You who are about to rock, we salute you. For the second year in a row, Chanhassen Parks and Recreation is showcasing youth musicians from Chanhassen, Chaska, Victoria, Carver and Minnetonka. Ten bands representing students from Chaska High School, Holy Family Catholic High School, Minnetonka High School and Southwest Christian High School are slated to rock the roof off the Chanhassen Recreation Center, Friday, April 17. The winning band wins an invitation to be the opening band for Chanhassen’s annual July 4 city dance on July 3, and to perform at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair on the Music Mayhem stage. Last year’s Chan Jam featured eight bands and drew 300 fans. Karmal won last year’s Chan Jam. This year, Chan resident and KDWB morning show host Dan Ryan lends his star power as MC for the evening. Elder Son, formerly known as Delirium won runner-up last year. It will compete again this year. Dan Pries, Elder Son’s singer and guitarist attends Chaska High; he   plays guitar and sings; his band mates are Quinn Wrenholt, lead guitar; Alex Athmann, drums; and Sam Rival, bass. “The band’s been together for four years,” Dan said. “We met through hockey. We play all originals and we’ll play covers for fun. We play a lot around town and downtown Minneapolis, like the Varsity Theater, the Terminal Bar. Our sound is a mix of old school rock, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Metallica, but updated. We usually practice at Quinn’s house in Chanhassen. We just came out with a 5-song EP and one of our songs is on a compilation on iTunes.”
   Q: How were the winning bands determined?
   A: We played three of our original songs. It is all subjective at these battle of the bands, but audience vote seems to work best because it is a real music industry indicator. It’s a bring as many people as you can and do your best type thing.
 Q: Any local bands you’d like your band to be like?
   A: As far as Minneapolis bands go, Black Days Down is a good one, as well as Gingerjake, Third Supply,and Castle. We love bands like Wolfmother, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Black Stone Cherry, Rage Against the Machine, Chevelle, Tool, Staind, Mastadon, Rush, Sublime, Fair to Midland, Primus, The Sword, to name a few.
   Q: There’s Fantasy Baseball and Fantasy Football. If you could put together a Fantasy Band to go on World Tour, who would be in your band?
   A: Me, the drummer from Black Stone Cherry, Jimmy Page, The Wolfmother guitar player/singer, Tool’s bass player, and Fair to Midland's keyboard player.
   We also got an email from Quinn, the guitar player who provided his answer to the same question.
   A: My Fantasy metal band would include me on guitar, Brent Hinds from Mastodon on guitar, Danny Carey from Tool on drums, Neil Fallon from Clutch on vocals, and YtimK from Rage Against the Machine on bass. My Fantasy rock band would be me on guitar, my good friend Taylor on drums, Jack Johnson on Vocals, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys on guitar, and Stefan Lessard from Dave Matthew's Band on the bass.
   Check out “Elder Son” and sample tunes at www.Myspace.com/eldestsonmusic. Chan Jam is April 17. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Music starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5. Bring a donation for the CAP Agency food shelf and get a dollar off your ticket. For more information on Chan Jam, go to www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us/parks/chanjam.html.
   --Unsie Zuege