Hey, everyone! Today, we’re joined by Baptiste and Clément from Shady Fat Kats. How are you doing?

Baptiste — We’re doing great! We’re full of energy; we’ve pretty much just come off stage. And it was awesome!

You opened the third day of Motocultor 2026. How did you find the crowd? What was the experience like for you?

Baptiste — Well, at first, we thought we’d be playing to people having their lunch, with nobody in front of us. But it turned into a glorious mess, let’s put it that way! So, it was really, really rewarding for us, especially for opening a festival.

Clément — Exactly. Opening a festival is never easy. Before we’d even started playing, we could already see quite a few people showing up. And as the songs went on, the crowd kept growing, people started moving, and circle pits began to open up… That’s when we thought we were in for a great set and a great time!

So, which song got the biggest reaction from the crowd?

Baptiste — I feel like the energy kept building little by little. It really built up as the set went on! When we started playing Out of Control, which is a bit more metal, that’s when the circle pit really kicked off.

And some people genuinely seemed to know the song, too! It was the same with the last song of the set, Killing You: people were singing along. It’s surprising to see so many people singing our songs. It really is!

Clément — And even during the songs in between, like Lazy, you could see all these arms waving in the air! Seeing so many metalheads letting loose like that, when they might not necessarily do that all the time, was great. No, it was brilliant!

Baptiste — Yeah, they were amazing to watch, honestly. It was such a blast!

Out of Control is your latest release. You’ve put out several singles, but so far, you’ve only released one EP and no full-length album. Is there a particular reason for that? Is it also a way of keeping up with current trends and how people consume music nowadays?

Baptiste — Absolutely! At the beginning, we also thought that nobody knew who we were anyway. So we decided to release our songs little by little. We’d put out a track every three months or every four to five months. That way, we could be reasonably sure people would actually listen to it. Whereas if we released an album with ten or twelve songs, we thought nobody would listen to it apart from our mums and maybe my cousin!

So that’s the approach we went with. And now, ten years in, the band is starting to build a decent little fanbase, especially in France and elsewhere. So we thought, “All right, let’s release an album in 2027! It’ll be our first one.”

And what about your creative process? How does that work?

Baptiste — We actually have a slightly unusual setup because the person who initially writes the songs with me isn’t someone who performs on stage with us. We’ve been working together for ten years now. On top of that, he’s on the other side of the world. At the moment, he’s in Vietnam!

So we do a lot of video calls. We each sit at our computers, develop our ideas separately, and put together what you could call the core structure of the song. Then Clément comes in and adds his own touch with the drum parts and so on.

Clément — Exactly. Basically, they put together a solid foundation. Then I get a version without drums, and they ask me, “What do you feel like doing with this?”

I have fun with it and let loose. After that, we tweak a few things. And eventually, through everyone’s input and discussions, we come up with this little cocktail that reflects who we are today. That’s what makes our songs fairly unique in the end.

You mentioned that Out of Control is a little more metal than the rest of your material. You explore different moods and sounds. How does that work? What do you start with when writing a song? Is it more instinctive, or do you make specific choices from the outset?

Baptiste — It’s true that it’s pretty instinctive. We’re quite a bunch of metalheads, although we also enjoy different styles of music, like pop-punk and so on. So all those influences naturally blend together.

For example, with Out of Control, I knew I wanted to include harsh vocals before I even started writing the song, simply because I like them. It’s also a bit of a vocal challenge. You get to explore new sounds, different vocal placements, and so on. It’s good to give yourself little challenges like that.

But it’s true that it all happens naturally. I won’t lie to you: we usually go through fifteen or twenty versions of a song. We take our time and really fine-tune every little detail.

And who’s the biggest perfectionist?

Clément — I think he’s sitting to my right. I’d say it’s Bapt! But I think you’ve got the two biggest perfectionists right here. We like to nitpick. I’m a little less obsessive about it. (showing Baptiste) Right here, you’ve got the maestro of perfectionism!

So, with the album in the works, can we expect a new single very soon?

Baptiste — It’s ready! It’s coming out towards the end of the summer.

We can’t wait! Do you have a message for everyone listening to your music?

Baptiste — Thank you so much, and keep listening! That’s it, just keep listening. And tell your friends about us, your mum, your dad, everyone!

Clément — We’d love the chance to explore more of France. And maybe beyond that, too, why not? We’d be delighted!

Thank you both!

Shady Fat Kats — Thank you!