Image Credit: Photo of John Grant who’ll be doing a rare DJ set at Club Mofo!

For 23 years, Beck Rosoman and Zena Blackwell – aka Daughters of the Kaos – have built one of London’s most beloved DIY institutions, Club Mofo (aka Club Motherfu*ker). Born from a late-night bus rant after clubbing at Ghetto and other formative queer spaces, Club Mofo began from a hunger for something looser, more women-centred, more left-field – less industry, more house party. No grand strategy. Just instinct, friendship and a desire to put on whatever they wanted.

Over the years they’ve platformed future headliners long before the festival promoters came calling – from Charli XCX, The XX and Kate Nash to Planningtorock and Mark Moore – proof of their finely tuned radar and anti-genre approach. Mofo has always felt like a friend’s chaotic living room: bands early, dancing after, with strangers turning into your new crew of Mofo besties by midnight.

Now, as Corsica Studios closes its doors after two and half decades, Club Mofo returns one last time as part of the venue’s Nothing Lasts Forever program. On Thursday 5 March, expect live sets from Jeanie & The White Boys, Disgusting Sisters, Jasmine 4.t, and Border Widow – plus DJ sets from John Grant, Princess Julia, Nuha Ruby Ra and Sassyhiya.

Come early. Loose yourself to the Daughters of the Kaos and unleash your joy in this rite of passage – releasing your inner Mofo! As your warm up, enjoy our interview with Beck and Zena…

Let’s start with Beck…

Taking us back to when you began in 2003 – what were you hungry for that didn’t exist yet? What did early-20s Beck need from a room, a stage, a dancefloor?

Back then the queer alternative scene was small. We’d spent years going to Simon Hobart’s club nights, Popstarz, Misshapes, and practically lived at his venue Ghetto when it opened in 2002. Those spaces were really formative for us but our tastes also leaned a bit more left-field. The scene in general felt quite boys’ clubby at the time, and we were also craving something that felt looser, more women-centred, and more chaotic house party than well-organised ‘club’ night. I suppose really, we just wanted to have a laugh with our friends and put on whatever we wanted. There was no grand plan at first, we just thought, why not do it ourselves?

This will be the last Club Mofo at Corsica Studios, part of Nothing Lasts Forever. What does this final chapter mean to you personally?

For me, this one feels like a heartfelt thank you to the team at Corsica Studios. They’ve run an incredible creative space on their own terms, and that’s becoming rarer. We’re genuinely gutted to see it close as it’s been an important part of South London’s music culture. People like Adrian and his late partner Amanda are special as they’ve trusted all sorts of small promoters and backed ideas that might not have worked anywhere else. That has allowed real, community-led scenes to grow. Not many venues operate like that anymore so it feels emotional to see them close but also gives us and others a chance to celebrate them. It was pure kismet that it’s also the 23rd anniversary of Club Mofo.

Image Credit: Photo of Border Widow who will be performing a live set at Club Mofo!

You’ve always resisted fixed genres and industry ladders – putting future headliners next to total unknowns. Looking at this line-up (Jasmine 4.t’s solo set, Border Widow, Disgusting Sisters, Jeanie & The White Boys – then Princess Julia and John Grant on the decks), what thread connects them in your mind?

Honestly? Nothing really, haha, but that’s kind of the point. On paper they’re all over the shop, but somehow it makes perfect sense for a Club Mofo night. I know there’s a bit of a trend now for tightly themed line-ups, but we’ve never wanted to hear the same type of music all night. We’d rather it feel like a house party or a scrappy DIY gig, where something unexpected happens next. We book people we like, so it is personal curation. They don’t ‘match’ in a neat industry way, but we think they share a spirit. We know that there are other people who will understand the mix and hopefully feel at home in it. It’s like sharing a mix-tape with a friend or something.

We can also announce that Ms Sharon Le Grand (who actually named the band ‘Jeanie and The White Boys’) will compere the show so we dare you not to be entertained.

Image Credit: Jeanie and the White Boys will be performing a live set at Club Mofo!

You mention big corporations capitalising on niche scenes while grassroots programmers struggle. What does “protecting grassroots” actually mean from where you’re standing? What’s misunderstood about the labour of promoters who hold these rooms together?

Well it’s much harder for DIY, or fan/hobbyist promoters to put on shows these days then when we started. It’s mostly people self-funding and not many can afford to take the risk with the cost of living. It also seems more and more people have to compete with larger independent, or corporate-backed operators, or even big brands on things like available dates, or artist fees, or being by passed altogether for ‘bigger opportunities’. It’s super important that independent and small venues get funding so they can continue to thrive but I think to genuinely protect the whole ‘grassroots ecosystem’ then some funding should probably be tied to things like calendar access protections for DIY promoters, and there could be anti-exclusivity agreements so DIY promoters can also continue to survive. I don’t think that’s happening.

Image Credit: Photo of Sassyhiya who’ll be doing a DJ set at Club Mofo!

