In March 2025, Vikki Minor hit up Dead Dog Records while discussing the Saskatoon music industry, her name change and love for 90’s film. Minor, who is a Neo 90’s alt rock musician based out of Saskatoon and Toronto, braved the sharp downtown winds in her black leather jacket to answer Monday Dearest’s questions.

Levesque: What’s your take on the Saskatoon creative industry growing? Do you believe it’s growing?

Minor: I do believe it’s growing. I believe that the Saskatchewan industry is getting a name for itself. And I mean, we have the most grants for art, like music grants, out of any province in the country, which I’m very proud of. And I’m grateful for receiving some. I’m very, very grateful for the community that’s being built because I feel like, in a way, I was part of the beginning of that. I saw that start.

I moved from Vancouver back to Saskatoon in 2019 and then Covid hit in 2020, but that was when I kind of hit the ground running and contacted everybody a part of Sask Music, like the organization. And they have been my guiding post the entire time. Because Saskatchewan people want you to succeed. Same with Toronto, that’s how I feel… I feel those cities are very mirrored.

Levesque: Which is so funny because one of them is so small and one of them is huge.

Enters Dead Dog Records

Minor: I haven’t been in here in so long.

Minor paused, then gasped as she looked towards the first shelf in the store. An Alice in Wonderland soundtrack vinyl sat proudly on display. The book is Minor’s all-time favourite.

Minor: I don’t know how I’m going to fit it [in the carry-on], but I need it and it’s only $8. Are you kidding? That’s crazy. [United States] 1968. Okay that’s amazing. Again, don’t know how I’m going to fit it but that doesn’t matter.

That’s a cool sign. That’s insane. Wow, I love that kind of stuff, I believe in all that stuff.

Levesque: Are you a spiritual person?

Minor: I’m a very spiritual person. I grew up Catholic for a while, but then it just kind of became spiritual. There’s a cool thing with Franny and Zoe, it deals with education versus spirituality and stuff. Yeah I’m a very spiritual person and I believe in the Universe and cosmic everything. And it’s funny because I love existentialism but I wouldn’t go as far to say that the world doesn’t care, I think it challenges you. I think it really does want to see how resilient you are. But I do believe there’s a purpose for everybody and I believe in reincarnation.

Levesque: What do you think you were reincarnated from? Or what was your last life?

Minor: People always say that I’m an old soul. So I really like to think that I was someone who passed away at a very old age and who was an academic. I think I was someone who spent their entire life at a university. It’s funny, my career choices juxtapose what I love so much in a lot of ways. Like the way this career has you uprooting all the time.

Like even me being [in Toronto] for a program for six weeks when I’m a homebody. And also like music; going to live shows and performing live shows when I love to be at home with a book. It’s funny. And it’s not that it’s a negative. In fact, I think this career choice is good for me because I think that in my past life I was an old hermit man. Honestly, I was one of those old professors who had elbow patches.

Levesque: What subject did you teach?

Minor: Oh I definitely taught philosophy. I definitely was into existentialism like I am now. Yeah, I definitely carried a lot over for sure.

Levesque: What was your journey starting into music?

Minor: 2019 was the first single but I like to say that I was a full blown artist in 2020. I rebranded out of just being [Ava Janzen] on Instagram and became a real artist and released things in 2019 but it became a full concept in 2020, which is hilarious.

I wasn’t a Covid artist. It’s funny because I’m thought to be or considered because that’s when most of my first things were released, but no. I moved to Vancouver after graduating high school to pursue acting, because I grew up doing musical theater and I had studied like classical vocal at the Royal Conservatory and got my Grade 10 and everything and studied so much when it came to music that when I graduated high school, I made the decision to go to Vancouver and study film and TV acting. It was the one aspect that I hadn't studied because it wasn’t a thing, it still really isn’t a thing, in Saskatoon to study. We’re getting more film and commercials and TV happening, but studying? There aren’t schools for it.

I got my diploma from Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts, it was like a six month program. And then I was auditioning, but I was barely auditioning because Vancouver is just such a huge place. And also [I was] 18, 19 and I was so lost. I didn’t have any friends. My mom moved with me though, with our three dogs. So that was the only thing keeping me going. And then I was just so depressed and so lost and my mom was the one who suggested I start writing music again, and it had been years since I’d written.

Levesque: So you were in Vancouver and then decided to move back to Saskatoon?

Minor: Yes because I started writing music, my mom was the one who suggested I start writing music again. It had been years because I’d been focusing on musical theater and other people’s [artistic] texts as opposed to trying to explore things through my own words. And yeah then I moved back and then was doing pop music but it wasn’t until I was playing with a live band where I was like, “Oh, I want to do more rock sounds” and I incorporated that into my life.

My first single I did Tell Me, I rockified it when I did it live. And I was like, “Oh this slaps”. And I was suggesting things to the band like, let’s add a drum fill. I hadn’t really been listening to anything outside of showtunes for a few years as well, which honestly isn’t a bad thing because musical theatre is so diverse. But it got to the point where I had to really go backwards to what I grew up listening to as well as what was around me.

Lorde was actually a huge influence in the beginning. Her Melodrama era was so strong… There was a video on Youtube, a full video of her performing Life is Beautiful during her Melodrama era. And it was life changing…

Levesque: How do you approach your own music videos?

