Gig Preview and interview with Fun Lovin' Criminals
Posted on: 03 Feb 2017New York’s finest return to Bristol on Friday 10 February. Martin Allen caught up with Fast from the band to find out what fans of this diverse genre-spanning band can expect this time around…
For the past couple of decades, the Fun Lovin’ Criminals have been blending a multitude of musical styles and influences to create a unique brand of seemingly effortless cool. Rock, hip hop, rap, jazz, funk, blues - you name it, and it’s all in there, wrapped up with a generous helping of New York swagger.
The band marked the 20th anniversary of their seminal debut album ‘Come Find Yourself’ with a tour last year. “It was a great time for us,” says Fast, aka the multi-instrumentalist Brian Leiser. “We had been planning it for a couple of years beforehand, and we just wanted to go out and see what it would be like to play the whole album from start to finish. The fans seemed to enjoy it - there was really great energy in pretty much every gig.”
The band prides itself on knowing how to bring the party - and they also know that people are often in less of a party mood earlier in the week, so for their 20th Anniversary tour, they tried to ensure that gigs took place as close to the weekend as possible: “We made sure that most were on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday. I mean, no-one likes going to concerts on a Monday do they!”
This time around, a packed schedule of dates on this 12-leg tour has meant that some early week scheduling was unavoidable, although fortunately, the FLC roll into Bristol’s O2 Academy for a prime Friday night spot. “We’re not going to be playing all of ‘Come Find Yourself’ during this month’s gigs. We’ve been playing the album for the past year pretty much non-stop so we’re going to mix it up a little bit this time.”
So with such an extensive back catalogue of material to choose from - across six studio albums over 21 years - how do the three band members determine the set list for their live shows? “Usually what happens - and it is regrettable - is that we never usually rehearse, ever,” admits Fast. “Before a tour starts, we’ll go into a studio or rehearsal space to make sure the equipment works. We’ll spend a couple of hours running through stuff and during that time, we’ll have conversations about whether we should play some tracks that we’ve not played for ages.
“Then one-by-one, we’ll realise there’s a reason we don’t play those, and decide not to do them after all. But for this tour, we do actually have a few that we’re pulling out of the bag that we don’t get to play that often, and we’re really looking forward to doing those.”
“I usually write-up the initial set list, send them to the boys and they either agree or make subtle little changes. Somebody has to start the process and it’s usually me.”
Does Fast have his particular favourites? “I think we all have our own favourite tracks to play live. One that we all like to play is ‘Will I Be Ready?’ from the ‘Living In The City’ album - it’s a really cool song to perform. We like doing the mellow stuff, the blues stuff, but the single most important thing is to mix it up in each show and not just have a list of songs that are the same type of music.”
He adds that the crowd favourites - ‘Scooby Snacks’, ‘Fun Lovin’ Criminal’, and ‘King of New York’ in particular - are always key, but that the band love playing any one of the 60+ songs they’ve written over the years.
While frontman Huey Morgan leads with vocals and guitar, and Frank Benbini shores things up at the back on drums, Fast’s own role within the band is as varied as it gets. “It’s good to be able to switch it up a lot. I can be playing bass guitar with a harmonica on one song, and maybe keyboards and trumpet on another. That’s what keeps it fresh for me - I never wanted to be the kind of musician who just picks up a bass guitar and plays it for the whole show. That’s boring.”
When 365Bristol met Huey Morgan:
And Fast is looking forward to a return to Bristol this month, a place that the band holds in high esteem. “We’ve always had good shows in Bristol, especially at the Academy. And we’ve been to Bristol many times to see other bands play in fact. We came a while back to see Fat Freddy’s Drop which was cool. Plus Huey is sort of a local as he lives in Frome and his wife is from Bristol.”
“The city has a very influential scene with all the drum and bass and trip-hop heritage so it’s always good to back in such a good music town.”
Bristol may even be treated to some new songs when the FLC come to town. “We’re in the process of putting together some new material,” reveals Fast. “We have about half an album already done and hopefully we’ll have it all wrapped up and ready for release perhaps towards the end of the summer, definitely by the end of the year anyway.
“We think the fans will be very happy with the new stuff - fans of the album ‘Mimosa’ will probably be especially happy - but we are going into it with no rules just like we always do, and we’re all really excited about this new project.”
Tickets to the show are available here
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As a lifelong music obsessive, Martin brings his extensive journalism experience to bear on reviewing some of the many gigs that make Bristol's music scene one of the liveliest in the country. Originally from London, he spends his time following AFC Wimbledon, tormenting his children with Dad Jokes, and getting out to see as much live music, comedy and theatre as possible.
