No Other Band in the World Sounds Like Shady Nasty

This interview is part of our Future of Music 2026 series. Follow all the coverage here.

Shady Nasty are the kind of band people struggle to describe, which is usually a good sign.

The Sydney trio — Kevin Stathis, Haydn Green, and Luca Watson — have carved out their own strange, serrated corner of Australian music, pulling punk, hip-hop, post-punk, and experimental sounds into something that feels both street-level and fully world-built. Their music is abrasive, funny, oddly beautiful, and unmistakably theirs.

Their debut album, TREK, arrived in February with production from The Presets’ Kim Moyes, who described the band as occupying a “unique place in Sydney” and praised their “uncompromising pursuit of individuality.” It’s a fitting summary for a group whose songs can feel like sketches from a cracked-open city: vivid, uneasy, poetic, and alive with weird detail.

That singularity has started travelling well beyond Australia. After touring TREK and supporting English band Shame in Sydney, Shady Nasty caught the ear of Fred again.., who played their track “SCREWDRIVA” to thousands of viewers on Twitch and called them “literally my favourite band in the world right now.”

His praise was not casual, either. Fred compared frontman Stathis’ writing to what he loved about The Streets’ Mike Skinner, calling the album “unbelievably beautiful” and singling out the way Stathis’ lines can feel like entire stories.

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That co-sign soon turned into collaboration. Shady Nasty teamed up with Fred again.. and Irish producer KETTAMA on “Air Maxes”, a release that pairs the trio’s ambient, gentle original with a pulsating KETTAMA remix. They later reunited with both artists for “HARDSTYLE 2”, part of Fred again..’s acclaimed USB series.

For a band built on refusal — refusal to smooth the edges, refusal to fit neatly into genre, refusal to sound like anyone else — Shady Nasty’s rising international profile feels especially satisfying.

Read an exclusive interview with Shady Nasty below.

Rolling Stone AU/NZ: What does it mean to you to be included in Rolling Stone’s Future of Music series?

Shady Nasty: It’s great. When we heard the news, we immediately switched up on our day ones!

How did you first get your start in music?

We met in high school and played a lot of different music together during that time, from jazz and classical to rock. After school, it felt natural to continue, but with a focus on material drawn from our own lives here in Sydney. We spent hours writing in studios around Marrickville over the next few years (which we still do) in search of a sound that felt true of us. We also organised and played as many local shows as we could throughout the process, anything from backyards to pubs to warehouses.

Describe your sound to a new listener in three words.

S Y D.

Tell us about your latest release. 

We released our debut album TREK last year. It took us almost a decade to get it over the line. Broadly, it describes our lives unfolding in Sydney as we dedicate ourselves to an uncompromising vision of Shady Nasty.

What’s your favourite career memory so far?

Completing a soundcheck at Sydney Opera House Forecourt was pretty incredible. Sounded great. But then the heavens opened up…

What are the positives and negatives of being a musician in 2026?

The positives: you needn’t send via telegram to notify the townsfolk of your upcoming performances.

The negatives: you need to post via Gram to notify the townsfolk of your upcoming performances.

What’s one thing you’d change about the ANZ music industry?

We’d like to see our industry take a little more pride in its presentation. A waistcoat with some tasteful neckwear for performers and crew alike wouldn’t be a bad place to start…

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Are you hopeful for the future of music in ANZ? 

Of course. Antipodean music CANNOT BE STOPPED.

Name one other ANZ act you’d like to see make our Future of Music series in the future. 

Jonny Chopps.

What’s coming up for you this year?

We are touring hard. UK/EU, AU, and then USA. Between tours, we are chipping away at a new record which we pray will take less than ten years to realise.