at all. Meldra also speaks with special enthusiasm about “Black Guest” and “As the Wind” from his father’s repertoire. Of Meldra’s songs, “Music”, “For Them” and “Open Your Eyes” go to the heart.
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