FCUKERS

“Bon Bon”, the supremely fun breakout single from New York band Fcukers was this year's hot ticket, BRAT for people who actually go to clubs. With its nods to British big-beat outfits like Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx, “Bon Bon” reached a level of saturation I didn't think possible in 2024. Everywhere, from the gay sauna to the church potluck to the Shacklewell Arms, there was one nonsense refrain to rule them all: “I get ya bon bon”. Everyone was fcuking with Fcukers this year, and with their follow-up EP Baggy$$, the two-piece has proved there is well-honed songcraft behind the hype. On tracks like the snarling, acid-dipped “Tommy” or “UMPA”, the best song M.I.A. never wrote, Fcukers justify why former CELINE creative director Hedi Slimane tapped them to DJ the afterparty of the brand's AW24 show back in March, or why they are currently touring across Europe with like-minded party monsters Confidence Man. TANK caught up with the band on their whirlwind year, vibe babies and why they're still broke. Listen to their UK-heavy TANK Mix below.

On the conservatism of indie

Jackson Walker Lewis The whole ethos of the project has been about physical experience. Shanny and I had played in the ‘indie band sphere’ for years and years. I was the first one to quit the old band I was in and I was DJing all the time, having more success as a DJ than I ever had from playing in a band. It made me re-evaluate things: if you’re a band, you don't have to play at 9pm with two support acts and then it's over. Everyone thinks it has to be that way, but there are no rules. Shanny and I were in adjacent friend groups and met at the restaurant where she used to work. I was itching to start making some music again, just for fun on the side, and it was one of the first times since I was 18 that I was like “We're just going to write with no cares in the world. Purely for ourselves”. From the jump the first show we ever played I booked DJs before and after our set, and we played past midnight.

Shannon Wise Having played so many shows singing in an indie band before, after our first show as Fcukers I was like “Wait. That was really fun”. I hadn't experienced that before, having so much fun dancing around on stage.

On going out 

JWL I'm trying to go out less but it doesn't work out much because I’m DJing for rent money. It’s really hard not to be out like four nights a week. My chill night constitutes sitting at the bar that our friend bartends at. Me not having a night out is still sitting at a bar. We're out pretty much all the time. 

On (not) making money

JWL The whiplash feeling I'm having is getting so busy now that touring is picking up but still being incredibly broke. We’re doing all this stuff, playing all these festivals and there's people at every gig, but then I look at my bank account and it's the worst it's ever been. My credit card bill is insane.

SW Yeah, I’m maxed out for sure.

On why Ben left the band

JWL Ben decided to go back to school. Believe it or not, he wanted to become a therapist and become a doctor. From a studio standpoint, the project was always just Shanny and I. Ben was obviously a live component but wasn't in the studio  for “Bon Bon”, “Mothers”, or “Devil's Cut”. Not everyone is down to do the touring thing forever. Look at Spinal Tap, bands get new drummers. It happens. 

On being inspired by club music

JWL When I come off three nights in a row DJing clubs, if it was a good weekend and I was really locking in, I’ll start to feel a rhythm, a pulse running through my blood. From a rhythmic standpoint, when you go to write, you start to understand the forms of club tracks and why things work. It helps with knowing how to sequence stuff instead of blindly in your bedroom being like “It should go for eight bars and drop there.”

On an impromptu trip to London 

SW After we DJed the Celine party, we were like “Fuck it, let’s go to London”. I literally didn't even have a place to stay. We got to the venue Third Man Records, and I literally just left my stuff there and went out. I ended up on the couch somewhere. We were just like, let’s see what happens. I was really partying at that time. I went to this sick-ass rave: it was like 5am and I was under some bridge on every single drug. That was pretty fun.

On the road ahead

SW I think we're still growing a lot stylistically. Even from “Mothers” to what we’re writing now I feel like it's evolving a lot and getting into a rhythm. It’s a cool process. I don't think it really ever ends.

JWL I don’t think we’re going to come back with a rock album, but it is evolving. Curiosity has always driven our music. I think it’s cool to move but I also think we've never been that premeditated with what the vibe is going to be. We kind of just let the vibe find us. Just let the child that pops out of the womb show what the vibe is.

Baggy$$ is out now. Photo by Colin McElroy.