Few DJs take worldbuilding as seriously as DJ Fuckoff. Born Zoe Angelina to a record shop-owning father in New Zealand, her early experiences of crate-digging and helping him set up sound-systems at local psytrance raves shaped the artist she is today. 

Feeling like an outsider growing up, DJ Fuckoff drew inspiration from eclectic places: Erykah Badu, Gangsta Boo, and even the architect of the iconic Bomberman videogame soundtrack, June Shikumi, each informing a sonic world that was brash, bombastic, and just a touch femme. “People weren’t really fucking with the way that I was expressing [myself],” she recalls. “So DJ Fuckoff gave an answer to me always feeling like I wasn't able to truly express myself.”

Years later, and just after the pandemic, Zoe set her sights on the hallowed dance warehouses of Berlin, where she has since been found tearing up dancefloors with frantic high-tempo sets oscillating from techno into juke, trance into hardcore, breakbeat into hyperpop, and there and back again. Around these sets, she’s built a world of her own invention: ‘Fucktopia’, a hyper-femme, liberationist utopia where hedonism, sexual autonomy, and high camp rule supreme. It’s also the name of her EP, Fucktopia: Character Chronicles, her album Fucktopia, and a club night she helms in the German capital. 

“Fucktopia was an answer to a world that always made me feel overwhelmed, a space of complete free expression, acceptance, and accessibility,” explains DJ Fuckoff. “And strictly no cops. I want it to feel like you’re in a living room hanging out with your family and friends, but with a fat ass sound system.” 

Throughout the club circuit and further afield, Zoe has established herself as a staunch advocate for the inclusion of FLINTA individuals (women, non-binary, intersex, trans and agender people), and commanding a strict tour rider that holds venues to account for neurodivergent ravers. “[Neurodivergent people] do need to be taken more seriously so that everyone can show up as their best,” she says. “I’ve spoken to so many people that are like, ‘Damn, these lights are flashing too much for someone neurodivergent’.” For Zoe, the dance floor only works if everyone gets to be on it. 

Read on for DJ Fuckoff’s thoughts on neurodivergent inclusivity on the dancefloor, her upcoming ‘massive’ collab album, Fucktopia Part III, and opening her own dance bar. 

Do you feel like the global club circuit has done enough to create spaces that feel inclusive to neurodivergency?

DJ Fuckoff: I don’t feel like it’s really spoken about enough or accommodated in the industry. A lot of clubs still don’t take my inclusivity rider into consideration. Promoters see it as me being difficult, but it’s actually a way that helps me perform best. And it’s not even about me, it’s also about attendees and neurodivergent ravers. If nights were more accessible, it would mean better nights for promoters. 

A lot of people are like, ‘oh, go get another job if it’s too overwhelming’, but that's not the point. I want to find a way where I can do what I love and create an environment where it’s more understood, because I know I’m not the only one that feels like that in the club. 

What kind of considerations do venues and promoters need to take into account?

DJ Fuckoff: Just a space which is cosy and chill, with no lighting, no smoking, where you can kind of collect yourself. Awareness is super important – if you are feeling a certain type of way, [knowing] there is someone there that you can talk to. Because it’s not necessarily the nicest thing to go talk to a security guard. And then for DJs, I make it a point for there to be no strobing during my sets. 

Never too heavy on the smoke machine. When the smoke machine is going wild, I notice because I can see the crowd and people are like, ‘okay, this is like too much’.

Men need to say to their homies: ‘Maybe don’t put twenty guys and just two FLINTA people [on the lineup]’

At your set at Tomorrowland in 2024, you mixed “Music” by Madonna with a hard techno beat and it had a bit of a moment online. Is that friction between pop and electronic something you’re interested in sparking?

DJ Fuckoff: When you really believe in what you do and when you trust your sound, people will get with that and they will vibe with you. You just have to not give a fuck – in a good way. Because of course you still want people to enjoy and have fun, but it’s also about expression, and about getting people on board with new sounds, and ways of listening to music that maybe they’re not used to, but they realize they actually really like and fuck with.

As long as you’re backing yourself and your sound fully and trust what you do, people can feel that from you and they will respond.

Do you think the club scene has improved for female producers and DJs, or are we still quite a long way from that?

DJ Fuckoff: I think the lineups are becoming more inclusive, but still there’s a lot of work. I’m still shocked at the lineups that I’m seeing sometimes. And I feel like we exhaust ourselves talking about it. But the men need to talk about it. They need to be the ones that are pulling up their homies saying, ‘Yo bro, maybe don’t put twenty guys and two FLINTA people’, you know?

When you’ve just been booked for a tour or a club night, how do you put a set together? Is it really prepared or are you much more intuitive?

DJ Fuckoff: I usually have a bit of a structure, like a formula in my head. Usually I like to bring it way back down and hit a hard reset, which can sometimes be a bit uncomfortable, but for me it’s important to take it down so I can build it back up. Usually, I start around 135 bpm and sometimes I go to 165, 170. At 140, I might throw in some dubstep and then go more into 145, like bassy, sexy techno, and then going more into some harder stuff in my own productions. Afterwards, I always like to just play pretty silly: some jungle, maybe some donk. Sometimes when people are really high on ketamine, I think they’re bored, and not liking the sound, but then afterwards they come up to me and they're like, ‘that was the sickest set ever’. 

What’s your favourite club on Earth? One that your soul will haunt after the end of days?

DJ Fuckoff: My soul is already haunting a club called Sports Realm. It was in Berlin, actually the home of my first Fucktopia parties. It really felt like my living room, my friends were running it. Banging sound system, awesome nights that went all through the night and into the day. It gave birth to all the Fucktopia parties and really gave them the life they have now. 

One of my craziest memories? I’d been partying all night beforehand, rocked up, and told my friends to put me to work. So they built this little area by the toilets and I was the toilet girl for the night. Stool, table, pen and pad, a thing with sweets. I loved it. It was just a really playful space, a place for connection and community. 

Are you excited for Waterworks in September? What else is on the horizon?

DJ Fuckoff: Yes, very excited for Waterworks, sick lineup with the homies. The first thing I’m working on is a massive collab album, Fucktopia Part III, and my goal is to write like a short film for it, so I’m gonna get my DJ Fuckoff actor mode on. 

The second thing that I’m really excited for is that I’m opening a dance bar in Berlin with my sister. It’s gonna be called Girl Records. We’re hosting our first pop-ups this summer! Warm energy, colors, delicious sexy drinks, sexy music. That’s the vibe.

Waterworks Festival takes place 12-13 September, 2026. Download the Dazed Club app to get 20 per cent off tickets.