Fantastic Cat ignite a fierce, full-hearted refusal to give in on “Don’t Let Go,” a ragged, roaring folk rock anthem – and a highlight from their upcoming third album ‘Cat Out Of Hell’ – that grips tight to conviction in the face of doubt, daring listeners to keep fighting for what still matters.

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Stream: “Don’t Let Go” – Fantastic Cat

Perseverance rarely looks pretty.

More often, it looks like grit in the teeth, fire in the chest, and a white-knuckled refusal to release what still matters just because the world has decided it’s time to move on. Fantastic Cat’s “Don’t Let Go” lives in that tension – not as a song about healing neatly or bowing out gracefully, but as a fervent, full-hearted defense of staying in it. In an age of emotional detachment and tidy self-preservation, this song dares to be stubborn. It aches, pushes, laughs in the face of good advice, and keeps its hands wrapped around the light anyway.

Warm, ragged, charismatic, and gloriously alive, “Don’t Let Go” is a heart-first folk rock anthem for anyone still choosing conviction over comfort – a soundtrack to staying when it’s easier to walk away and fighting for what still matters, no matter the cost.

She said it’s time you reassess your life
Are you sure that’s what you’re like?
Or do you not know?
And while I swore that I was in control
There were lies I might have told
But I don’t know

That defiant, driving spirit has made Fantastic Cat a singular force from day one. Comprised of Brian Dunne, Anthony D’Amato, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali, the New York–bred four-piece thrive in the sweet spot between sincerity and smart-assery, turning camaraderie, chaos, and craftsmanship into something far greater than the sum of their already formidable parts. Their songs are rich with wit and lived-in wisdom, but never at the expense of feeling; even at their funniest, there’s soul in the machinery. That tension – between the band’s off-the-cuff charm and the deep emotional current running beneath the surface – remains one of their greatest strengths, making their music feel deeply human even as album titles like The Very Best of Fantastic Cat (their debut), Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat, and their latest, Cat Out of Hell, can’t help but make us laugh.

Is a dream just a drawn out fantasy
A game of make-believe
A liminal state of being?
‘Cause in my head,
there’s a band that plays at 10
And I am young again
It’s quite a scene

Set for release April 10 via Missing Piece Records, Cat Out Of Hell is Fantastic Cat’s third album and, by all accounts, their fullest portrait yet – a record shaped by the road, the chemistry of the room, and the hard-earned confidence that only comes from years of playing together. According to the band, they sought to bring the energy and immediacy of their concerts to life in the studio, building something bigger than their first two albums while still holding onto the raw, human qualities that have defined their music since 2021.

Brian Dunne tells Atwood Magazine that when they made their first record, “we didn’t really know what we had until we started playing together live,” while the second was “kind of playing catch up.” This time, the mission was different: “To capture the lightning of our live shows into a more expansive record.” That ambition can already be heard in the album’s opening run, from the shot of energy that is lead single “Donnie Takes the Bus” to the charged conviction of its follow-up “Don’t Let Go,” a song that feels built to hit both in the speakers and in a crowded room full of people shouting back every word.

And what a song it is. Fueled by ringing guitars, roadhouse spirit, and a larger-than-life, instantly catchy chorus, “Don’t Let Go” turns perseverance into something visceral. “Don’t look down, baby, don’t let go / Grab onto anything you think you can hold / And hold on tight when the light gets low,” Dunne sings, before driving the point even deeper: “Hearts get hard, and people get old / And nothing you can buy can save what you sold / So hold on tight to the light in your soul. Don’t look down, baby don’t let go!” These aren’t lyrics about passive hope; they’re lyrics about choosing not to surrender. There’s desperation in them, yes, but also defiance, humor, and hard-won heart. Fantastic Cat know exactly how to make a song feel like a rallying cry without sanding down its rougher edges.

And they sing, “Don’t look down,
baby, don’t let go
Grab onto anything
you think you can hold
And hold on tight
when the light gets low
And don’t look down,
baby, don’t let go.”

That’s precisely what Dunne and co. set out to achieve. “‘Don’t Let Go’ is a song about perseverance and the stubborn act of never giving up,” he explains. “For a while, it felt like every new indie rock song was about finding inner peace, going to therapy, and the pleasures of a warm bath. This song intends to be the antithesis of that type of songwriting. It’s about holding onto something long after you should, no matter the cost. It does sound nice in the bath though.”

He expands further on that same resistance, noting that Fantastic Cat felt “everyone seems to be making their peace with the world,” and that while “that’s a sweet resolution,” maybe “now is not the time to make your peace.” In practice, not letting go means making a choice: “To stay hungry, to stay angry, to stay youthful and cautiously optimistic… We are not a lazy band. We are getting in the van and taking the album to every town that will have us.”

I was drunk. I was screaming in the street
Saying, “How can this be me?”
Well, I don’t know
There was a time when I felt like I was strong
Everyone but me was wrong
Now, where’d that go?

And if I act my age
And I’m a grown man full of rage
What a tragic thing to be
So proud of my misery
And all the time
There’s a thought inside my mind
It’s stubborn and unwise
But, so am I

That refusal to soften into complacency gives “Don’t Let Go” its pulse. It’s not just a song about hanging on; it sounds like hanging on – like digging in your heels, throwing your voice into the void, and finding that somewhere between the absurdity and the ache, there’s still something worth fighting for. Fantastic Cat have always known how to turn warmth into power and sentiment into singalongs, but this time they sound especially alive: Road-worn, clear-eyed, and unwilling to go quietly. Rousing, relentless, and ragged in all the right ways, “Don’t Let Go” storms through with a fistful of folk rock conviction – big-hearted and built to steady shaking hands, even as the ground starts to give way.