For our readers who want to find the spirit of Club Mofo beyond this final Corsica night – can you recommend three London spaces or communities that still feel DIY, queer, slightly suspicious, and worth protecting.

Sure, there’s The Old Nuns Head in Nunhead which is a great community-focused pub venue with loads of different queer nights including Bless! from The Readers Wife’s and The Men Who Fell to Earth.

Talking of The Readers Wife’s we would forever recommend the iconic, arty-queer night Duckie to anyone, we’ve been going for years and it’s always fun. Duckie are launching a new iteration in Hackney soon that just opens from 7pm – 11pm and has a finger buffet and serves cups of tea, sounds like a good time to me.

I went to watch my friend perform live recently at a newish queer performance monthly called ‘Knickers’ at Vout-O-reenees in Wapping. I liked the vibe and at the end they gave us a handmade felt and pearl penis key ring (took me a while to work out what it was but still), definitely a bit suspicious!

And, there are still a bunch of great DIY promoters putting on gigs all the time for the love of it in London that are worth protecting and supporting, seek them out. We recommend looking up ‘Loud Women‘ and ‘Get in Her Ears‘ who focus their programming on championing women, non-binary and queer people and ‘Decolonise Fest‘ a non-profit DIY promoter collectively organised by and for DIY punx of colour.

Image Credit: Club Mofo promo stuff with the ace line-up, times and all the gubbins

Enter Zena…

Before Club Mofo became this 23-year organism, there was just an idea – and two people willing to risk it. What drew you into DIY promotion in the first place? Were you driven more by music, politics, community – or or some other kind of hunger?

23 years ago, Beck and I had a drunken rant on the night bus about how there was nowhere to go on the scene that had all the good things we thought would make an amazing night out – live music; totally inclusive and welcoming to all (polysexual as we initially branded it), and above all, super fun (also non-judgemental about people getting drunk and having too much fun!). I must add here that a guy in front of us turned around at the end of said rant, saying that that was the funniest conversation he’d heard on the night bus. NB, it wasn’t meant to be funny; it was a serious rant!

The biggest pull was obviously music, but community was something that happened (and oh so beautifully!), but I don’t think we anticipated it to be honest. We are still mates with some of the OG Mofos. I think we were hungry to give up our day jobs, but rather naively didn’t realise that there is and was no money in the underground (especially when your whole vibe is super low door prices and a load of acts and dis on the bill).

Image Credit: Photo of Disgusting Sisters who’ll be performing a live set at Club Mofo!

This bill is gloriously unboxed – avant-punk priestess Nuha Ruby Ra, the gothic pulse of Border Widow, EMO hysteria, trash blues, and then John Grant behind the decks. When you build a Mofo line-up, what’s your internal compass?

I love gloriously unboxed – that hits the nail on the head. Our line ups have always been super eclectic – both the live acts and the DJs. There is definitely an internal compass that cannot be put into words really but we just know if someone is a Mofo or not. Those acts/Djs who are mofos always bring the right type energy and just get the ethos of the night. As you know, we’ve always been ultra supportive of women/queer artists especially but we always gave musicians and DJs of all persuasions the stage if it felt right.

Image Credit: Photo of Nuhu Ruby Ra who’ll be doing a DJ set at Club Mofo!

“Bands early, dancing after” has always been part of the formula. What shifts in the room when people watch together before they lose themselves together?

And it’s a formula that definitely works. It was always amazing to see people going from maybe feeling slightly socially awkward watching a band at the front when it’s super early to flamboyantly dancing and hugging everyone like they’re long lost family. (Including us obviously!). It’s as though you actually go through a process – total camaraderie – where you are really there, engaged and totally present for the band but when the live music is over, you can really let go and dance and love everyone like you would at a house party.

Image Credit: Photo of Jasmine.4.T. who’ll be performing a solo live set at Club Mofo!

Corsica Studios closing is a huge loss for London’s independent ecosystem. From your perspective, what made Corsica special – and what disappears when spaces like that go?

It’s a massive loss. Corsica was the largest venue we held Mofo at (we started upstairs at the garage which was about 130 cap, then to Barden’s Boudoir which was about 300) but then Corisca Studios can go up to 500 if the two rooms are open. It just felt like going home when we first held Mofo there. The layout gives it some zoning so people can chat and drink by the bar to concentrate on watching the next big thing on the stage. And it’s a really good, proper height stage too. The place is run like a tight ship by Adrian and his team and will be sorely missed by so many. When spaces like Corsica go, a whole community of like-minded people basically lose their home from home.

Find Beck and Zena @clubmofolive

Club Mofo Live presents:
(Part of Corsica Studios’ closing programme: Nothing Lasts Forever)

Thursday 5th March 2026
7:30pm – 1:30am
Corsica Studios,
4/5 Elephant Road,
London, SE17 1LB.

Tickets via wegottickets.com and outsavvy.com