About

Fake Decay started as (and continues to be) a one-man in-studio operation based out of New York, acting as the "little-to-no compromises" outlet of J.C. Umana's solo work as a musician, songwriter, and audio engineer.

A project that straddles many genres, but often resolves to call itself "punk", Fake Decay is meant to serve as the ultimate expression of one person's raw ambitions in music with a message to boot: make it sound how it feels.

The idea had roots as far back as Summer 2021, when J.C. decided to step back from gigging and playing with bands of uncertain trajectories. Instead, he sharpened his abilities in the essential ingredients of a guitar-driven rock band before hitting the rails, and seeking the inspiration of studio environments and recording techniques in Boston and Chicago (where he came up with the name of the project).

The soul-searching was cut short, however, and the project was shelved for over half a year, while J.C. focused on the growth of his new band Figs Against God. It wasn't until he found himself at odds with the internal band politics that he then decided to frontload all the unfinished business he had with Fake Decay. This led to marathon recording sessions, a 4-song demo, gigs around campus, 2 EPs, 3 singles, and a few record release events.

Seemingly, J.C.'s musical career culminated with one final show (at the ripe old age of 21) -- a radio appearance including an interview with fellow bandmates and the last performances of his three surviving acts: Figs Against God, Winter Lights, and Fake Decay. The latter two saw him recording all of the accompanying drum and bass tracks for the live performance in the days just prior. After that, Fake Decay appeared to be retired. J.C. hadn't released anything in the years that followed. But things had begun to change.

It wasn't too long before the embarrassment of old releases wore off, realizing that people actually wanted to hear more as much as he wanted to write and perform more. A new band here... a test recording there... soon enough there were demos, not to mention dozens more songs slowly becoming organized into planned releases. Fake Decay was soon to return. Not many knew it, but suspected as much, with clips of unreleased songs posted and questions about J.C.'s deafening past from new peers growing in numbers.

Somewhere on the horizon, there's a plan in place for EPs heralding the return of Fake Decay to former gigging frequency, the exploration of new sonic territories, and a debut LP (among others). 

While the history of Fake Decay continues to be written, you and others reading this have the chance to be part of the progressing story. J.C. is actively searching for bandmates local to the New York Metropolitan area to bring sound and vision to the stage with a type of presence never before associated with live Fake Decay shows. Find out more here.

Black & white film photography across the website is credited to Jace Steiner.