How Fcukers Is Bringing Back '90s Dance One Party At A Time

You could hear the bassline as you entered the venue. Though it was 8 p.m. on a Wednesday at the Greenpoint venue Warsaw, the floor was filled. Fcukers was on first playing their 12th-ever show, a surprising number considering the New York City-based trio played their first show to 200 people in March 2023, and have since performed in five different countries on three different continents. As their third song, “Shake Ya Ass,” ended, whispers of “What are they called again?” scattered throughout the space. People pulled out their phones to check the name on the lineup as another banger, “Homies,” began. Energy surging, the crowd obeyed when directed to jump; by the end of the last song, most of them so caught up in dancing that they were facing away from the stage.

Helmed by 20-something musicians Shanny, Jackson Walker Lewis, and Ben Scharf, Fcukers is all about having fun by re-contextualizing ‘90s dance — in the vein of Dee-Lite or The Chemical Brothers — as modern electronic music with a true party spirit.

In person, Fcukers look like they just pulled an all-nighter at The Hacienda. Mixing Lower East Side effortlessness with ‘90s UK raver fashion, they frequently bring what they wear on the street to the stage. “It’s very organic with them, it never feels forced,” Ivan Berko, the band’s go-to producer, tells NYLON. That attitude extends to their swag-filled house shows, where Scharf hammers at a rearranged drum kit while Lewis lights up the keyboard between guitar riffs. Shanny and her psychedelic vocals are the juxtaposing element, pulling you into a trance.

The group’s genesis came about just as naturally. In October 2022, after stints in successful indie bands, all three members were primed for a passion project. Lewis first met Shanny through a friend in the neighborhood. “I knew her voice would be great over house, and I thought I was going to pitch her on making dance music,” Lewis says. “But she said it before me.”

As a prominent downtown DJ who was playing to very receptive crowds at night, Lewis spent his days making his own take on ‘90s house music with Scharf after the breakup of their prior band. When they brought Shanny into the mix, things clicked. “We were all fed up with the industry,” Shanny says. “We said, ‘Let’s just do something different.’ Let's just get some songs out and see what happens.”

Shanny’s voice is the standout element of the band’s music. It’s silky and cloud-like, paired with an effervescent, rebellious stage presence that’s both disarming and seductive. They transform Beck’s “Devil’s Haircut” into the psychedelic Fcukers cover Beck himself reveled in at the band’s September 2023 Market Hotel show, posting it to his Stories. A Lower East Side native, Shanny’s been in the music industry and signed to a label since she was 17, touring and writing songs. “I don’t care if anyone likes [the music] or not,” she says. “It’s for me.” As the frontwoman and celestial voice of Fcukers, she’s poised to be one of the most talked-about singer-songwriters in the city's downtown scene.

“We said, let’s just do something different. Let's just get some songs out and see what happens.”

When Fcukers formed just over a year ago their only goal was to play live at least once, to see if the songs worked. Lewis booked Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right in March 2023, giving the band a deadline for finishing the two songs they’d been working on, a bouncy dance track called “Mothers” and the “Devil’s Haircut” cover. When clips of their packed debut show surfaced online the next day, it caught the attention of legendary New York DJ and producer Junior Sanchez, who immediately remixed both tracks, performed them in his own set, and released them on his label, Brobot Records. For Lewis, it was the ultimate stamp of approval. “Of all the things that have come,” he says, “that was the most inspiring vote of confidence.”

They’ve only gotten more co-signs since then. In July, Fcukers was asked to remix LCD Soundsystem’s “Los Angeles” (which they released to eager reception), and they’re set to play Governors Ball 2024 alongside acts like SZA and Reneé Rapp. And, the band says, there’s only more tracks, more shows, more touring, and more real-deal party music on the way — and they’re the ones driving. You can get on board, or not ... they don’t give a fcuk.