11 FEBRUARY 2004.
Minors a major hit

By Iain Hyndman
MASTERS GAMES: The Minors are aiming to be majors at the New Zealand Masters Games village on Sunday night as the sun sets on the 2005 event.
Back in the 1960s The Minors band travelled extensively around New Zealand, especially in the central and lower North Island, had national radio shows and appeared on television.
The band, now comprising Leigh Grant, who is chairman of the NZ Masters Games, Graeme Brown, Alan Brider and Roger Brassell, was formed in 1962 and steadily built up in popularity.
The following year Radio 2XA recorded the first of 20 shows by The Minors, four of them for national radio.
The Minor recorded six singles with HMV and in March 1964 the band toured with the Toni Williams Show, appeared on television and were a finalist in the Loxene Golden Disc awards.
The band held a cabaret reunion at the Riverside complex in 1992 and most recently played together – albeit briefly – at Brider’s 60th birthday bash last year.
The Minors have been practicing together in recent weeks trying to recreate the sound that brought them national recognition during the 1960s era.
Leigh Grant said the band, along with other Wanganui bands, are hoping to add an extra dimension to Games closing night. The Minor’s prime objective is to provide entertainment with both quality and nostalgia and to give people the opportunity of reliving the fun and camaraderie from the years of their youth.
" The Shadows were our idols when we were growing up and our music reflects that. In fact, we tried to get Hank Marvin, one of the original Shadows, to come to the Wanganui games. He lives in Perth, Western Australia now, but unfortunately he had prior commitments," Grant said.
Brassell said then along came The Beatles.
" Much of our stuff was Shadows and instrumentals in the early days, the Mersey beat arrived along with The Beatles – their music is also a big part of our show,” Brassell said.
" We haven’t dome a hell of a lot of rehearsing for Sunday night, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I guess many will come to see if our fingers can still move."
Grant said The Minors had a large following in its heyday and many of those people would now recall how they courted each other and maybe even married during that era.
" Sunday could be a great chance to enjoy some nostalgia," Grant said.