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Charmingly incongruent, pairing sweet tonality & melody with lyrics that read like a prop list for scary movies, Fake Dad is a band that does things differently: and the results are otherwordly. On their latest single, "Science Fiction," the band meshes & merges their foundational post-punk style with a new wave of 90’s sounds that lays the groundwork for what we imagine to be a fantastical upcoming EP in 2026. Curiosity piqued, we got the life and music duo to join us for a little zoom sesh, and the results are as fun as we imagined:

OnesToWatch: My first question is always, why are you an artist?
But since you're two artists, I think a better question would be, why did you guys decide to be artists together? 

Josh: We met in college and started dating very soon after that. We were both always really singular in our music. We both made music before we met, and we both really liked to do things exactly our way and didn’t really like to collaborate. But then we opened up to each other about what we liked about music, what we wanted out of it, and started sharing taste, and then it just became so common for us to show our music to each other, and the other person to say, “I think it would be better if you did this.” We just developed such a trust for one another's taste in that way that at a certain point, it felt like everything we made was a collaboration, whether we called it that or not. 

Andrea: We fell into it really organically. We were both already music students in New York City with music at the center of our lives, and it just made sense when we worked together. It wasn’t the typical band-members-fall-in-love, it was the reverse of that, which, from our experience, has been a good thing. 

Josh: We made a song for a songwriting competition that Andrea entered at NYU. We called the band that the song was written by “Fake Dad” as a joke because it was the only thing we both thought was funny. Then it won that competition, and we had to play the song. So the band that was fake had to all of a sudden be real and exist to play this song. 

Andrea: It was a whole set too. 

Josh: You're right. It was four other songs. 

Don't you hate it when your fake band becomes a real band? That's just the worst. 


Andrea: You know, like a year into it we were like, do we change the name? And we have talked about it, but it's become this thing with people that have followed us from the beginning. The name just kind of stuck. It's just fun. 

I think it's a great name. 

Josh: Thank you. 

As someone who had a cool person masquerading as a father, it resonates with me for sure. What's it like to sort of have the fatalism of like a band and a partner and knowing that if one went sideways in either fashion, it would compromise the other. That's sort of like a death wish a little bit, no? 


Josh: Certainly, yeah. We're just risk takers like that. 

This is your skydiving? 

Josh: Exactly. We don't have the money for skydiving, so do this. 

Andrea: It keeps the relationship interesting, I'll tell you that. 

Josh: It's also a trust thing, you know? The band and the relationship, they're both about respecting somebody and trusting them enough with some really important aspects of your life. I think everyone who's in a relationship, it would be nice if they felt like they were able to do something like this with their partner. It would mean there's a lot of trust there. And vice versa. Maybe if John and George felt like they could sleep together, they would still be together. 

What a beautiful thought. 

Andrea: And as we said before, we had that foundation of our relationship first, and we were solo artists before collaborators. So, we do keep that in the back of our minds. If Josh wanted to go do a side project that’s just him, or same for me, we’re open to supporting each other in that way so that we feel creatively fulfilled and heard all the time. 

Josh: Music has been a part of our love language since before we were making music together. So it feels like it’s in the fabric of it. 

Andrea: It’s a big pro when it comes to touring, too. You don't have to worry about leaving somebody at home, catching up in between shows. You're just together. It's more cost effective too. 

That's going to be my sub-header: Fake Dad recommends sleeping with your bandmates to save on hotel costs. That's the clickbait I need. This sort of begs a question. Has anything changed about you as individuals once you became a band? I imagine, as you were saying Andrea, that being in a band must make you that much closer, right? 

Andrea: Totally. Now, because we've been doing it for well over five years together, it's this language that we have. We don't need to say anything to each other to know each other's wants – the body language, all those cues that are inherent when we're in this. We especially feel it more recently when we've started working with other producers or session musicians, people that are new to knowing us. We just work so fluidly together. We'll just lock in without realizing. The way it works for us creatively, start to finishing a song, we're both hands on throughout the whole process. But even within that, we kind of have our set roles. For this last project, Josh was more on the producer side and I was more on the songwriter's side. So while he’s producing, I’m writing, and within 30 minutes, we'll have a whole idea. So when we're in the studio with somebody new, it must feel weird for them. We function as one machine, one person. 

