Fake Blonde Mom splashed into the music world like bleach from a bottle – striking, sensational, and impossible to ignore. The band, named once the original members realised their mothers shared a common trait (“sorry for outing you, mom!”), made their debut into the Cape Town alternative scene early last year, and full of curly haired cuties, they consist of guitarist Ari, drummer Lily, bassist Joel, and, of course,  lead singer Ash, whom I recently had the pleasure of interviewing.

Ash – an artistic bombshell, with an interest in the esoteric and stage presence to spare – has held a lifelong connection to music, and the depth of this relationship was immediately apparent as we began talking. “I come from a musical family,” she tells me. “It’s in my bones. Both my parents,  throughout the 90s and 2000s, were established DJs in the Trance scene, and I grew up at festivals. I’ve wanted to be a musician my entire life – the type of musician just changed throughout the years”. 

Combined with a flair for performance, it was this love towards music that pushed Ash towards creating a band, a project that both she and Ari had been working on together since 2022, before being joined by Joel and Lily. It was clear to all of them that everyone was serious about Fake Blonde Mom, and they quickly progressed to creating their own music, culminating in their first single. ‘Petty’, released last June, is a heartfelt and exceptionally catchy piece which emerged out of a friendship break-up.  Ash explains she chose the name, “because when I confronted her about the way she used to treat me, she called me petty”. 

“It’s one of my favourite songs lyrically because it’s so detailed,” she tells me. “I  referenced a lot in that song; ‘Riches and Wonders‘ by The Mountain Goats inspired the opening line, and the lyric ‘and I swear I’m a Sans-culottes’ was inspired by Robespierre from the French Revolution, who was a hypocritical rich kid – just like her”. Ash elaborates on this comparison, recalling that “She was one of those girls that acted like she was poor, despite coming from an extremely wealthy family. Robespierre would condemn people for not being Sans-culottes [a phrase describing the lower class] when he himself was bourgeoisie. Like him, she was someone who cosplayed poverty for social points while still taking advantage of her privilege”.

“The song is a reflection of how dysfunctional and non-communicative we were,” she concludes, “and the way I never saw it coming, because I loved her. It came from my  intense need for clarity, and forgiveness, and almost a want for revenge.” With such a deep well of emotion to draw from, ‘Petty‘ was soon accompanied by their first EP, Growing Pains, in October. While featuring witty titles like ‘Once a cougar saved my life‘, the album still follows a sincere thematic journey, and Ash explains how they chose a name which aligned with that message. 

“We eventually settled on Growing Pains because the project followed the idea of working through your feelings and getting more resilient as a result. I get inspired a lot by my feelings, to put them into something physical and substantial, and the songs in  this album all fall in line with that, to tell a story, and to pay homage to the things I was going through at the time.”

This emotional engagement shines through not only Ash’s creative work, but her performance, too. I ask how it feels to get up on stage, and if her feelings towards it have evolved throughout the time that Fake Blonde Mom has been active. “In the beginning, when we first started doing shows, we’d sometimes have a drink before our set to calm our nerves,” she confesses. “Now, though, it feels like second nature. I don’t feel weird at all, going up to perform.” 

Although Ash says she finds the experience of performing incredibly enjoyable, she admits it’s not all smooth-sailing. “We’re one of a very few female-led bands in the Cape Town scene, and it’s very easy for us to be disrespected by men. Many of them come into the scene as these self-absorbed tyrants who hate women, and so many girls get discouraged, because besides being worried for their safety, they also need to be worried about even being heard. It’s a huge issue. 

That being said, there are a lot of really fantastic people in the scene, including men, and it feels good to represent something. It’s cool to be a girl. I’m inspired a lot by Kathleen Hanna – read her autobiography, it’s brilliant – to be a female musician,  because it’s so important, being a woman in the alternative community, and the face of a project. I’m unbelievably grateful that I can.” 

Towards the end of the session, we discuss the direction of Fake Blonde Mom’s music in the future, and I ask where they’re taking their sound in the coming months.

“With our new music, there’s a lot of influence from the band julie, especially their album my anti-aircraft friend, as well as bossa nova music. Last year, our music was very emotional, and poetic, and this time it’s definitely more energetic. 

I like the idea of Fake Blonde Mom World Domination, but currently, we’re just pushing ourselves to be better artists and performers. I want to write music that people can go crazy to, but for now I’d say grunge is the perfect way to describe us. We’re still finding out who we are as a band, and I think we’ve been really good at that recently.  

We’re playing at Evol on August 15, and then at House of Machines on August 23. We played almost non-stop shows in February and March, which took up a lot of time,  and we went on hiatus to write new music, but it’s been a long time coming for some gigs, and we’re ready. We have a lot more confidence in what we’re putting out. I can’t wait.”