Today we’d like to introduce you to White Collars.
Hi White, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The band consists of four members: Aidan Dominé on drums, Ben Freeman on bass/trombone, and Cameron Power + Neil Kuhn on guitar/vocals. Cameron and Ben have known each other since kindergarten. They decided to try and start a band in high school, but the first attempt was a failure. Then, with the second attempt, they acquired Neil who eventually moved on to guitar. After that, they picked up their former drummer, Adam Brown, and that’s when The White Collars were born. They played lots of shows and recorded an album that released just about a month before they graduated high school. Over the summer, they lost Adam and went into college at San Diego State University without a drummer. For the first semester, they used fill-in drummer Ian Kearns for various gigs. Finally, in December, they found the permanent drummer: Aidan Domine. Since then, The White Collars has been kicking it into overdrive, practicing hard and getting ready to release a bunch of music with their new member. Aidan has been in the band almost a year now, and The White Collars are cooking up many new singles.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We started out in early 2021 while still were yet to graduate high school. We had to finance the album by saving up money from gigs. By 2022, when we were graduating, the album was out and paid off. We had a wild ride; it’s not easy to go to school and simultaneously put a large amount of your time into a separate project. Also, we were less mature as far as dedication, creativity, and other aspects go. In many ways, we still face these problems because college schoolwork is even more time-consuming, and we are of course still young and figuring things out. But now we know way more and have become much more secure in our ability to operate as a band. Starting a band in high school is a lot of fun while it lasts, but people are bound to go their separate ways. By the summer before college, our drummer had decided to part ways; there was absolutely zero hard feelings. Luckily, the rest of us all went to SDSU. Without a drummer, we were a bit lost, but with Ian Kearns stepping in as a drummer for the first semester, the band was able to survive. Even after finding permanent drummer Aidan Dominé, we had to use a fill-in drummer over the summer of 2023 when Aidan was back in Sacramento. For this, Ryan Moyers was able to step in on the kit. Both him and Ian Kearns are responsible for keeping the band’s momentum alive during down periods. We have no idea where we would be without Ryan and Ian. We also are eternally grateful for finding such a dedicated member like Aidan. The band has been able to progress a lot with him, and times without him have been challenging.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
We are just like other bands; in that we make music that we love and try our best to share with the world. What sets us apart, in our opinion, is our infectious stage presence, sense of humor, and overall vibe. We like to wear decorated white collared shirts while we play. Also, our bass player plays trombone, which is featured on various tracks of ours. He whips it out, and the crowd goes wild. While we consider ourselves a rock band, we incorporate elements of ska, reggae, rap, and other genres like funk to spice things up. I think overall what really makes us different is our personality, which truly shows in our songwriting and the content we put out. For instance, we are very proud of our music video for our song Break The Wall. A ton of effort went into it, including wearing Speedo-Tuxedos (as we call them) in the sand dunes.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I wish I knew the exact answer to this because then we would organize our marketing endeavors specifically to that route. These days, social media controls the music industry; we assume it will only increase its prevalence, but who knows what the future will hold. Overall, though, the main challenge I see in the industry would be cutting through the noise. There is a surplus of great art out there; I like to think we are a part of that. The issue is getting it to the right ears. Finding people that resonate with what you make is always challenging. We hope to share what we create with as many people as possible. Beyond that, showing our personalities is another mission in itself. It isn’t always too easy to get a read on people through social media. But we hope we can establish a presence that allows for all type music, moods, and ideas to shine through. Whether it be humor or a more serious topic, getting a song presented in the way you intend is nearly impossible. People will interpret things how they want (which is a good thing!); we just hope it resonates with them in a special way. Another challenge in the industry is the dedication to stay at it even when things don’t seem like they are going all that great. Finding ways to make the band work with your life, and vice versa. We love this band and each other and music, so I have faith.
Pricing:
- Our music is free to stream and listen to on all streaming platforms
- You can download the songs on iTunes for like a dollar each
- We have merch, $15 a shirt, but no online store yet
- For people that book us, a gig lasting around 3 hours would be about $500. Shorter set times would, of course, be less. This is for private gigs. On numerous occasions, we’ve played for free for charity.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.white.collars?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@the.white.collars?si=7k7aSPJ3bounYTJ_
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thewhitecollars
Image Credits
Claudio Flynn
@sanchez_productions
