Who Is Interplanetary Criminal? Real Name, Age & Genre

Interplanetary Criminal is Zach Bruce (Zachary Koa Bruce), a 32-year-old UK garage DJ and producer born on 16 December 1993 in Blackburn, raised in Bolton and based in Manchester, best known for the 2022 UK number one "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" with Eliza Rose, and on Saturday 10 October 2026 he hosts a sold-out takeover of The Warehouse Project at Depot Mayfield. His genre is UK garage, speed garage and bassline, with hard house and donk in his sets. He won Best DJ in DJ Mag's Best of British awards 2025 and co-runs ATW Records with Main Phase. His family is Singaporean on his mother's side, and he is one of the central names of the 2020s UK garage revival alongside Sammy Virji, Silva Bumpa and others inside the current scene.

Interplanetary Criminal quick facts

• Real name: Zachary Koa Bruce, known as Zach Bruce
• Born: 16 December 1993, Blackburn (North West England)
• Age: 32 as of September 2026, turning 33 on 16 December 2026
• From: Born in Blackburn, raised in Bolton from age six, based in Manchester since 2016
• Heritage: Singaporean on his mother's side. His grandmother is Singaporean and his mother lived in Singapore until she was 15.
• Genre: UK garage, speed garage, bassline, 2-step, breakbeat, hard house, donk
• Breakthrough track: "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" with Eliza Rose (2022, UK No. 1 for two weeks, 2× Platinum)
• Label: Co-founder of ATW Records with Main Phase (first release, ATW001, in 2020)
• Key recognition: DJ Mag Best of British Best DJ 2025, Juno Award 2025 (Dance Recording of the Year for "No Time" with SadBoi)
• Mixmag cover star: November 2025
• Sold-out Brixton Academy headline: 29 November 2025
• Next big date: Interplanetary Criminal Presents, The Warehouse Project, Depot Mayfield, Manchester, Saturday 10 October 2026, 19:00 to 04:00. Sold out, waiting list open.

Who is Interplanetary Criminal?

There are artists who break through with one moment and disappear just as fast. Then there are artists who quietly become structural to a scene. Interplanetary Criminal fits the second group.

His rise is not built on mystique, shock value, or a hyper-polished persona. It is built on timing, restraint, and a very clear understanding of what UK garage needed to become relevant again without losing itself. If you are a garage fan, you already know why the sets land. If you are a producer looking for a blueprint, his career is one of the most instructive case studies of the last few years, and it sits right inside the broader movement MNEEMO has been tracking across the UK garage 2026 analysis.

Interplanetary Criminal real name: Zach Bruce

Interplanetary Criminal's real name is Zachary Koa Bruce, commonly known as Zach Bruce. He was born on 16 December 1993 in Blackburn in the North West of England, to a half-Singaporean mother. His grandmother is Singaporean, and his mother lived in Singapore until she was 15. He told Mixmag in 2025 that growing up Asian in Bolton gave him "a sense of not belonging". That family story is part of what makes the Interplanetary Criminal identity feel three-dimensional to audiences.

After his birth in Blackburn, the family lived above a chip shop in Liverpool, then moved to Manchester, before settling in Bolton, Greater Manchester when he was six years old. Bolton, not Manchester, is the town he has consistently credited as home, even though his professional base is now Manchester. His 2020s catalogue is saturated with references to Northern speed garage, bassline, donk and hard house, the regional club styles that soundtracked his teenage years in Bolton.

How old is Interplanetary Criminal?

Interplanetary Criminal was born on 16 December 1993, so he is 32 as of September 2026 and turns 33 on 16 December 2026. Mixmag's November 2025 cover story described him as 31, which fits that birth date: he was still 31 when the interview ran and when DJ Mag named him Best DJ weeks later.

Where is Interplanetary Criminal from?

Interplanetary Criminal is from the North West of England: born in Blackburn, briefly raised in Liverpool and Manchester, and settled in Bolton, Greater Manchester from age six. He is now based in Manchester, where he moved permanently in 2016 after studying at the School of Sound Recording earlier in the decade and a spell in Leeds. Depending on which phase of his life you are asking about, Interplanetary Criminal is accurately described as Blackburn-born, Bolton-raised, or Manchester-based.

What genre is Interplanetary Criminal?

