Q&A: Fake Dad’s “Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine” is a Fantastical Dive into Identity and Reinvention

MusicQ&A

Mar 14

INTERVIEW

FAKE DAD’S FICTIONAL WORLD MIRRORS REAL LIFE DISCOVERIES – Indie rock meets dream pop duo Fake Dad—composed of Andrea de Varona and Josh Ford—are no strangers to crafting music that feels both intimate and expansive. With their latest seven-track EP, Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, the duo dive deep into storytelling, creating a world populated by angry, burger-flipping clowns, star-crossed knights and masked sleep paralysis demons. But beneath the whimsical and surreal characters, Andrea and Josh found themselves unpacking very real aspects of their lived experiences, including their identities and sexualities as romantic partners.

Fake Dad has always thrived on a fusion of artistic perspectives. By melding Andrea’s dreamy pop sensibilities with Josh’s rock-rooted instincts, the duo has built a signature sonic shorthand—one that blends infectious pop hooks, crunchy 90s-inspired guitars, grooving bass lines and buoyant synths. Their DIY ethos extends beyond their songwriting; each track is written and recorded from their apartment, making their sound both deeply personal and sonically rich.

A major thematic underpinning of the EP stems from the band's year-long fascination with posers—specifically, the phenomenon of artists adopting personas that differ from their real selves. Rock history is riddled with figures who have played characters, using them as a means of reinvention, and Fake Dad finds beauty in that contradiction. They see playing a character as a way of uncovering deeper truths, a process that allows them to explore not only the sonic elements of their favorite rock, punk, and new wave icons but also new understandings of themselves.

Through Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine, Fake Dad harnesses this spirit of reinvention, embracing fiction as a means to navigate reality. Whether through the lens of their fantastical characters or the playful yet biting narratives they construct, Andrea and Josh prove that sometimes, the best way to tell your own story is to invent someone else’s first.

LUNA: Welcome back and thank you for talking to Luna again. It's super exciting to have you back since the last time we talked about your “Crybaby” single release party. I would love to catch up and see how life has been treating you and what have you been up to since the last time we talked.

ANDREA: Thank you guys. It's always so great to talk to you guys, and we so appreciate your support. I feel like Luna has been supporting us for years now, a long time. We did the “Crybaby” single release party and we did another backyard show.

JOSH: We've been up to a lot, basically in the time since we did the “Crybaby” release, we wrote a whole album of music that we were thinking we were going to release, and then we decided that it wasn't the right time, or it wasn't all cohesive, or it just wasn't right for a debut album, because we're very protective of the idea of what our debut album will one day be. We decided there's two sounds here, so we just shaved it down to all the stuff that really felt like it was all speaking to the same message and pulling from the same palette, and that became Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine.

ANDREA: It really stemmed from “Crybaby.” The first song we wrote, we were drawing from the same pool of inspiration. The more thought of it for the album we were working on, there was the more rock leaning stuff. With all our inspirations, we're going into classic rock, from Stones to Bowie to PJ Harvey to more early 2000s New York indie-rock scene with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. That was one half of it, and the other half is more like Josh described it as little bits of y’allternative, still very Fake Dad where we’re using a lot of electronics and synths, but exploring country.

JOSH: The stuff that we're putting on this EP, what it has in common is that it's all drawing from similar veins of rock and larger than life rock stars that we're trying to draw from, and they were copying someone, and now we're copying them.

ANDREA: With “Crybaby,” we were drawing from the Stones and there was a specific song that we were exploring the classic rock dude songs where they’re usually talking about a woman in a sexist way. We wanted to parody that a bit and reverse the roles a little bit.

LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?

JOSH: There used to be a really clear answer to that, and now I feel like it's always changing. The goal we always said was to make people feel really comfortable and cozy and or even understood in their emotional issues, or emotional journeys. Certainly that's still true, but I don't know if comfortable is really the operative adjective anymore.

ANDREA: Even when we were making stuff that was more cozy, comfortable, soft, there was always this catharsis at the center of it. I feel like now it's even more than that. Everything is cathartic and empowering.

JOSH: The thing that it always has in common is that it's us trying to recreate and continue the tradition of the catharsis we're getting from the music we listen to at that point in time. So in the past, that was music that helped us with anxiety or with identity crises, or with all of the emotions that it's really common to go through when you're in college. Now, I feel like we get that catharsis from the live experience and something that's hard to contain and rage. It feels like these days, everything is so out of control. At the same time, everything has never felt more restrained in day-to-day life, and as a result, I feel like it's most cathartic to perform music that is a little off the leash.

