Fake Fruit

Bay Area post-punks Fake Fruit tackle their frustrations with relentless energy and plenty of humor. Driven by Ham D'Amato's alternately deadpan and ferocious vocals as well as jagged accompaniment by guitarist Alex Post and drummer Miles MacDiarmid, the band's 2021 self-titled debut album announced them as part of a tradition of live-wire acts spanning Pylon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Wet Leg. When they returned with 2024's Mucho Mistrust, Fake Fruit added more melody and variety to their music without losing any of their propulsive wit. Fake Fruit began as the project of D'Amato, who grew up in Orange County and departed for New York when she was 18. During her time there, she immersed herself in the city's indie rock scene and formed an early, two-piece incarnation of Fake Fruit in 2016. By 2017, D'Amato had moved to Vancouver. She kicked the band into high gear, playing with a trio lineup, writing several songs a day, and recording an album's worth of demos. D'Amato landed in the Bay Area in 2018 and soon connected with lead guitarist Post, a friend of D'Amato's sister from their art school days, and drummer Miles MacDiarmid. Joined by a rotating cast of bassists, Fake Fruit played dozens of shows and recorded their self-titled debut album, which featured a mix of songs from the Vancouver demo as well as new tracks written with Post and MacDiarmid. Appearing in March 2021 on Rocks in Your Head, the label of Sonny & the Sunsets' Sonny Smith -- who used his first COVID-19 unemployment check to release the album -- Fake Fruit introduced the band's brash, witty take on post-punk. Greeted with critical praise, the record quickly sold out its initial vinyl pressing of 250 copies and went on to sell out several more pressings. That July, Fake Fruit issued the single "I Am the Car" while "No Mutuas," a Spanish-language version of "No Mutuals" from the band's debut album, appeared the following March. After playing dates with Wet Leg, Dry Cleaning, Sunflower Bean, and Alvvays, Fake Fruit started work on their next album. Recorded at Oakland's Atomic Garden Studio with producer Jack Shirley, August 2024's Mucho Mistrust was the band's first album for Carpark and explored breakups, stressful day jobs, and late-stage capitalism in its volatile songs.
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