Interplanetary Criminal produces UK garage, speed garage, bassline, 2-step, breakbeat, donk and hard house. His early productions leaned darker and more breakbeat-driven. Around 2016, after returning to Manchester, he began releasing UK garage tracks on SoundCloud, which became the sound that defined his rise. His current DJ sets move fluidly across the full UK bass family, including classic UKG dubplates, 4x4 bassline, contemporary speed garage, and harder Northern club styles, a range that sets him apart from producers who treat garage as a fixed historical category.

The first branding lesson: the name should not work, but it does

Most artists overthink their stage name. Interplanetary Criminal is unusually long for a mainstream-adjacent act. On paper, it should be a problem. It is not.

It works because it is instantly distinctive, it has a strong rhythm when spoken, and it shortens cleanly into "IPC" without losing identity. Even casual discussions online single it out as a memorable stage name. For new artists choosing names, the takeaway is blunt: you do not need a "simple" name. You need a name that cannot be confused with anyone else. Interplanetary Criminal is one of the cleanest proofs of that rule in recent UK dance music.

Interplanetary Criminal did not reinvent UK garage, he translated it

A common myth is that Interplanetary Criminal "brought UK garage back." UK garage never disappeared. What disappeared for a while was its accessibility, particularly in the South of England. As Mixmag documented in the November 2025 cover story, speed garage, bassline, hard house and donk never went anywhere in the North. They simply kept running through regional club nights and poster-only parties while the South of England treated UKG as a dead language.

UKG can be insider-coded. It can feel like you need the backstory, the references and the right taste vocabulary before you are allowed to enjoy it. Interplanetary Criminal kept the swing and the bounce but removed the intimidation factor. His tracks work immediately. They do not require a history lesson. They reward listeners fast. That one choice opened the door to a much wider audience, and it is the same principle MNEEMO has identified in the way Silva Bumpa quietly took over UK garage sets and Omar+ read the room in 2026.

The track that changed everything: B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)

The ignition moment is clear: B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) with Eliza Rose. Released on 15 June 2022, it went viral on TikTok, hit number one on the Official UK Singles Chart, stayed there for two weeks in September 2022, and was certified 2× Platinum in the UK by the BPI. It turned Zach Bruce's name into a mainstream reference point overnight.

What made B.O.T.A. travel was not that it sounded experimental. It sounded familiar in the best way. A clean hook. A groove that locks instantly. A club feel that also makes sense outside the club. That is how you get crossover without turning UKG into wallpaper. B.O.T.A. also functioned as a bridge track: listeners who arrived through TikTok found themselves pulled into an entire Northern UK garage ecosystem they had not known existed.

No Time and the Juno Award: proof the catalogue holds after the number one

After a big mainstream moment, the real question is always the same: can you keep attention without repeating the exact formula. Interplanetary Criminal's answer is everything he has released since.

In 2025, his 2024 collaboration with Canadian vocalist SadBoi (Ebhoni Jade Cato-O'Garro) on "No Time" won the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year at Canada's national music awards. A Juno win is institutional validation that the Interplanetary Criminal sound is not tied to the B.O.T.A. moment. It travels across artists, across vocalists, across international markets, and still registers at awards-body level.

Other tracks have continued to circulate strongly in DJ and listener ecosystems. For producers, this matters because it shows he is not a one-hit headline. He has multiple records that live in sets and playlists beyond the original breakthrough narrative.

The run since: collaborations, Capitol and a 2026 festival diary

The clearest proof that Interplanetary Criminal is structural rather than seasonal is the release run since B.O.T.A. Through 2024 he linked with the scene's biggest names: "Damager" with Sammy Virji arrived via Capitol Records in November 2024, and "Yosemite" with KETTAMA followed that December, pairing him with the two other producers most responsible for garage's current scale. Into 2025 he kept widening the net: "Slow Burner" with Original Koffee in May and "Fón Póca" with the Irish rapper Travy that August. None of it chases the B.O.T.A. formula, and that is the point.

In 2026 the booking calendar told the same story as the catalogue. He was billed at Kappa FuturFestival in Turin (3 to 5 July 2026), one of Europe's biggest electronic festivals, on a Parco Dora line-up that also featured Sammy Virji, two UK garage names holding slots at a festival built for techno and house, which is its own measure of how far the sound has travelled.

