After meeting in college at Albright University in Reading, Jordan Santiago, Savannah Peck, and Jack Duncan decided to bite the bullet and form a full band after jamming in dorm rooms and basements. Hot Dad Calendar is the indie rock product of living between city and suburbia and navigating the transitional period between college and the real world. Their debut EP, Camp Cold Lake explores their atypical “alt dad rock” sound and is further fleshed out in their second EP, In Good Time. This guys are a hilariously good time both to watch perform and to just sit and talk with. Despite their marketed easy-going dad rock vibe, there’s a lot of depth below the surface of each band member as individuals.

Let’s just get this one out of the way. It’s our most debated question: do you believe all foods can be categorized as a soup, salad, sandwich, or individual ingredient?

Bre: Name a food. We’ll help start. [this question exhausts me but it’s a worthy debate]

Jordan: Fries.

Emily: …Sandwich.

Jordan: What? What? How?

Emily: Pizza is a sandwich. A burger is obviously a sandwich. Umm… chowder is on thin ice if you’ve read any of our other dates. Someone even added other categories, like “dry soup” and “wet salad.” Dominy got really meta with it. This conversation ends friendships.

Bre: They claimed that the entire world is a sandwich because at any given moment there are likely two pieces of bread on each side of the planet. Oh - is the galaxy a salad or a soup?

Jordan: Gotta be a salad.

Bre: I’d call it a soup because it moves around so mystically.

Jordan: Have you ever played “bed, blanket, pillow?”

Emily: No, what’s that? [I shouldn’t have asked because I don’t think I can handle another question like this]

Jordan: You take three things. Like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Princess Diaries. Then you classify them. So Lord of the Rings is “bed,” Harry Potter is “blanket,” and Princess Diaries is “pillow.”

Bre: Wait. How.

Jordan: The bed is the foundation. The blanket is what’s keeping you warm at night, it’s cozy. And the pillow is just extra comfort - you don’t need it but it’s a nice luxury.

Bre: Okay… then Harry Potter is always the bed, then. Lord of the Rings is the blanket.

Jordan: Oh hot take, Lord of the Rings would be my bed.

Bre: And then Princess Diaries or Princess Bride?

Jack: I thought you said Princess Bride.

Bre: I’d accept Princess Bride over Princess Diaries. Hot take - which is better?

Emily: Hotter take? Princess Bride, Princess Diaries, or Princess Diana?

Jordan: She died the day I was born!

Bre: Maybe you’re her reincarnation.

Jordan: Yeah I say it all the time.

Bre: The resemblance is uncanny. [it’s not]

Jack: Kurt Cobain was found dead the day I was born.

Emily: Wait what? What the fuck. Savannah do you have a weird dead celebrity birthright thing? [I googled my own here and I actually said “none of these are good”]

Savannah: I know I share a birthday with Drew Brees.

Emily: Has anyone checked in on him lately? How’s Drew Brees doing?

Jack: I just wanna point out the contrast of all the different TVs in here. [we were sitting at one of the strangest restaurants in downtown West Chester] College football, figure skating, American Ninja Warrior.

Emily: Bed, blanket, pillow!

Since we’re on the subject of food - what would your last meal be on death row be?

Jack: It would probably be a burger. [as he said this his lunch order came out. a burger]

Bre: Would you rather only be able to use ketchup or mustard for the rest of your lives?

[there was an overwhelming response of ‘ketchup’]

Jordan: Ketchup, are you kidding me?

Jack: What kind of mustard? Is it honey mustard?

Bre: Any kind of mustard.

Jack: There are some good honey mustards. But there are also some really bad ones out there…

Jordan: What’s the distinction for you?

Emily: There’s only one ketchup.

Jordan: That’s not true! There’s fancy ketchups - there’s Mayochup. [even reading this word back made me feel nauseas]

Emily: Anyways. The first band I asked this question to said they’d ask for a human body as their last meal. Like, just because. And I keep hoping someone tops that and no one has. [I keep dropping this in, but I’ll disclose. Someone in Sixteen Jackies said it]

Jordan: Savannah, what’s your last meal?

