German philosopher and musicologist, Theodor W. Adorno, said that popular music is characterized by a systematic use of repetition, which serves to infantilize the listener. But to that I say, So what? What if we want to be pacified and soothed by Manhattan’s relentless beat?

Enter Fcukers, who, with about 25 minutes of released music, have sold out Baby’s All Right, closed the Celine party during NYFW, performed their first 10 shows across four continents, opened for LCD Soundsystem, and are now leaving for their month-long Euro tour. Shanny Wise, Jackson Walker Lewis, and Ben Scharf’s debut EP, Baggy$$ reveals itself as syrupy sticky one-liners sewn together with the dizzying heights of last night’s bender. Delectably crisp 909 drums ignite into plumes of hi-hats, punctuated with snappy bass lines and an incessant tempo.

With refrains like “I getcha bon bon,” “Homie don’t shake,” and “Eyes like tie-dye,” recited like prayers to an unhearing god, you might think Fcukers are here to sedate or perhaps indoctrinate you with their NY colloquial gibberish (like, what exactly is a bon bon?). But don’t think about it too much, because it seems like Fcukers aren’t either. The use of repetition isn’t something used to baby their listeners—it’s merely here to drill this moment into our minds before it slips away.

So, let’s focus less on the meaning of the words themselves and more on the intention, the infliction. And what Fcukers hope to inflict is a never-ending party. And the intention? To capture a scene as if it’s already gone.

You’ve said that your scene needed a band, and so Fcukers began. What about having a scene inspired your music?

‍Jackson: I think the main thing is a bouncing back of ideas between people, even if it’s just subliminal. You see what your friends are doing, and I think you kind of respond to that naturally. Just the ethos of our band echoes what our friend group’s values are, in a weird way.

Let’s talk Baggy$$. Was there a specific feeling you wanted to encapsulate with your EP, and what’s so special about NY there that you can’t find anywhere else?

‍Shanny: I don’t think it’s one feeling. It’s like a bunch of different feelings. I think it was really fun to put that EP together because all the songs have really different vibes. There’s a lot of different feelings that it captures. And New York is the place where you can find anything now—all different types of people and cultures. Everything is all around you all the time. I think it’s a vastly inspiring place just inherently.

Jackson: To second that, the density and the walkability just make it so that people are hanging out all the time. I think that’s a big difference between here and other cities where if you want to go meet up, people plan it, and you have to drive. Here, I feel, especially in the scene, you can pull up to a couple of bars not knowing who’s going to be there. You just know someone you know is going to be there.

You’ve said that you’ve been jaded about the music industry.‍

Jackson: I think we got a little misquoted on the jaded thing. It was more like we wanted to do something purely for ourselves, and just really have fun with it. We’re not worrying about music industry stuff this time around. I know there’s this sentiment, ‘Oh yeah, we were pissed off and fuck this.’ It wasn’t really that. It was just more that we set our expectations pretty low.

What are your thoughts on social media intervening with music?‍

Jackson: I think we’re finding that social media, in a weird way, is a double-edged sword. I think that in some ways in the old days, if you didn’t have a hit, you were cooked. I think obviously virality and hits have a lot of value, but also we’re seeing a return to people who are starved for something that’s like the real world and has culture around it—instead of just internet persona and TikTok. The thing for us was we were always centered from the start. It was always around the events and just real-world stuff. It was interaction with people we knew and selling T-shirts to people we knew. In that way, I think you might see a return to artists having careers, which is a good thing, where fans actually sit through multiple albums that are more artistically risque instead of everyone just going for the singles thing. But you never know.

I like the return to culture. How are you returning to culture, what’s a night out for you like?

Jackson: Weirdly enough, at this point I’m more of a bar guy. If I’m going to really send it in the club, I’ll probably just go to one club with a DJ I like playing and just send it.

Do you think when you’re “sending it at the club” there’s potential for love on every dance floor?‍

Jackson: Yeah. Clubs are magic.

When do you know when to go home?

Shanny: When the sun comes up. 

Photographed by Erica Snyder

Written by Bree Castillo