From there, Cat Out Of Hell promises to be one hell of a ride.

Fantastic Cat’s Brian Dunne and Don DiLego recently spoke with Atwood Magazine about the conviction, chemistry, and creative fire behind “Don’t Let Go” and Cat Out Of Hell – and what it means to keep holding on when everything tells you to let go. Read our conversation below, and stay stubborn with “Don’t Let Go” wherever you stream music!

And it goes: Don’t look down,
baby, don’t let go
Grab onto anything
you think you can hold
And hold on tight when the light gets low
Don’t look down,
baby don’t let go

Hearts get hard, and people get old
And nothing you can buy
can save what you sold
So hold on tight
to the light in your soul
Don’t look down,
baby don’t let – don’t let go!

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:: stream/purchase Don’t Let Go here ::

:: connect with Fantastic Cat here ::

:: stream/purchase Cat Out of Hell here ::

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Stream: “Don’t Let Go” – Fantastic Cat

A CONVERSATION WITH FANTASTIC CAT

Don DiLego: That we are not really a made for TV band.

Brian Dunne: Yeah I think when we cut the first record, we didn’t really know what we had until we started playing together live. And then the second record was kind of playing catch up. On this album, the intention was to capture the lightning of our live shows into a more expansive record. The first quarter of the record plays out like the first 3 songs from a live concert, with crowd noise starting the record and then the 2nd track segueing into the 3rd track. The album ends with a kind of “show closer.” It’s very much guided by what’s worked so well out on the road.

Don DiLego: Obviously because it has my name in the title. But aside from that, I think it stems mostly from the idea that a song like “Donnie” really has all the classic Fantastic Cat bellwethers of what’s to come ahead on the record, and it has the footprint of everyone’s personality in the band sprinkled across the song’s arrangement. It’s just meant to be a shot of energy at the top of the record to get things started, and has little nods to the New York City universe that we’ve all spent most of our adult lives in.

Brian Dunne: Having known you for a few years Mitch, I would first say you should definitely be taking all your therapist’s recommendations. But I think this song is just sort of playing against some of what we felt became a standard topic for indie rock bands of a certain age; everyone seems to be making their peace with the world. And while that’s a sweet resolution, we here at Fantastic Cat HQ think that maybe now is not the time to make your peace. So this song sort of pushes back that type of rhetoric.

Brian Dunne: I think that it’s just a choice, to stay hungry, to stay angry, to stay youthful and cautiously optimistic. I think radical acceptance is great sometimes, but it can be… a little lazy. We are not a lazy band. We are getting in the van and taking the album to every town that will have us.

Don DiLego: It’s interesting, because I feel like Bruce often cites Fantastic Cat as a musical influence (as to what not to do). Both of those artists have such a wide-reaching influence on not just us, but likely anyone that picks up a guitar and says “I’m gonna write a song today.” They ARE the standard bearers in that regard. I don’t think any of us consciously approach a song with them in mind in the sense that, you’re just not going to beat them at what they’ve done. But all of us as songwriters are hyper aware of the greats we’re up against, both past and present, and we definitely all have a fire lit in us to do work that can hold up in some manner against those lofty standards.

Brian Dunne: I think this album is the full picture of the band. We’re very proud of those first two records, but we were still feeling like you really needed to catch us live to get the full picture of the band (and you still do — tickets ON SALE NOW). For this album, we worked really hard to tell our story. Songs of sincere perseverance mix with songs of total absurdity, which mix with songs of exuberance and excitement, and so on. It’s like Pet Sounds, but maybe more important? Only time will tell.

Don DiLego: Well, kind of like Brian had mentioned early, we just felt the first few songs ran a natural throughline into the rest of the record. It’s always an enigma…that great lost art of album track listing. And in the modern era, we’re all very aware that most folks are going to skip around depending on their mood or their current streaming preference. But it still feels like the track order is the one last holdover from the classic album era that songwriters still don’t want to relinquish ownership of, despite its’ ultimate impact on people’s perception of your record. By the time you finish mixing and mastering an album, you’re ready to retire it for the immediate future and move on to the next one. But the track listing process kind of magically glues it all back together for you, and leaves you with something a little more profound than it’s individual parts.

Don DiLego: I think the hope is that people see the continued musical growth and outsized aspirations of this band, and a belief that we’re always reliably delivering a great collection of songs. As we’ve said before, this wasn’t ever really a “band” in the classic sense, but specifically and purposefully an anti-band We’ve been literally each learning to play each other’s instruments to avoid carrying around an 8-piece band on the road. But now that we’ve arrived at album number three, it’s like, “the jig is up.” We can’t keep telling everyone the same origin story without also rising above it. But of course, we 100% absolutely still will anyway.

Brian Dunne: My favorite record of the last 365 days is called Total Cinema by Ken Yates. I think it is a perfect album. I also threw a party a few weeks ago where I decided all the music should be foreign language versions of popular songs BUT sung by the original artist and I found some amazing stuff — The Police doing “Do Do Do Do, Da Da Da Da” in Japanese, Bowie doing “Heroes” in German; all to say that the biggest source of it is from this “Motown Around The World” compilation and it rules. So, I’d recommend that.

Don DiLego: Just off the top, I really dug the last Wild Pink album Dulling the Horns a bunch and then some, as well as a belated though very appreciative discovery of Cotton Jones and their album Paranoid Cocoon. It’s been one of my most-played over the last year or so.

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:: stream/purchase Don’t Let Go here ::

:: connect with Fantastic Cat here ::

:: stream/purchase Cat Out of Hell here ::

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Stream: “Don’t Let Go” – Fantastic Cat

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