I love this. Regarding your process, it sounds like you trade off on who does what? 

Josh: We both get a hand on the ball with everything, and we always listen to each other, but that being said, I have more of an emphasis on the production and arrangement. And Andrea just has like this really special way with the lyrics and composition. So we bounce back and forth off of each other at each phase of those things. So, I'll start something or she'll start something as a little beat, and we'll see what the other person wants to do with it. We very rarely write a song to completion without knowing what the arrangement's going to sound like, or vice versa. It's a conversation, you know? 

That's a good sort of preemption there, I guess. You don't have to deal with a song not working out. Last kind of relationship slash band question. Who has the best ideas? 

Josh: Andrea. 

Who has the most consistent ideas? 


Andrea: Josh probably. Creative, out-of-the-box would be me. Consistent to our sound and thinking about things three steps ahead is definitely Josh. Would you not agree? 

Josh: My answer is kind of you for both. I mean, I think I have good ideas, but I'm always trying to throw weird stuff in and having identity crises about what I want the sound to be and evolving it and throwing it out. 
And I am in this place of immense privilege because no matter what sound I throw at a song, Andrea will write something to it that is so authentically her and just sounds like Fake Dad. And I ask fans and friends all the time, like, “Do you think this is too different?" And they say, "No, because no matter what it is, it's Andrea's voice on there, and she just sounds so singular.” 
So I'm very lucky that way. 

Who's the sort of meditative grounding person within the band? 

Andrea: It’s definitely different from a live show to the studio. At shows, it would be our guitarist, Mike. He's like the uncle of the band. He's older than us both, and he really grounds us, keeps us sane. 


Josh: In the studio, I think maybe it's me, right? 

Andrea: It depends. If it's a heavy production day, sometimes you'll get bogged down with an idea and then it’ll be me. If we're more purely in songwriting mode, it's definitely you. 

Josh: I'm very focused on structure and engaging with people's expectations and satisfying what people want out of something. And Andrea is very into challenging those expectations and challenging the form. So we push and pull each other in those directions to find where we end up. 

You guys are annoying ‘cause it sounds like it works so well.

Josh: It's hard, too. Sometimes it sucks. 

Okay, okay, I needed to hear that. 


Andrea: There's bickering. There are moments where it feels like things won’t work and it's like, can you just let me try it? That's real. 

Let me ask you about just writing in general, what's the cohesion between your projects and your singles? 


Josh: I think that right now, as well as with our previous project, we're in a new phase that's a reflection of ourselves being in a new phase of life. The music has this emphasis on fun and energy, but it also has – rather than self-seriousness – an emphasis on self-empowerment and self-liberation and the way that those go hand in hand. We have a lot of stuff that digs into struggles with the industry, struggles with self-worth. That goes way back to even the stuff that you can't find anywhere anymore, that old fans might have from Bandcamp or whatever. It's always been about self worth. 

Andrea: Struggles, identity, all that stuff. But ever since the last EP, Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, we've shifted to more of a rock sound. And because of that, sonically the music is a lot of times more playful and fun, so we have let loose a little bit more than we did a few years ago. But with the subject matter as well, there’ll be comedy in the songs, but it's still ultimately reflecting something more serious. 


Josh: It's also much more sexually liberated than it ever was before. It's partially because before Holly Wholesome and the Slut machine, a lot of the music was about self-worth through the lens of not being good enough, or being self-conscious, etc. After that, there was this big switch into engaging with this fantasy wish fulfillment of thinking I'm the greatest. Everybody wants to fuck me. Everybody wants me. I'm undeniable. I'm gonna be a star. Which was a fiction we were engaging with because it wasn't how we felt. And it's actually found its way into our relationships with ourselves and our self esteem as a result of that in the real world, outside the project. 