ATW Records and why infrastructure beats hype

One of the smartest moves in his career was co-founding ATW Records with Main Phase. The two met in person around 2019, agreed to start the label during lockdown, and put out the first release, ATW001, in 2020. ATW is not just a label logo. It is infrastructure. It turns an artist into a curator, a gatekeeper, and a long-term node in the scene's development. That is how you build durability, especially in UK garage where community and circulation matter as much as streaming numbers.

The ATW catalogue has released speed garage and bassline EPs through the early 2020s, including ATW002 in 2022, with tracks like "100%" and "Glamour" made with Main Phase under their joint ATW name. The label sits in the same conversation as Bristol's Time Is Now, where he also released, and the older London imprint Locked On.

The Locked On compilation and the generational handshake

In March 2023, Interplanetary Criminal curated All Thru The Night, a compilation released via Locked On Records, the London UK garage label founded in 1996 whose roster has included Todd Edwards, Artful Dodger and The Streets. The compilation was a generational handshake: a producer from the new wave curating for a label with documented authority in the genre's origin story.

Identity without over-performance

Interplanetary Criminal's public image works partly because he does not try to turn himself into a costume. He reads as grounded and scene-connected rather than overly aestheticised. Mixmag's 2025 cover feature captures that balance clearly: a 31-year-old DJ in grey sweats, renting a Pirate Studio room by the hour to practice his Mixmag Lab set, worried about his Brixton Academy headline in a way he describes as "worried in a good way."

The gold signet rings he wears are, by his own account, his way of marking achievements he can physically look at. Growing up scrawny in Bolton, gold became the one thing he could look at and say: I earned that. It is a small detail, but it is the kind of specificity that makes an artist feel like a person rather than a brand.

Manchester as function, not branding

His association with Manchester and the North West does not read as a pose. It reads as a base. The School of Sound Recording in Manchester, where he studied from around 2012, is where he first moved into electronic music production. Mixmag's 2025 cover story opens with a homecoming set on the Concourse stage at The Warehouse Project, which he calls his favourite stage at his favourite Manchester venue. On 10 October 2026 he takes over the whole of The Warehouse Project for Interplanetary Criminal Presents, which WHP bills as his biggest headline show to date. This matters because scenes grow when they have anchors, not just hitmakers but people who represent continuity and craft.

DJ Mag Best DJ 2025: the institutional win

On 11 December 2025, DJ Mag published the winners of its Best of British awards 2025, and Interplanetary Criminal was named Best DJ. In the same results, Sammy Virji won Best Producer, Silva Bumpa won Breakthrough DJ, and SHERELLE won Breakthrough Producer. The 2025 DJ Mag Best of British Awards were effectively a formal acknowledgement that the new UK garage generation had taken over the UK dance music ecosystem. Interplanetary Criminal's Best DJ win, specifically, was the clearest single-night validation of the thesis: the Northern club sound he had spent a decade championing was now the centre of the conversation.

DJ Mag's write-up credits his 2025 to Glastonbury and Coachella slots, touring from Ibiza to the Southern Hemisphere, and a Brixton headline he called "the highlight of my career so far". The Breakthrough DJ award going to Silva Bumpa, whose "Doin' It" DJ Mag singled out, put the new garage generation side by side in the same results.

Brixton Academy 2025 and the 2026 run

On 29 November 2025, Interplanetary Criminal headlined a sold-out Brixton Academy, his biggest UK show to that point. His plan for the venue, as he told Mixmag before the show, was deliberately anti-pop: no elaborate lights, just a flashing strobe, lots of smoke and darkness, and the feel of low ceilings, to replicate a European club rather than a theatre gig. It was a producer's show in a rock venue, and it worked because it refused to translate the catalogue into a format it was not designed for.

In 2026, his touring has continued at scale, including a headline Shangri-La Presents show at DEPOT Cardiff on 14 March 2026, a Kappa FuturFestival billing in July and a sold-out takeover of The Warehouse Project in Manchester on Saturday 10 October 2026, 19:00 to 04:00, with Main Phase, Silva Bumpa, Joy Orbison, DJ Seinfeld and HAAi among the guests. His Mixmag Lab London cover mix, published on 26 November 2025, runs 90 minutes of UK garage, bassline and speed garage.

