Jesse Pruett has a theory about life, and it’s those convictions, based on that theory, that have brought him full circle and back to Lake Havasu City. A 1994 graduate of Lake Havasu High School, Jesse has spent a lot of time between San Diego and Lake Havasu. And now that Jesse has had a taste of what it’s like to be an actor (he has his Screen Actors Guild card), theory dictates that he should reside in Los Angeles. Graduating from non-speaking parts to small speaking roles in movies, everyone has recommended that he move to Los Angeles or else, they say, his acting roles will dry up.
But Jesse has another theory, one that has seen his career skyrocket ever since he formed his first band, Gutfiddle, and opened for big league bands such as Blink 182. After a stint in his home town of San Diego, Jesse moved back to Lake Havasu in 2011 with his wife Valerie and two kids, a daughter, Ava, seven, and son, Jaxson, two years old. If you know Jesse (after all, this is a small town), then you know him as a devoted family man that hired on as Worship Arts Director at Calvary Baptist Church. Unassuming, Jesse is your average looking Joe, a guy that loves his family and loves living in Lake Havasu. In theory, a guy that gave up a career in movies and television, both on and off screen, to raise his children in a healthy, small-town environment.
Well that sounds great, in theory, but reality is that despite conventional wisdom, Jesse is able to maintain his down to earth persona while being deeply ingrained in the Hollywood scene. Back in 2000, Jesse started a band called Parker Theory, an alternate pop rock band. Their first release, She Said, went to #1 on MP3.com back in 2001. Jesse remembers the day he received a call from Steve Harwell, the lead singer for Smashmouth, inviting Parker Theory to tour and open for them. As Parker Theory continued to tour, they played the Coors Amphitheater and other venues, mostly throughout California. They continued to play and opened for a number of bands including Switchfoot, Jason Mraz, Eve 6, and P.O.D. until they signed with Fab Tone Records in Tokyo in 2005.
Parker Theory released their second album, Leaving California, through Rescue Records/Sony Red Distribution, with licensing rights being sold to Japan, Brazil, and Sweden. Jesse remembers the tour in Japan, “It was really great to see how widely accepted and popular the band was. It was really strange going in to a Tower Records in Japan and seeing our album on display and being majorly promoted,” noted Jesse. “It was a thrill to play at the New Lex Tokyo, the hottest nightclub in Tokyo. That was a really fantastic experience.”
One of the new avenues that Jesse is exploring is the world of licensing, “The biggest break we could have gotten was when I was introduced to Barry Brooker of Lionsgate.” Lionsgate is an industry leader in the marketing and distribution of packaged media and digital entertainment. “They used a lot of our music in their movies—Never Surrender, Circle of Pain, Fire With Fire, and Empire State.” The band actually played in the movie Never Surrender and since then, Jesse has had some small parts, like in Piranha, which was filmed right here in Lake Havasu. “Once our music was out there the response was incredible, our music has been played on Smallville and on MTV’s The Hills and Real World. The WB feature movie, General Education, featured the score and original soundtrack written by me and my friend T.J. Hill.” Jesse also mentioned bringing in Greg Camp, guitarist and song writer for Smashmouth, to work on a score for an upcoming movie, Oliver Stoned. The next role Jesse will be working on is a Lionsgate film called The Prince with Bruce Willis. It will start filming in early December.
Jesse’s involvement with Lionsgate doesn’t end with acting parts and musical scores though, as he has recently taken up voice acting. Jesse is involved in a number of animated projects that Lionsgate is involved with: Wings, Pororo-The Racing Adventure, and Birds of Paradise, all animated features that will feature Jesse doing voice overs as well as music by Parker Theory.
For Jesse, moving to Lake Havasu just made sense, “My grandparents had moved to Parker, my wife and her family are from Havasu, and I had gone to high school in Havasu and made a lot of friends that played in the band with me during the early days. The theory was, “If I wanted to continue to get gigs for the band and work in movies, I’d have to move to Los Angeles.” Jesse had different thoughts about that, “I have a family now and I had to think about the best environment for my family, the best place to raise my kids. I love being connected to the community and the church and I think this is just the perfect environment for a family.” Jesse noted, “The biggest reason we moved back to Lake Havasu was because of me accepting the job at Calvary Baptist Church. I loved what I saw–what they were doing in the community, and I have always thought of leading worship music at a church. It’s where I started playing music, and God has always been a big part of my life. The timing was right and so was the job.” Jesse is thankful that they made the decision to move back to Lake Havasu because loves where he works, the great friends and family they have here, and the incredible community.
Jesse feels blessed to raise his family in a family-oriented community and have a job he loves working at, while still being able to pursue his other passions. “I encourage everyone to follow their passion and dreams, but to not sacrifice their true sense of purpose in doing so.” It appears that Jesse’s theory about family first, career second was the best choice not only for his family, but also for Parker Theory.
If you’d like to learn more, you can look up Jesse on www.IMBD.com and Parker Theory on iTunes.