Andrea: Yeah, putting on this mask of these people we aspired to be, it ended up being manifestation. And at the moments when we felt like the lowest, shittiest versions of ourselves, it ended up giving us some confidence. 

And now you guys are just a step or two away from being completely delusional and real rock stars. Let's pivot to some more fun questions. If you could create a dream lineup, who would you love to play with? 


Andrea: Mannequin Pussy. Fontaines DC. Amyl and the Sniffers. Wet Leg. 

Okay, so it's going to be a quiet show. 

Josh: I’d add LCD Soundsystem. 

When you as a group are hungry, who cooks and what do you cook? 


Josh: Andrea cooks a lot of authentic Cuban. 

Andrea:
A go-to quick one is lentils because I use the pressure cooker. So I'll make lentil soup that's honestly more like a stew. It's very hearty and filling. 

Is that like an empty fridge kind of meal? You just put everything in there or does it have specific things it needs? 

Andrea: There’s specific things it needs, but I usually just happen to have those ingredients. We always got lentils and beans. 

Josh: I’m an Ashkenazi Jew, so none of my family recipes are any good. I make a lot of sesame chicken, katsu curry, stir fry, that sort of thing. I found the recipe to recreate Melba's corn grits from New Orleans. 

Andrea: Josh, I feel like your mashed potatoes are a good pick me up. 

If you could be – as a couple, as a band, as an intertwined pairing – anywhere on Earth right now, where would you be? 

Andrea: We were just talking about moving to Ireland a bit ago. So I'm gonna say Ireland. 


Josh: Maybe it's cold there right now, but that's one of our dream trips. 

Andrea: And apparently they are offering artist grants now. Japan would be the other one we’d want to go to. 

You guys love islands. You love scenic islands. 


Andrea: Lots of rainfall and depression. 

Josh: Well, because that's how you end up with good music and countercultures: a really ignored depression at the core of your culture. 


I have two final requests from you both. First, I’d love a non-music recommendation. Any book, movie, activity, place you can recommend? 

Andrea: The show Pluribus. Highly recommend, it’s by Vince Gilligan, who wrote Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. 

Josh: Mine is also a show. It's a cartoon called Scavenger's Rain. It's really interesting, from the style to the world building, to the way the story is told. It's a science fiction show about some people that crash land on this planet with a really, really interestingly evolved ecosystem of lethal creatures and animals. The main theme of the show is the way that human beings think they are separate from the ecosystem, but they are both influencing it and being influenced by it. It's very good, and it was totally panned because HBO Max basically shelved it and canceled it, but it's one of the best things anyone's made in like 15 years. 

Amazing.

Andrea: Can I also give you a food rec in LA? Do you like chopped cheese? 


I know what a chopped cheese is. I will always take a good recommendation for a chopped cheese. 

Andrea: Chopped cheese at Bodega Park.
Must have. 

I’m down. Last question. I would love a music rec: who are your OnesToWatch? 

Josh: “Maximum RAM” by Hot Tub. It's such an interesting, cunty dance/house/electronica song. I found it on TikTok. It was their first release, but it was so well-curated and it's so thoughtful that I think it must be somebody's secret project.

Andrea: From the DIY, New York rock scene, the band SQUIRTS. They’re so cool. 

I would love to end on your words. Any shoutouts, jokes, advice?

Josh: Our EP that's coming out next year is called Sci Fi Fantasy. So check that out. Our next song coming out is called “Science Fiction.” 
It's about getting cunnilingus from a Frankenstein-type monster. 

Andrea: Yeah, if you’ve ever found a creature hot, this song is for you. It’s alien, monster erotica. 

Josh: And advice. If you're in a band, sleep with anyone that will lower the cost of your tour. 

Well, thank you both. 

Fake Dad: We appreciate you taking the time.