Collaboration as credibility and reach

A big part of his continued momentum is that he does not isolate. He connects. A clean example is his collaboration with KETTAMA on "Yosemite", released in December 2024 and later included on KETTAMA's debut album Archangel (October 2025). For fans, that is exciting because it links scenes and audiences. For producers, it is a strategy lesson: collaborations do not just add streams, they add narrative and legitimacy. The KETTAMA image story is a useful companion read for anyone interested in how the IPC × KETTAMA ecosystem sits inside broader UK dance music branding.

Why producers study the Interplanetary Criminal path

Interplanetary Criminal's career feels repeatable because it is not built on fantasy. No gimmick. No forced character acting. No sudden reinvention every three months. Instead:

• a sound that works in real rooms
• tracks with fast payoff
• community and infrastructure through a label
• a crossover moment without abandoning the scene
• collaborations that widen reach while keeping credibility
• institutional wins that arrive as consequence, not goal

This sits inside the broader 2026 London electronic music picture where UK garage is now filling venues at every tier of the capacity spectrum, from intimate mid-size rooms to Sammy Virji's 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace run.

The real takeaway

Interplanetary Criminal's success is not about being the loudest personality in the room. It is about lowering the barrier of entry without lowering the quality. He made UK garage feel normal again. Normal enough to travel. Normal enough to grow. Normal enough to last.

In 2026, that may be the most powerful move an electronic artist can make. And it is exactly the strategic instinct that separates the producers who become reference points from the producers who become trends.

FAQ

What is Interplanetary Criminal's real name?

Interplanetary Criminal's real name is Zachary Koa Bruce, commonly known as Zach Bruce.

How old is Interplanetary Criminal?

Interplanetary Criminal was born on 16 December 1993. He is 32 as of September 2026 and turns 33 on 16 December 2026.

Where is Interplanetary Criminal from?

Interplanetary Criminal was born in Blackburn in the North West of England and raised in Bolton, Greater Manchester from age six. He is currently based in Manchester.

What genre is Interplanetary Criminal?

Interplanetary Criminal produces UK garage, speed garage, bassline, 2-step, breakbeat, donk and hard house. His DJ sets move freely across the full UK bass family.

Did Interplanetary Criminal win DJ Mag Best DJ 2025?

Yes. Interplanetary Criminal won Best DJ in DJ Mag's Best of British awards 2025. DJ Mag published the winners on 11 December 2025.

What is Interplanetary Criminal's biggest song?

Interplanetary Criminal's biggest song is "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" with Eliza Rose, released in 2022. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and has been certified 2× Platinum in the UK.

What label does Interplanetary Criminal run?

Interplanetary Criminal co-founded ATW Records with Main Phase. The label's first release, ATW001, came out in 2020, and it focuses on contemporary UK garage, speed garage and bassline.

What is Interplanetary Criminal's ethnicity? Is he Singaporean?

Interplanetary Criminal is British, born and raised in the North West of England, with Singaporean heritage on his mother's side. His mother is half-Singaporean: his grandmother is Singaporean, and his mother lived in Singapore until she was 15. He has spoken to Mixmag about growing up Asian in Bolton.

Did Interplanetary Criminal win a Juno Award?

Yes. Interplanetary Criminal won the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year in 2025 for "No Time" featuring SadBoi.

Where did Interplanetary Criminal go to school?

Interplanetary Criminal studied at the School of Sound Recording in Manchester from around 2012, which is where he began DJing and producing electronic music.

What are Interplanetary Criminal's latest releases?

Recent releases include "Damager" with Sammy Virji on Capitol Records (2024), "Yosemite" with KETTAMA (2024), "Slow Burner" with Original Koffee (2025) and "Fón Póca" with Travy (2025), following his 2022 UK number one "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)".

Where can you see Interplanetary Criminal in 2026?

His biggest 2026 date is Interplanetary Criminal Presents, a full takeover of The Warehouse Project at Depot Mayfield, Manchester, on Saturday 10 October 2026 from 19:00 to 04:00. It is sold out, with a waiting list on the WHP site. Earlier in 2026 he headlined DEPOT Cardiff on 14 March and was billed at Kappa FuturFestival in Turin, 3 to 5 July.

This editorial is part of House of MNEEMO's ongoing coverage of the electronic and club music scene, written by London-based DJ and producer MNEEMO, millions of streams to his name and a party series running through some of London's best clubs. Listen to MNEEMO: Spotify · Instagram · YouTube