THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020
community
THE CHRONICLE — 3
SPOTLIGHT
The Minors band crashes
bar for retirement sendoff
BY RON HARTMAN
THE CHRONICLE
CR ESW ELL — The
Minors were the perfect band
for this party.
The Round-Up Saloon
hosted a combo retirement/
birthday bash Saturday
night, Jan. 4, to celebrate
the 25-year career of Chris
Joyce, one of Cottage Grove’s
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Joyce obviously enjoyed
the young band from Pleasant
Hill, as anybody who was
watching the dance floor
could attest. But as a long-
time youth mentor through-
out his career, Joyce would
surely lead a round of cheers
for the maturity of The
Minors.
As they finished play-
ing Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple
Haze” — a term that most
commonly refers to taking
acid — guitar player Jim
Pray pointed to the crowd
and yelled, “We don’t do
drugs!”
“I’ve seen too many bands
get wasted,” Pray said. “None
of us do drugs. What we play
comes from the heart.”
Pray is 22 and his brother,
Jake, the drummer, is just 19.
Bass player Caleb Selander
is 20. They’ve been together
for four years, and call them-
selves The Minors because
none of them could legally
enter a bar when the band
was formed.
“I got a drum set in the
third grade because Jim
needed somebody to play
with,” Jake said. “I had the
same drum set until last
summer. I grew up just teach-
ing myself how to play with
him.”
Selander got to know the
Pray brothers as they all
played in the jazz band at
Pleasant Hill High School.
Selander said he took jazz
class seriously from the
get-go, but it took Jim awhile
to really latch on.
“ I d i d n’t t a k e i t
super-serious at first, but
then when I went to Lane
(Community College), I
started studying it more and
it opened my eyes to a lot of
Bassist Caleb Selander of Pleasant Hill jams with
the band during Saturday’s retirement party at the
Round-Up Saloon.
different things,” Jim said. “I
think jazz is the intellectual
music. It unlocks the capabil-
ity to play other genres.”
The band plays a wide
variety of genres, thanks to
the trio’s wide range of musi-
cal taste. Jim is a big fan of
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Brad
Paisley, while his main guitar
heroes are Eric Johnson and
Joe Satriani. Jake is more
of an outlaw country fan,
and likes Cody Jinks, Tyler
Childers and Red Shahan.
Caleb prefers 90s rock and
alternative; his go-to bands
are Green Day, Nirvana and
the Pixies. They also threw in
a nice mix of guitar-friendly
hits by Dire Straits, Stevie
Ray Vaughan and B.B. King
to spice things up.
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country was not my style, but
after a while there’s some
Brad Paisley that I like quite
a bit now,” Caleb said.
Jim has worked with
several other bands, includ-
ing playing lead for the
up -a nd- com ing Trevor
Tagle. He’s done booking and
managing, because he wants
to learn all the ropes of the
music business.
His brother, Jake, wants to
become an athletic trainer.
(Jake and Jim both wrestled
throughout high school.) He
plans to major in exercise
and sports science, and if all
goes well, get a job at Oregon
State.
Caleb has an even more
impor ta nt m ission. “I
want to be the pastor at my
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“I’m involved in my worship
team. We’ll see how it plays
out. I believe it’s my calling.”
Jim Pray is hosting a free
acoustic show this Friday,
Jan. 10, at 5 p.m. at the
Emerald Valley Golf Club.
He’ll be playing along with
special guests Mckayla
Marie and Isaac Barrager.
Lead guitarist Jim Pray, who founded The Minors with his brother, Jake, while
in their teens, leads the band through a rollicking set this past Saturday. The
Pleasant Hill native is now 22, and The Minors are major players in the local
music scene. NOEL NASH/THE CHRONICLE
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