Santa Dads

Joshua Kelberman & Connor Kizer are Baltimore’s Santa Dads. Santa Dads began in 2005 as a gag so basic you couldn’t even really call it a prank. “At the time, Dan was really into putting fake bands on all the fliers, and one of the fake bands he put on the flier for this particular show was `Santa Dads,’” Kizer says. “And Josh and I were just sitting in our living room and we said, `Dan, who’s Santa Dads?’ And he said, `You’re Santa Dads!’”

Thus pressed into musical service, the duo had yet to figure out what Santa Dads was beyond a name on a flier, but in typical Wham City pants-seat fashion, it wasn’t a process they agonized over much. “The first show was that Friday, about three or four days” after seeing the flyer, Kelberman says. “So Connor and I were like, `OK, what are we gonna do?’ Well, I’ve always wanted to play ukulele. And Connor was like, `Well, I’ve always wanted to beatbox.’” The band’s first show was as improvised and haphazard as its birth, but since then Santa Dads has become a very serious going concern, despite the duo abjuring some of the related being-a-band business.

Santa Dad’s first album Anima Mundi was released on Wildfirewildfire Records in April of 2007.