Much cheaper than therapy and nearly 50% as effective, since the beginning of 2018 Andrea de Varona and Josh Ford have been creating music in their miniature apartment in Brooklyn after their individual love of music was brought to light. Ever since that moment they’ve become almost inseparable, wasting no time in creating a sonic realm as Fake Dad that’s resonated with their fanbase and turned the pair into many’s own personal therapist. After a long rough day of working your butt off whilst carrying the weight of the world on your shoulder, they welcome you home, encourage you to sit down, relax and let them sooth with their relatable lyrics that have a cathartic effect on your body. They give nods to the past with their 80’s inspired melodies, but remaining forward facing with their intoxicating production and self reflective lyrics.

Today they release Painkiller, an ode to the mental struggle we experience where we feel as if we’re never going to recover but don’t stop fighting. It’s a testament to the resilience of human nature, standing up and raising a glass to honour how far you’ve come and how, despite you inner saboteur screaming obscenities in your head, you’re going to make it to the end of the day. There’s no day but today. They know you’re going through a rough patch but don’t dwell on it, their somber yet uplifting lyrics encourage you to fight on, along with the Olivia Newton John styled chorus that raises you above the clouds in a euphoric display. It’s the joy we need right now in a world clouded with darkness.

We all have the devil on our shoulder making us think we’re horrendous people, but Fake Dad serve as the angel, lighting our path and making us feel at home wherever their music plays. Yes their name is Fake Dad, but they’re as real as can be.

“Painkiller was inspired by our personal experiences with addiction, mental illness, and the struggle to care enough about yourself to begin to recover. The song might seem like it’s about hopelessness, but it’s not. It’s about the stubborn, spiteful insistence on hope in the face of a seemingly hopeless situation. The anthemic chorus doesn’t ask for glory, fame, or even happiness, but just the assurance that you’ll make it through the day. That you will be okay.  

This is something we’ve already seen people really resonate with on TikTok as we’ve been promoting the song. Every day, we get comments from kids saying, “This really helped me get by today,” or “I didn’t realize how much I’ve been needing to hear this,” and we’ve been totally shocked in the best way. This song, that’s about something so personal, has resonated with something deep and tender in people that we weren’t even thinking about when we got it down on the page. It was kind of a full circle moment, because that’s the reason we even put our music out in the world to begin with—in the hope that it might make even one person feel better.

We’re so excited to see how a broader audience relates to “Painkiller” as we premiere it on such a sick platform as A1234. We’ve been fans of y’all for a while so it’s really cool that you are supporting us!”