D
an Nebe knows all too well what it’s like to struggle with the harsh realities of life. He makes no secret of his past battles with addiction, trauma and mental illness, but finds a way to integrate them with the biggest passion in his life, music. It’s through music that Dan has also created an outlet for others experiencing mental health struggles and those living with a disability. What initially started as a way of making an income at the peak of Covid-19, has become a fully-fledged and increasingly popular mentoring business. In the space of two years, Musicare has grown to boast six studios in the Moreton Bay Region with a team of 12 looking after 100 clients. When it comes to music, there’s no denying Dan knows a thing or ten about the industry. His foray into the world of music stems back to his teens where he played in bands before taking a leap into production. Now he wears many hats from music video director, journalist and song writer to performer and also business owner. After chatting with a friend who was working with people impacted by disability about the lacklustre music programs on offer, Dan thought about how he could help make a difference. “Because I come from the music industry and have done all my life, I thought with my experience and knowledge I could combine everything that I do,” Dan says. “But it was really crazy how it all started. I was working with the Hoodoo Gurus, I had just finished touring with Robert Cray, I had some pretty big bands as a tour manager and then Covid hit, the industry died and I had to think outside the box. “I took on one client on a Wednesday for three hours for some income and that just grew over a period of a month or two to half a dozen and that was just through word-of-mouth. “So I decided I was going to do this through Covid, it was going to keep me going and keep me sane as well. So what I did was basically contact a few agencies and say here I am, doing these programs and it grew from there. That’s all without any funding or grants or anything, we just did it organically.” With two studios based in Caboolture, one in Woody Point and three in Clontarf, combined with satellite studios, drumming and guitar specialists and a vocal coach, Musicare has all the necessary tools to look after everyone between the ages of four and 65 who come through their doors. Dan is blown away but how quickly the business has achieved success and attributes it to the team he has on board. “It still feels surreal to me at the moment and it’s growing every week,” he says. “We sort of created our own industry, it was untested, it had never been done before and we just went ahead and did it. And when I say we, I mean my team. “When I started to expand, I grew to one assistant and started headhunting the right people because I knew we were going to grow and I wanted to make sure I had the right people with me working with the same mindset and the same empathy towards other people. “The ethics and morals with this is probably why it’s succeeded so much because we’re not here to make money. I was working in a bedroom for about a year and now we’re in a warehouse. It’s really groovy and quite surreal.” Given the nature of what Musicare does, how does Dan feel knowing he’s making a difference to others in the community? “We work with quite an array of people with various diagnoses,” Dan says. “The mental health side of things is probably what gives me the biggest buzz because I’ve come from having mental health issues/ trauma issues/drug addiction issues, so I’ve kind of been where a lot of these people have been. “To me it’s kind of my payback time because a lot of people helped me in many ways and I just found that music was the way I got my stuff together. Music has the most amazing healing values. It makes me really super happy to see my clients moving forward in a way they never have before.” With his life revolving heavily around the music industry, Dan has drawn inspiration from the likes of Dave Faulkner of the Hoodoo Gurus who calls a “great mentor, friend and boss”. But he openly admits his biggest inspiration is his clients. “They’re the ones that really make you think about things like your own issues,” Dan says. “My issues are miniscule or irrelevant compared to what they’re dealing with in their lives, however they just deal with it and get on with things regardless and that really inspires me.”
As a true Aussie boy at heart, Dan grew up listening to the likes of AC/DC and The Angels but now has a more eclectic taste in music including rock, techno, contemporary and new industrial metal. He also plays in and writes for his own band Team Utopia. “The latest song is called Addiction which I wrote about my own addiction and how I’m not going back to that,” Dan says. “When I write songs it’s about releasing some internal things, so instead of making up a story and writing a poem or a song or whatever, to me it’s something that’s a life experience. “Music has so many healing properties and when I write about things I release the energy. I think many artists would be the same. Once you release that and you’ve got that out, whether it be dance, acting, painting, theatre or music, it’s all art, it doesn’t matter. So it’s not hard to write about, it’s being honest with yourself and letting stuff go. A typical client session with Musicare is based on their musical ability and how they want things to play out. “Our mentors are all performing artists, they’re all in bands or used to being in front of big crowds whether that be Team Utopia, Shepherd or Salt n Steel,” Dan says. “They know how to handle a big crowd, they know how to write really cool songs and music videos. “So when a client comes to us for a one-on-one session whether it be one hour or two hours, we basically work out their musical ability and if it’s zero to 10 or whatever, we pick up the slack. So even if they want to sing karaoke that’s okay. “All of our instruments and everything is state of the art broadcasting so we can make music videos with them, we can record with them, we can just jam with them. We have some clients that want to just talk music with us, every client is different. We have what I like to call a musical theme park.” For further information please visit teammusicare.com or the Team Musicare Facebook page.