Local’s Lounge with COOLDAD

Each month we spotlight a local regional Victorian musician, songwriter or band killing it in our scene.

In the Local’s Lounge this month we have the coolest band with the coolest name; COOLDAD.

Explore more incredible music makers from our Locals Lounge series here.

Who is COOLDAD?

COOLDAD is a Geelong based indie-rock trio consisting of Will Anderson, Carly Jorja and Kade Baker. Led by Anderson who is the song-writer for the band, inspirations are derived from an array of bands from around the around, but none more important than their friends and fellow musicians in the local music scene.

How long have you been playing music and give us the history of your current act?

Carly has been playing music the longest out of all of us. Ever since she was a little kid, having grown up in a musical family, it all just happened naturally for her. Then for us other two, one day Kade Baker messaged me and said he was learning bass guitar. Then I (Will), being a great friend, decided to go out pick-up a guitar and learn it out of spite just to be better at music than him. It wouldn’t be until years later that we decided to join forces and bring COOLDAD to life. Playing our first show together back in 2022, we’ve gone through many changes since. Most notably the addition of the matching outfits at the end of 2023. Giving each of us a unique colour. Red for Will, Yellow for Carly, and Blue for Kade. Carly was the only one that ended up with her favourite colour. Will’s is also yellow, and Kade’s is red. In the true fashion of our friendship though, I couldn’t let him have red… out of spite of course.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by COOLDAD 🩷💛🩵 (@cooldadtheband)

How did you discover your passion for music making and performing?

Carly has been performing her whole life on stage in bands, so it’s just always been a part of her. Meanwhile for Will, he had started a band before ever being to a concert or a live show. Then one day with a friend they went and watched a local festival called ‘Superfuzz’, and one of the first live bands he ever watched was ‘Good Sniff’ and that really opened his eyes to what he could do on stage, and gave him the never-ending itch of wanting to be on stage performing and making music. Then for Kade Baker, he’s a mysterious soul that just appeared one day. I needed a back-up band for a show we played down at Platform Arts in Geelong as Carly was busy seeing Billie Eilish. So I stole the drummer from Carly’s solo project, and then Kade Baker out of nowhere had just hopped up on bass and played the set unexpectedly with us. Now he’s just been here ever since.

What have been the biggest milestones in your music career to date?

Our sold-out album launch in Footscray at Mamma Chen’s was pretty unbelievable. Usually as a local band you get anxious about ticket sales and if people are actually going to come. This show sold out on pre-sale tickets a few hours before doors opened. Then we discovered a new fear of ‘What if more people show up and can’t come in’. Other than that we’ve also been featured on Rage for a music video for ‘War in Hong Kong’ which was our third single from the album. Having grown up all watching Rage late at night, it was pretty crazy to see something we had made be featured.

Take us into your catalogue!

We currently sit at one EP, one Album. Our latest feat has been the album 1971, it took way longer then we expected to make, having started the project in January of 2024 and only finishing it by June of 2025. We worked with a multitude of people on it including Heath Robertson as recording and mixing engineer, Jett Willey as co-recording engineer, and Chay Willingham as mastering engineer. The album also includes a bunch of our friends featured on track to track.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by COOLDAD 🩷💛🩵 (@cooldadtheband)

What is the story behind your new material?

The entire album of 1971 was completely inspired by The Cool Dad himself. Every song is a different story of his life. It starts with 1971, the year he was born. Shifting and merging through time with absurd stories you won’t believe aren’t just songs. Then perfectly coming to the end for Now That You’re Fifty Four, the age he is now.

Who did you work with on your latest release? 

It was all recorded between a bedroom and a shed. We first started recording the album with Heath Robertson in his childhood bedroom which had been turned into a DIY studio. Then from there we moved to working with Jett Willey in his shed to finish it off. It was all then mixed by Heath Robertson before being sent off to Chay Willingham to master.

Over the time of recording we also made a few music videos. Using a grand total budget of $3 across the music videos. It would’ve been $0 but we forgot to bring the can of beans to the shoot with us for ‘Major Sea’, so we had to buy a new can. Thankfully, they were on sale for $3.

Give us a gear rundown.

We keep it pretty simple for the most part. We have Carly playing drums, Will playing electric guitar, and then Kade Baker playing the most insane effects driven bass set up that scares off all sound engineers. You can really watch their face turn grey when they see him walk into a room carrying not only a bass amp, but also a guitar amp, with a pedal board so clustered it looks like New York traffic. Completely ‘inspired’ by Royal Blood’s set up, he’s configured his bass to not only sound like a bass, but also a lead guitar. Essentially giving our trio a real rock band sound. He invested in this insane set up before even knowing the names of the notes he was playing. So I’m glad that he now has an opportunity to use it live, even if the sound engineer’s look ready to ask him if he really needs it or not.

What does a typical day of creating music look like for you in the studio, in rehearsals and on the stage?

A typical day of making music together involves waiting for Kade to get to rehearsal from Ballarat, before cramming into a tiny shed and driving our neighbors insane. All before getting distracted and agreeing that it is time to go to Subway. If we get lucky, sometimes we are productive. It makes it tricky not to just hang out though since we were all just normal friends before deciding we would be rockstar friends.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by COOLDAD 🩷💛🩵 (@cooldadtheband)

What is the gateway song for new fans to listen to to introduce your sound?

‘Major Sea’, definitely. It features everything you want in a COOLDAD song, questionable lyrics mixed with awesome guitar riffs. Don’t start with ‘Mary Jane’. That is all.

What has been the biggest challenge you face as an artist and how are you pushing through that barrier?

Doing music at a local level, you’re always feeling like “is this worth it”. And you’ll get a lot of people in your life that tell you ‘no, it’s not’. So the biggest challenge as an artist is just being able to remind yourself that ‘yes, it is’. I wouldn’t be where I am today in life if I didn’t decide to start a band. And whoever is reading this now wouldn’t be reading this if I hadn’t either. So it’s all been worth it in the end.

How would you characterise the music ecosystem in regional Victoria?

Right now realistically, it’s kind of rough. The bands we’ve all grown up playing with are in that state of mind where they have to question is this worth sticking at. It seems like every couple months one of your favourite local bands is forced to disband, or another venue you’ve spent too much money at has closed. Thankfully though, there still are heaps of places to play and perform. Some notably better than others, but nonetheless, you just have to be grateful that it’s still possible to have an opportunity to be rockstars for one night.

How has being based in regional Victoria elevated your music practice?

I think being from a town where there’s only about 10 bands compared to Melbourne’s 400. You really get to meet the people in your scene and get to know them way better. It’s almost like a tiny family at this point. We all try to push each other to keep sticking at it and remind each other that we are living our dreams everyday.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by COOLDAD 🩷💛🩵 (@cooldadtheband)

What does 2026 look like for you?

We’ve been jamming some new songs at the moment and have plans to work on recording a brand new EP. We haven’t started yet, but it’s definitely been discussed over a Subway cookie or two.

Who is your biggest music crush of 2026?

Djo. Not only is he hot, but he’s also very good at making music. I also might be the only person right now who’s immediate answer isn’t Geese. Like yeah they’re cool, but have you guys heard that guy from Stranger Things. Holy moly, absolute music genius Steve Harrington is.

Where can we find you?

You can find us everywhere @cooldadtheband or check out our website at cooldadtheband.com

Listen to our album, please, I’m desperate.