Jack: Oh can I guess? I think I know what it would be.

Savannah: Go ahead.

Jack: It’s either pulled pork or steak.

Savannah: I was leaning toward steak. I do love me some steak…

Emily: Someone else said they’d ask for pasta and then the person would come over and sprinkle parmesan cheese over it, but she’d never say “when,” so they can’t actually go ahead with killing her. Hack. [Turquoise is the smartest person I’ve ever met]

Bre: What would your last alcoholic drink on death row be?

Jordan: There’s this brewery in Maryland called Heavy Seas and they have this beer called Loose Cannon that I love.

Jack: It would have to be a PBR for me.

Emily: I like that answer. [it wouldn’t be my answer but I’ll also never turn it down]

Jordan: Have you tried the PBR coffee? It’s like PBR and a YooHoo.

Emily: ….disgusting. [I have to try it]

Savannah: I’d do anything from Chatty Monks in West Reading.

Jordan: Wait - I changed my answer. Blood of Christ. Like, straight up. None of that other shit. I want the Blood of Christ. [I’m capitalizing this so you understand that he was being serious]

What’s the story behind your band name?

Jack: I don’t even know if there’s a story to this.

Jordan: There’s kind of a story.

Savannah: All I remember is I asked Jordan if he wanted this to be a solo project or a band, and he said “Band. Hot Dad Calendar.”

Jordan: Yeah, I had it locked and loaded. There’s this band called Cayetana who has a song called Hot Dad Calendar, coincidentally.

Emily: I know Cayetana. I know Philly. [learn from Jordan and understand that I know most things about the Philly music scene]

Jordan: Yeah, they’re not really around anymore.

Bre: What’s that poster you had in your dorm room forever ago, you were obsessed with them. Was it Cayetana?

Jordan: Tigers Jaw. I think. Or could have been Joyce Manor.

Emily: I just saw Tigers Jaw two weeks ago at Boot & Saddle. Man. How e-boy of you.

Jordan: We used to go to the holiday show all the time in Scranton.

Bre: I think it was Death Cab actually.

Jordan: I just got the Transatlanticism art tattooed. [he pulled up his sleeve to reveal the crow album art and it was indeed cool]

Emily: That’s beautiful. I just got a tattoo yesterday. Jen [our collective mutual friend, and the reason why I know Bre and Jordan at all] was going to come with me because it’s her artist out by Arcadia, and then she couldn’t, so I roped another friend into coming and we spent like an hour and a half total in Lyfts.

We also look for red flags when we’re on these dates, so what kind of red flags do you look out for in other people? And can you name your own personal red flags?

Jordan: I’m a musician. [he said this really, really quietly, like he didn’t even want to say it at all]

Emily: NO. That’s an unacceptable answer at this point. We get it. You have to name something legit.

Bre: That’s what they all say.

Jordan: I’m a bad boy.

Emily: Fuck. Redacted.

Bre: No, that stays. Mine was good, I can’t remember what it was…

Emily: You can’t commit, you said.

Bre: I’m too busy all the time and I have a hard time settling.

Emily: I’m the opposite, I think I fall in love daily.

Bre: I can’t stand when other people chew with their mouth open. Everything. It’s disgusting.

Jack: I guess a lot of my mannerisms are red flags…

Emily: What’s something about someone else that you can’t get past? Are you dating somebody?

Jack: I am.

Emily: Okay maybe don’t expose them like this, then. [then there was some kind of jumbled everyone-talk-at-once banter but this is the gist of it]

Bre: Wait - did you just say diabetes is your red flag?

[the table exploded in laughter except for me because this was clearly an inside joke or something that I wasn’t a part of]

Jordan: Wait you never said anything about that. What? Who?

Emily: I guess just the thought of it…? Just the thought of having diabetes? I am so confused. On behalf of Nick Jonas, I’m sorry.