Minor: Like narratives or just a feeling, which is how I do my songs as well. I write my songs like how a feeling is associated to colours.

Levesque: So you were saying when you started writing again and were performing live, that you really enjoyed that. And now you have music videos and singles, are you going to be releasing an EP?

Minor: Are we going to go as small as an EP?

Levesque: I feel like you have a concept.

Minor: I do. I have a concept for it.

Levesque: Can I ask when it’ll start coming together?

Minor: I mean, definitely. Releases that will be a part of it are already coming. But also being an independent artist, you’re not stuck to a timeline, which is a good thing and bad thing. Because financially, you’re as supported as you’d like to be.

Minor approaches the cassette section of Dead Dog Records.

Minor: There’s Kim Mitchell one. I met Kim Mitchell going straight to Saskatoon randomly one time during the summer. I was filming a bike commercial for the City of Saskatoon and he was performing at the [Saskatoon Exhibition]. He came up to me and was like, “Hey, what’re you guys doing here?” and I was like, “We’re filming a commercial, what’re you doing?” Because he just didn’t seem like he was from Saskatoon. And he said, “Oh I’m performing Kim Mitchell at the Ex.” and I went, “Oh cool, what’s your name?” and he went, “Kim Mitchell.”.

Levesque: Can you tell me about the name change?

Minor: So originally it was Velours, which is French for velvet.

Levesque: Why’d you choose that?

Minor: Someone told me I had a voice like velvet and that was insane. That was such a cool compliment and I don’t remember who said it. I think it was a man… It was definitely a man who said that. So yeah I took that and it’s funny because I’ve never released a French song but being bilingual means so much to me. I don’t think that I share that enough online or in my music. It is a very personal thing that I love to share with individual people who are also bilingual French or bilingual. It’s weird, but I also want to share it with the world. So yeah it’s something I want to keep incorporating.

But yeah, the lore, [the name change] was a blessing in disguise… Back when I was living in Toronto, so I’m in a new city alone and of course that’s when it happens. All of a sudden my music isn’t on streaming… and I’m like “What the hell.”. So I contact my distributor and ask what happened and they say it isn’t their problem but give me the email of the person who took it down. So I contact this random person… and it’s another artist who goes by the name Velour from Jacksonville, Florida… and they were like “I just don’t think that more artists should be names Velour so I’ve done this with every artist named Velour.”.

Levesque: That’s insane.

Minor: I had to freak out.

Levesque: What can you do in that situation?

Minor: Well I contacted a person, he worked with international artists, amazing people and he gave me advice… he said it’s honestly easier to change the name than fighting it.

Levesque: And what made you decide on Vikki Minor?

Minor: That was with my mom when she was visiting [Toronto] from Saskatoon… We were sitting in a waffle place on College [Street] and I just didn’t know what to do. And she was like, “Hey let’s pick a new name.”. And so I went to what I loved the most; 90’s movies.

The choices were between Liv Tyler’s character Corey in Empire Records, I got to see it at the Broadway Theater in Saskatoon. They played it, my mom and I went and it was the coolest thing ever. I cried, I’m not kidding, it started and I cried. That movie means so much to me because it’s about music but it’s also a film that’s just everything I love. I listen to the soundtrack all the time… And so it was that choice and also one of my other favourite movies Reality Bites with Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo and Steven Zahn…

Winona Ryder is my favourite actress, one of my first crushes ever… her character’s name [Laney] did not fit but Garofalo’s character’s name is Vickie Miner. And my mom and I went, “Oh that’s amazing.” Vickie Miner is really 90’s, it sounds really cool and badass. So that character name [we] changed the spelling, so now Vickie was spelled like Nikki Six, who is in Motley Crue, so that’s a reference. And then Miner was initially spelled with an ‘er’ like the dwarves in Snow White. Changed it from Min-er to Min-or like major and minor in music… I’ve also realized it was unintentional, but I have an affinity to the letter ‘V’.

Levesque: What’s the community collaboration like in Saskatoon?

Minor: It’s very welcoming. I think that there’s exclusivity everywhere you go but if you’re open other people are open. And if you’re also open to that humility. You don’t know everything and you aren’t the bearer of everything…

Levesque: What are your fans like?

Minor: I’ve learned a lot about them actually and it makes sense because the more you play in one place the more people will come back. And it’s pretty diverse, which is also great… I have these amazing fans who are teenagers and I love them so much. I’m wearing their bracelets that they gave me [at Right To Skate fundraiser] right now. While I was on stage they handed them to me and I still wear them.

Levesque: What’s your favourite spot to perform in Saskatoon?

Minor: It’s probably Black Cat Tavern. I remember the first time I played there, I was still Velours and I was on a bill, but the atmosphere made me play more rock and more punk and more riot girl esque, which I’ve been compared to.

Levesque: Do you have any advice for someone coming into the scene?

Minor: Ask people, get advice. I’d reach out to Sask Music, reach out to other artists and bands you love… Reach out and know it’s okay to stumble and fail too. Know that you don’t have to define yourself right away. I’d try out new things, play with people, try to go out to shows, see what you like, then apply that to what you make… So honestly, at the end of the day, be yourself.

Vikki Minor

BRODY BURNS

Peace Akintade