Fake Dad's new single "So Simple!": punk rock drenched indie rock
Andrea de Varona (she/her) and Josh Ford (he/him) aka Fake Dad are a Los Angeles based, NYC bred indie rock meets dream pop duo. Formed in 2020, the two met at a college party in the East Village and have been inseparable ever since. Melting their own unique artistic visions to build a shared sonic shorthand, Fake Dad create an intoxicating and colorful musical fusion complete with catchy pop-laden hooks, crunchy, 90s inspired guitars, grooving bass lines, and buoyant synths. With a distinctive production sound and a signature vocal delivery, the two write and record expansive musical moments from their apartment. Although Andrea and Josh come from different musical backgrounds, they share a common goal: to create music that understands you.
In the past year, Fake Dad have been fixated on posers. Specifically, rock music posers—there’s just something fascinating about music made by an artist who’s pretending to be someone they’re not. In the different subgenres of rock especially, “fake” can be a dirty word. But as Andrea and Josh dug into some of their favorite artists from before their time, it became clear that playing a character is pretty deeply entwined with the legacy of rock music.
PJ Harvey was a skinny, 5’4 woman who bellowed about being 50 feet tall and “man-sized.” Stevie Nicks wore her don’t mess with me or I’ll put a spell on you, witchy persona to break through the gender boundaries of rock and roll. Tina Turner was a background singer turned untouchable superstar who reinvented herself through decades of hard fought battles. LCD Soundsystem was an introvert pretending to be the life of the party, and David Bowie was pretending to be a space alien. And yet, there’s a kind of wish fulfillment there: these are people who found more than just creative expression in their art—they found reinvention. Within the false image, they were able to find something true about themselves. Since the beginning of 2024, this is what Fake Dad has been able to do as well, embracing the freeing process of writing music through the lens of a character, which has allowed them to explore the sonic trappings of their favorite rock, punk, and new wave legends, as well as better understand themselves.
In their upcoming EP, Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, Fake Dad have created characters that live in their made up world of angry, burger-flipping clowns, star-crossed knights, and masked sleep paralysis demons. Throughout the process, Andrea and Josh realized that they were using the fiction to unpack very real aspects of their lived experiences—including their identities and sexualities as romantic partners in a straight-passing relationship.
The latest offering off the project, “So Simple!” is a parody of punk rock’s storied history of dudes who think they’re cool singing about women they think are stupid. In this sexy, bilingual bop, de Varona croons about a boy that’s hot and easy to push around (and maybe bury in her backyard).
With a unique musical perspective, and an unparalleled communal bond with their listeners, Fake Dad have already garnered much deserved attention, landing over a dozen official Spotify playlists and selling out shows in their hometown of NYC as well as their new home of Los Angeles. The duo’s upcoming project, Holly Wholesome and The Slut Machine reveals a new era in their evolution as artists—preparing listeners for the expansiveness and singularity of what’s to come in 2025 and beyond.
