St. Catharines, ON-based indie-rock trio, The Minimum Wage is made up of multi-instrumentalists Branden Sterling, Sandro Rocco, and Nolan Jodes. The trio has released their new single, “White Rabbit”. They recorded this one separately in their homes during the pandemic, then had it mixed and mastered by Ryan Macdonald (The Honest Heart Collective).
“White Rabbit” is an alt-rock tune that pairs driving riffs and catchy vocals, with a bit of organ for something different.
The trio shares,
“”White Rabbit” is about needing/wanting something to pull you along, or out of whatever mire you happen to be stuck in.”
Check out “White Rabbit” below, and find out more about The Minimum Wage via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We are The Minimum Wage from St. Catharines, Ontario. We are a trio of musicians, just trying to make some music that’s interesting and unique. We are a constant work in progress and a hot mess of rock & roll rejects. We got together to flex our creative muscles since our various other projects had us somewhat bound to a certain sound, genre or style. TMW is built upon breaking out of those binds and attempting to ruin those little hairs in our ears with loud guitars.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
It tends to be on the nostalgic side, but off slightly – which we think lends to the very different musical backgrounds that the three of us have. It’s definitely a fusion of those backgrounds. Part classic rock, part 90’s grunge, part country. Throw in some pop/punk, metal, jazz, and the love we all share for old school hip-hop and you have The Minimum Wage. We basically just play whatever moves us at the time.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
There is certainly a lot more time to practice, learn and hone new skills (one of us is even taking a stab at writing a novel). Or you could also lounge around and wither away. Oddly enough for us the pandemic has really allowed this band to flourish. Productively anyway. We’ve amassed an entire record’s worth of demos over the last year. We haven’t been able to play them live together mind you – but they exist now and once we can finally get into a proper studio again we’ll really get things kicked into high gear.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
That’s a tough one! Obviously, we’d love everyone to listen to our debut single “White Rabbit” (available everywhere you get your music) Up until now we had been putting up demos on Soundcloud as they are completed. Of those, a tune called “Wet Cigarette” is a really cool power/punk tune that’s just weird enough in all the best ways. Another – “Ransom Note” just because there are some really fun moments. You can hear some different styles blending. It’s unique for sure. One song yet to be released is called “The Death Song” which is a lot of fun, and has a somber vibe. Sorry, you said ONE song. Listen to “White Rabbit” please, on repeat!
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
This could take a while.
The Constantines are the greatest rock band of all time. Now that we’ve got that out of the way.
Here is a running list of some of our favs… Ancient Shapes, Single Mothers, Peter Van Helvoort, The Dirty Nil, Ladyhawk, Limblifter, The Honest Heart Collective, Metz, Hawksley Workman, Hey Rosetta, PUP, Mattie Leon, Nelson Sobral, The Weatherthans, Ron Hawkins The Canadian Guitar Quartet, Rusty, VYPERS, John K Sampson, Belvedere, Attack in Black, Sameer Cash, Darcys. Even from our little corner in Niagara, we have killer bands like Revive The Rose, LMT Connection, My Son The Hurricane, Slightly Intoxicated, The Weather Wild, Decew Country Band, Gravely James, Strange Shakes, Pindles, Stellar Ash, Real Kevin, James Blonde, Amanda Lyn Parker….we could go on and on and on…there is just so much damn talent in Canada!