Jack: An ex, an ex. They were the worst.

Jordan: Wait I thought you were saying Savannah has diabetes. No she does not. I felt like a terrible friend. God.

Emily: Um. Next.

Savannah: Red flag for other people I guess would be immaturity and smoking. I think my personal red flag would be….anxiety. [I think she shot us some finger guns here]

Emily: This question was a mess. Can’t wait to transcribe this later. Holy shit. Let’s do a music question.

When someone asks what your favorite album is, what answer do you give to seem cool, and what’s your real guilty pleasure favorite?

Jordan: I don’t know, I’m not necessarily guilty about it….

Emily: You’re the most typical musician I’ve ever met. No, we’ve gotten some weird answers for this one.

Jack: To impress someone, like to seem snobby, I’d probably say The Smiths.

Emily: So fair. [I’m haunted by that scene in 500 Days of Summer where they talk about The Smiths in the elevator]

Jack: But my favorite album ever is The Wonder Years, Suburbia. Like probably ever.

Bre: I just photographed them!

Jordan: To impress someone I’d say Chet Baker Sings.

Jack: Pulling out the jazzzzz!

Jordan: Yeah, his smooth little baby voice. But my real favorite - Transatlanticism. Narrow Stairs is a close second.

Bre: I don’t even think I’ve answered this yet and I’ve thought about it since our RFA interview.

Emily: Oh yeah, lemme at it. I don’t know your answers.

Bre: Sticks would be my impressive answer. Sticks isn’t popular enough to be terribly mainstream, so it would kind of be a conversation starter. But my real favorite right now is Noah Kahn’s album that he just put out.

Jack: I had a whole top 100 albums playlist ready to go.

Emily: I went on a date with a guy that did that and he said they were all individually ranked. It wasn’t just the top 100 albums, it was like, meticulously put together. I would say that’s a glaring red flag.

Do you remember your AOL screen names?

Jordan: I never had one. My X-Box Live name was PRJordy. Stood for Puerto Rican Jordy. Let the record show.

Jack: I think mine was xmagictoesx…

Emily: That’s revealing.

Bre: Mine was my name without any of the vowels. But the “a” in Cura was the @ sign.

What’s something really cringey you’ve done to impress someone? Or something cringey someone has done to impress you?

Jack: I lip synced an All Time Low song for a girl I liked.

Bre: You did that?

Jack: I put it on YouTube. Seventh grade.

Emily: Well what happened after?

Jack: Nothing good.

Emily: That would have been a painful red flag for me.

Jordan: I went around a Rite Aid one time, and I started sniffing a bunch of weird shit and they asked why I was doing that. So I said, when you want to remember something, the best way to do it is to tie the moment to a scent. And they just weren’t getting it - I’m cute or whatever. Forget it.

Emily: Wait were you trying to impress someone who worked in Rite Aid?

Jordan: No that was the date. I did get a second though.

Bre: I had this guy in high school who spoke only in an English accent because he knew I had a thing for guys with accents. He was from Coatesville. Not England.

Emily: I just think the default cringe answer is any time you get that “what would you do If I was there” text? Every time that happens my phone just exits the window. Changing my number as we speak.

Bre: The best thing Savannah has ever done is her Powerpoint.

Savannah: Yeahhh… I made a Powerpoint for Tinder and people ask how long it took me, and it was like a 10 minute project, truly. It was done in all Comic Sans and had the worst colors, and it was reasons why you should date me.

Emily: Bre told me it got picked up by Reddit or something.

Savannah: Yeah it got shared around with lots of weird comments. Men are scary.

Emily: Men are scary.

Bre: Men are scary.

Emily: On that note. I think we’re done!

So.

Would we date Hot Dad Calendar again? We’ll report back with our Powerpoint of reasons why we will or won’t. In the meantime, I’m gonna spin some Chet Baker Sings.

The Date Where Hot Dad Calendar Vets Their Tinder Matches With a Powerpoint