ANDREA: Ultimately, giving people space to be with those emotions, the emotions that maybe feel too extreme one way or the other, to just fully embody and just unleash in day-to-day life. With Holly Wholesome specifically, we were all the way through thinking about how these songs would be live, because our live show has become so central to the Fake Dad identity and brand at large. So in thinking of that, we wanted to bring that to people, give people that space, not just listening at home on headphones, but while they're seeing the live show to fully, to not just feel those emotions, but be able to let them out with us. Having a sound that lets you physicalize them and head bop or dance or jump around and just be in that space and scream if you want to, cry, all the things.

LUNA: You have released your EP Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine and huge congratulations. I love how it continues to push boundaries within your sound and visuals. Can you walk us through the world you’ve built on this EP and how these characters reflect the themes you wanted to explore?

JOSH: There's a couple things at play with what Holly Wholesome is about, and what we realized in retrospect, the first and foremost being that with music, identity is really flexible. That's sexual identity, gender identity, but also just identity in terms of who you want people to see you as. All of the people that we were drawing from, like the Stones, PJ Harvey, David Bowie, LCD Soundsystem, and even Chappell Roan, all these people use the music as an opportunity to pretend to be someone they're not. Maybe pretend to be someone they wish they were, and in the process, we all begin to see them as that person, and that becomes the true self. And maybe in some ways, it always was. It's just shame and embarrassment that keep us from exploring those parts of ourselves. That's what drew us to start doing the makeup.

ANDREA: That started with “Crybaby” being the catalyst for Holly Wholesome. We started with these clown characters, these burger flipping angry chefs. We were highlighting the ways that we both worked customer service jobs as so many creatives and artists do, and when you're doing that kind of work, how you're putting on a mask, you're putting on that face, but in some ways, as a creative it feels like you have to sometimes suppress or not show the parts of you that you feel like are most authentically you and in those spaces, like in that role, right? How much of that mask can you wear? How can you actually show when you are embodying those roles that don't feel most authentic to you?

JOSH: A lot of what we've been doing and what Andrea has been doing is exploring much more sexual or sexually liberated themes, both in the subject matter, in the tone, and then in her performance, visually, on stage, videos and vocally. It's become much more connected to your sexuality. This is why it's called Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine. How do you reconcile the fact that embracing your sexuality can be liberating? How do you reconcile that with the fact that there is an entire multi-billion dollar industry that really wants you to do exactly that, and sexual liberation can look a lot like sexual exploitation, and it's probably not a coincidence. That's why the project explores the larger world we're building with the world we've been trying to explore: this deep message of balancing sexual liberation with a machine that is looking at it and going, ‘yes, this is exactly what I want you to do.’

LUNA: At what point in the writing process did you realize that these fictional characters were also revealing personal aspects of your own experiences? Was that intentional from the start, or did it surprise you?

ANDREA: I feel like it surprised me a little bit earlier. After “Crybaby,” after that world that we created, made me realize that was the first time that we both had our makeup artists who do drag and do drag makeup for a lot of drag queens and kings. We hadn't ever really done makeup in that way. To be in drag, it started opening up some things about my own internal realizations about identity and gender, and the spectrum of gender and sexuality and what that means.

JOSH: In terms of the exploration of different ways of physically presenting ourselves, I found it to be really exploratory as well. We're a couple, and it's opened up aspects of our relationship with one another as well, in terms of what exactly we consider attraction to be and what the barriers of it are. I'd say in terms of how early I knew these were characters, in terms of the writing and the voices we were putting on, I thought of it that way pretty early, just because I've always thought what's so great about writing from the lens of a character is that you can't fully, that everything is through the lens of your identity, whether you want it to be or not.

LUNA: I would love to touch more on the creative process behind Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine. What did a typical writing and recording session look like? Did you approach it differently compared to your previous work?

ANDREA: In some ways, yes. In our previous work, everything typically started with the two of us in our home studio, and that part hasn’t changed. We’d usually begin with a beat, a bassline, a guitar riff, or a melodic idea. But in the past, we were very much working “in the box” from the start. With this project, though, we approached things differently—we were writing more from a live perspective. More than ever, we’d begin with a guitar riff or bassline played live rather than jumping straight into production. It felt like we were prioritizing songwriting and feel first.

JOSH: All of our sessions— and it’ll probably always be this way—start with the two of us just messing around in the studio, which is basically a foot from our bedroom. Usually, we don’t go into it expecting anything to come from it; it’s just about playing around. One of the biggest differences with this project was how many songs we wrote in quick succession. Normally, we’re habitual finishers—we complete one song before starting another. But this time, while we didn’t initially know we were writing an EP, we did know we were working on a cohesive project. We wanted everything to feel like it was coming from the same place, so we wrote a ton of material all at once without worrying about finishing anything right away. That meant we had to go back and complete everything at once, which was exhausting, but ultimately, it gave the project exactly what we hoped for—a really consistent sound.

