Melvin James
Melvin James is best known for his solo work as an MCA recording artist in the mid-80’s. In the early 80’s he co-founded the Crash Street Kids, a Minneapolis-based band signed by Fat City Records. In the 1990s and early 2000s he was the frontman for the power trio Planet Melvin, releasing two albums on Junior’s Motel Records.
Melvin Douglas Veach was born on November 11th 1958 in Des Moines, Iowa. In his early years Melvin developed a strong work ethic by tending his bricklayer father and sweeping up sawdust and fish heads at Veach’s Eastside Fish Market, which was owned by his grandfather. Melvin’s father bought him his first guitar. Mel took ‘maybe a handful of guitar lessons’ before discovering he could teach himself using guitar chord books of popular songs. He recalls the first chord book he bought was for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album. From there Melvin immersed himself in the work of 60’s and 70’s guitar gods—Blackmore, Page, Hendrix, Winters, et cetera. Melvin formed his first band, Last Road to Destiny, with his elementary school classmates.
At age fourteen, Melvin camped out at the Iowa State Fair, living on a dollar a day and spending his time at the fairground’s band shell. It is there that he met the members of Dakota, a Fort Dodge-based glam rock band, and convinced them to let him sit in with them on their final number, Smoke on the Water; Melvin played guitar with the mic stand and his teeth. The crowd went wild and demanded more. The emcee, Bill Riley, said no. A riot ensued, driving Mr. Riley from the stage. Sometime later Melvin ran into Dakota’s sound man at Des Moines Music and got an invitation to Dakota’s gig at Uncle Sam’s. The band invited James to come up to Fort Dodge and go on the road with them. James, being 15 years old at the time, hitchhiked 90 miles to Fort Dodge to board the band’s bus and hit the road with them, being paid for his effort in bus tickets home. During this time Melvin borrowed one of the band members’ cars and got in an auto accident that left him in a coma for two weeks. During the following two months, Melvin was unable to attend school, recuperating at his grandparents’ house in Des Moines. He whiled away the hours by playing his guitar and listening to albums his friends in Dakota gave him—Mott the Hoople, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs, the Stones’ It’s Only Rock and Roll, T-Rex, Queen, et cetera. This experience expanded his influences from heavy guitar-hero music to include glam rock and laid the groundwork for his future style.
Frank Wiewel, Dakota’s bassist and co-owner of Westminster Recording Studio in Otho had introduced James to his business partner in the studio, Kirk Kaufman. Kaufman, aware of Melvin’s talent and songwriting abilities, took James under his wing, setting him up in an apartment in nearby Fort Dodge. James now had ready access to studio time—midnight to 8:00 AM—and under Kaufman’s tutelage learned how to work in a recording studio and use it to bring his ideas to fruition. He spent about 18 months at Otho and by the end of his time there had recorded numerous tracks and received interest from Warner Brothers executive Doug Lee, who suggested James assemble a band and get some live performance experience. Shortly thereafter, James returned to Des Moines.
In 1979 20-year-old James, with baby son Melvin in tow, headed north to the Twin Cities to pursue musical opportunities. He stayed with Dakota’s former sound man Tom Kelly, residing in a windowless attic above Tom’s apartment in Saint Paul. Tom introduced Melvin to bassist Gary Snow after Melvin had seen Gary perform with his band Soda. Melvin and Gary recruited Randall Procowitz and formed a power trio named the Crash Street Kids. In 1981 they released the album Little Girls. In support of the album, they produced a video for the song Mystery Girl; the video’s director was Chuck Statler, who had directed videos for Devo. A review of Little Girls in Playboy Magazine described the band’s sound as reminiscent of The Who, The Yardbirds, and The Raspberries. While touring in support of Little Girls, the band were in a serious automobile accident outside of Brookings, South Dakota. Procowitz broke his collarbone, Snow sustained shoulder injuries, and James escaped with minor injuries. They shared a flight home on a single-engine four-seater plane. The injuries left Crash Street Kids unable to play indefinitely.
Eventually, James decided forge ahead alone, returning to his studio roots. Working in Otho with Keith Brown and Frank Wiewel, James recorded and co-produced new songs he was writing. Their first three song demo attained interest from Atlantic Records. James recorded more songs, attracting interest from Geffen Records, culminating in a showcase in Minneapolis. In the meantime MCA Records, Warner Brothers Records, and EMI Records became interested in James. The record labels one by one came to Minneapolis to see James perform. Shortly thereafter a bidding war ensued. James chose to sign with Michael Rosenblatt of MCA Records, who had signed Madonna and the B-52’s.
For his MCA debut James teamed up with Bill Szymczyk (The Who, Eagles Hotel California, Joe Walsh, the James Game, et cetera) to co-produce The Passenger, which was released in 1987. The album’s single Why Won’t You Stay reached top 20 chart status and its video was in in high rotation on MTV. Why Won’t You Stay charted in the top ten in Miami, Chicago, Denver, and Minneapolis. Two other singles—Loving You is Strange and Twisted—had videos made for them. After his A&R representative Michael Rosenblatt and label president Irving Azoff left MCA, James was encouraged to follow Rosenblatt to Geffen. Geffen gave James a budget to cut new demos at Paisley Park but subsequently passed on signing him.
James took a year or so off from the music business. After this hiatus he returned to writing songs and formed the band Planet Melvin with his son Melvin on drums and Iris O’Shea on bass, releasing a self-titled debut album. Their second record, entitled Chromosomes in Space, was released on Kirk Kaufman’s Junior’s Motel Records. James teamed up with former Warner Brothers promotion man Steve Fingerett to propel the album’s single, Havin’ Fun, onto the charts in markets in the upper five state region; alas, significant record sales did not materialize. A movie director making a movie for Paramount Pictures was driving through Iowa and heard the song Havin’ Fun on the radio, which led him to contact the radio station with the object of using the song in the movie’s soundtrack. The song was ultimately used in a number of movies, including Without a Paddle (Paramount), She’s the Man (DreamWorks), Sleepover (MGM), The Bye Bye Man (STX Entertainment), and others.
Melvin now produces other artists. He and his wife Anne own St. Paul-based recording studio Melville Sound and Creative. He was musical director for a Peter Townshend-endorsed production of Quadrophenia Live at the Grove in Los Angeles. In 2018 he collaborated with Paris-based artist and filmmaker Oyoram, co-scoring the project Mental Banquet, which was projected on the facade of the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines. Melvin would like to thank his wife Anne and their children Melvin III, Sophie, Sam, and Leo for their love and support.