New York’s designated floor-fillers have always had more in their back pocket. Channelling trip-hop, Balearic house and dub on their debut album, Jackson Walker Lewis and Shanny Wise – aka Fcukers – prove they can work, play and make cracking music.

“This is Jackson’s contact,” says Shanny Wise, holding her phone closer to the webcam. It’s a Union Jack, and the Jackson in question is Jackson Walker Lewis. Together they’re Fcukers, the 20-something electronic duo that’s spent the last three years as downtown New York’s designated party-starters. 

I’ve just asked if they’re “spiritually British.” It might seem an odd line of questioning for a band who cut their teeth with the Dimes Square lot, but their influences tell a different story. Between the dub on “Homies Don’t Shake”, nods to trip-hop, and covers of obscure Lily Allen tracks, the fundamentals of the UK scene run through their sound – something that hints at more depth than their party reputation suggests. “There’s always been more of a range to us, whether people know it or not,” explains Jackson. “I think the album will show that.” 

We’re here today to chat Ö, Fcukers’ debut album, out March 27th. It’s a record that marries their signature sound with unexpected range, but it also stays true to their origin story – one that began with half-finished songs, borrowed equipment, and no real plan beyond “fuck it.” That’s pretty much the Fcukers ethos, by the way. I could swear they say it constantly, but when I check back, it’s only twice. They either exude it, or it’s just Shanny’s drawl –  it’s exactly how she sounds on the record.

Their first show wasn’t exactly a fine-tuned debut. They had a name, owed to a French Connection hoodie Jackson wore at the time (“it [represented] what we wanted to do when we first met, which was just make music for ourselves”), but little else. “On the day of, I borrowed [Shanny’s] bass,” explains Jackson. “The only thing we bought was one of those MPC pads you could cue the sample on ’cause we didn’t want to use a computer. Then we literally just put it on stage and had shitty visuals.” Shanny hadn’t even learned the lyrics: “I remember asking Jackson, like, wait, can you send me that song? I forget how it goes.” They must have known they were onto something, I say. “We definitely did not know that it was gonna work at all,” Jackson insists. 

Punters were “begging for another show” before they’d even left the stage. It was a surprise. “That was the next hurdle,” Jackson tells me. “It was like, you guys need to play again. Like, ASAP.” Three years and countless shows later, having spent a decent chunk of last year playing clubs and festivals, the visuals are less “shitty” and the crowds have got bigger, but everything’s still resolutely DIY. “It’s evolved naturally, but it hasn’t strayed too far from where it started,” Shanny explains. “It still feels punky, but now with more people, you know?” adds Jackson. 

In the era of Charli xcx’s BRAT and a marketable strain of hedonism, Fcukers owe their stamina to a simple fact: they’re the real deal. “We were the ones that were partying before the whole movement,” explains Jackson, only semi-ironically. “And when the movement came, we were like, you guys don’t actually party. We are the ones that have been partying.” Can the two coexist? Work and play? “You could say that,” responds Shanny with a smirk. But that doesn’t look like reckless abandon. They know they need the “ebbs and flows,” as Jackson puts it. “The funny thing is that sometimes when we go play, people think it’s just going to be a straight party,” he continues. “And then we’ll play the trip-hop song or whatever.” 

You heard right: trip-hop. Ö is by no means a record relegated to the dancefloor, not least because of its form. “I mean, we both came from bands, you know?” explains Shanny. “It just felt like the right thing to do.” Another surprising tidbit about Fcukers: both started in the indie scene. Shanny with The Shacks – their cover of a Kinks track was featured in an Apple ad – and Jackson with Spud Cannon. While they’ve shied away from it before, Ö embraces that range. “The thing about us, especially with this new album, is that one of the concepts was basically, how can we collage?” explains Jackson. 

While “I Like It Like That” spins another take on British dub, “Feel The Real” reveals them taking cues from Balearic house. It’s less sweaty club anthem, more holiday sunset soundtrack – a world away from hook-driven tracks like “Lucky”. It’s a bit Zero 7, as Jackson points out. “Dance music’s moving so fast and we have a couple fast songs on the album for sure,” he explains. “But, like, “Beatback”, for example. It’s a groover. It’s slow.” Then there’s “Getaway”, the album’s penultimate track and its most explicit trip-hop moment.

Without getting too music journo about it, Ö feels like joining a lineage. Though Kenneth Blume (formerly Kenny Beats) is the album’s main producer, Dylan Brady of 100 gecs contributed four tracks. It’s released via Ninja Tune, the London label that pioneered trip-hop in the early ’90s. For Jackson, whose dad used to chase down the one newsstand in rural Ohio that stocked NME and The Face, raising him on Happy Mondays and The Verve, it’s something of a full-circle moment. 

With influences this eclectic, it makes sense that Fcukers bristle at being lumped into the nostalgia wave. “He’s not a nostalgia guy,” says Jackson of working with Kenneth Blume. “Even if there’s some nostalgic sounds in there, we wanted to put them in a context that hasn’t been done before,” he explains. “Like, oh, it sounds like 2000s hip-hop, but it’s on a UK garage beat. Oh, it sounds like they’re doing an R&B thing, but then it goes house.” Jackson calls it a process of “synthesis” rather than recreation, which is why calling them part of the bloghouse revival misses the point. “People can call us whatever they want,” Jackson concludes. “We make music for ourselves.” Shanny, for what it’s worth, hasn’t even heard of bloghouse. 

I’m so chuffed at myself for throwing in a mention of Balearic house that I end with a decidedly generic question: what’s fundamentally changed for Fcukers? “I know where I’m gonna stay most nights on tour now,” replies Shanny. “I get my own hotel room,” says Jackson.

Photography by Chad Moore
Styling by Talia Cassel
Interview by Amber Rawlings 
Words by Amber Rawlings 
Hair & Make-up by Ryann Carter at OPUS Beauty 
Fashion Assistant Emma Nusbaum
Hair & Make-up Assistant Aidan Rodriguez 
Videographer Austin Nunes
Video Producer/Editor Mylo Butler