ANDREA: Also the perspectives we were drawing from, from a songwriting and lyrical perspective, it really felt like these songs were in conversation with one another.

JOSH: That’s why they have such compatible themes. We wouldn't have been able to accomplish that if we'd written them all across a year.

ANDREA: One last thing I'll add that I felt was different, was I feel like we had way more fun throughout the process. With every session that we worked on for this project, I feel like a lot of times we'd go in with no expectations, not expecting whatever we were working on that day to make its way on the project.

LUNA: What is your favorite song from Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine? and why do you love this song? Is there a certain element, lyric or message that you gravitate towards the most?

JOSH: It's always changing. Every one of these songs has been my favorite at one point, but it's currently “Machinery.” I just think it's such a great message. It captures an emotion, and it's maybe one of the most explicit in its exploration of the themes of the EP. It's such a fun arrangement, too.

ANDREA: Yeah, that one’s really fun—it’s definitely up there for me. But my answer is different, and I’m sure it’ll change over time. Right now, my favorite is “WANTO.” It’s one of the songs we wrote most recently, so it still feels really fresh. I tend to have that feeling where, when something is brand new, I’m just like, this is my favorite—I need it to be out now. But for me, “WANTO” really captures the core emotions of this project—the balance between rage and joy. It has this two-part hook where it moves from that raw, intense energy into something ultimately joyful. It’s also such a blast to play live—it feels so physical, which makes it even more exciting.

LUNA: Did you take any creative risks or explore new directions with this EP compared to your Yerba Mala EP? If so, what were they and how did they come about?

JOSH: Totally. We have friends who listen to these projects and they tell us that there's a similarity and a consistent musical through line. I hope that's true, but to us and in our internal reality, it's a completely different sound and a completely different animal. From the arrangement choices that we're making to the influences we're drawing from, to even just the vocal style that you're delivering, they're all things that we've either just barely touched on with our previous music or never explored at all.

ANDREA: It feels similar in that way—almost like coming back home, right? A lot of the influences that first drew us to music, the ones that made us want to be artists and songwriters in the first place, are really present in this project, which has been really cool to explore. For me as a vocalist, this has felt like the most authentic I’ve ever sounded—like I’ve truly found my voice. Of course, that’s always evolving, and it might change over time, but right now, I just feel really at home in it. I also feel like I have a fuller range to express what I want to say in a way that, hopefully, is reaching the people it’s meant for.

JOSH: Fans have been responding really positively to the big changes in the sound so far. The ones who it's not their favorite thing, they're still supportive of us as a project, and lots of new people who I think wouldn't have liked the old stuff, but do like this stuff. It's really encouraging.

LUNA: How do you hope listeners will use Holly Wholesome and the Slut Machine as a soundtrack to their own personal experiences? What messages, emotions or experiences do you hope they can take away from the EP?

JOSH: I think that in a world where everything is about therapy speak and everything is about trying to stay enlightened and stay level, which you know is important and is good and is important to both of us, I hope that people take away from this that there is room in life for messy emotions, and there's room in life for emotions that might not be the most mature or the most evolved, and that if you try to squish those things down, you're not doing anyone any favors, and you're not better than anyone for it. You're just ignoring a part of yourself that it's screaming to be listened to.

ANDREA: In that sense of giving them the space to process those emotions, not just while listening to the EP, but taking that and channeling it in a healthy way.

JOSH: There are songs on this project about jealousy of other people, about hating people for their success. There are songs about feeling not good enough. There are songs about feeling better than other people. There are songs about emotions that you'd necessarily not be proud to talk about, but spoken about proudly in this project, because they're real.

LUNA: How are you planning on celebrating the release?

ANDREA: We're going to be at SXSW. I think we have a couple shows right on the release day, so playing it live and getting to have fun. Just playing the music in the spaces it was intended to be, to be heard in the live setting.

JOSH: It's Austin, so maybe we'll take the band out to get some barbecue or something.

LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?

ANDREA: Earlier in the call, we were saying, right now, at this moment, a little overwhelmed, but ultimately very grateful. It feels like we're in a place where we feel like we've had a lot of support and this has always been a fully independent project, from obviously the music and that we write and produce everything ourselves, but also from a visual perspective, manage ourselves. We’ve booked ourselves for years, and really in this past year we got a great manager who's made a huge difference and really supports what we're doing.

JOSH: Great PR people. We've opened ourselves up to having more people around. We've just been grinding and grinding away, and pushing for any little bit of progress we can get for years. We're not there by a long shot, but there are a lot of things happening this year that we've wanted for a really long time, and so you gotta take that as a win. I have no idea what we're going to do when we get back from tour in April, but we're working on new music.