Incorporating a mix of soul, funk, rock, jazz, R&B, rap and whatever else they choose to throw into the mix, Fun Lovin’ Criminals have a certain degree of timelessness that is yet proven by their ongoing popularity. In the spirit of their 1996 debut album, and despite a busy 2016 of gigging, the band are as energized as ever in the lead up to another string of new shows. Ahead of kicking off their UK and Ireland tour at Dublin’s Vicar St, and just following the 20th anniversary of their first album, Come Find Me Brian “Fast” Leiser, spoke to The University Times about the band’s success and journey so far.
Fast spoke with genuine excitement and love for what the band have achieved and continue to strive for. It’s not often that artists have the opportunity to celebrate such a large anniversary through performance. On this, Fast reflects that “we’ve played a lot of shows in 20 years, but what’s most amazing is our fans in Ireland and the UK and in western Europe. Usually we get together and kind of decide what we’re gonna play and stuff, but with last year we were really just playing [Come Find Me] from start to finish. By the time we got to the fourth song the crowds were really crazy and so hyped up”. It was this particular song order that proved so important for the band’s live shows: “You don’t really think about the order of songs when you’re making an album, that just happens at the end, but “Scooby Snacks” was the fourth song on the album and that’s like our first big hit so… you know that was just really cool. And to see people start bringing their kids to shows, that’s really special.”
I’d visit my folks in North Carolina, there were all these charity shops with heaps of records for like a dime. I’d buy a box of ‘em and bring them back to New York and we’d get a whole record from this one box
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Fun Lovin’ Criminals have experienced incredible success in Europe, their sound welcomed maybe more warmly here than in back home in the US. Such a rarity is initial success across the pond, but with the band’s eclectic combination of genres it seems that the US may just not have been ready for what Fun Lovin’ Criminals had to offer. Speaking of their time developing as a band in New York, Fast recalled that: “I think at the time, when we were writing the first record, in the States, music was still kinda sectioned. You wouldn’t have a radio station that would play hip-hop and rock n’ roll and jazz or whatever. You had some good college radio and we did some college shows… but on mainstream and national radio you couldn’t hear a hip-hop song with a guitar solo in it, or a rock song with rapping in it. It was still kinda early days for that.” The variety of content that could be found on European radio stations was important for them. “In Europe, we were getting played on [BBC] Radio 1. We didn’t really understand the power of Radio 1 until the label explained it to us. We turned it on and you’d hear Massive Attack, you’d hear Fun Lovin’ Criminals, you’d hear Oasis, Jamiroquai, all these different types of music. I think it was easier for us to be heard over [in Europe].”
Keeping it different and avoiding “all the same shit” is a quality easily found in Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ music, most significantly through the band’s use of samples. In the early days of Fun Lovin’ Criminals, incorporating samples into music was cheap, easy, fun and experimental and is what eventually planted the idea of multi-genre music in their minds. With sampling from cinema and from other artists becoming expensive in a fast moving and changing industry, Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ ability to keep their sound fresh with clever sampling is a testament to their talent as musicians. “I love talking about samples”, Fast admits. “For Huey [Morgan] and I, what really brought us together was all this new technology and all this sampling in what we were hearing. Back in the early days of sampling it was amazing to see how a bass part from The Who could work really well with a guitar part from Al Green or something.” Fast’s love of samples extends far beyond the familiar, however. “I love using samples from music that people don’t know. When I’d visit my folks in North Carolina, there were all these charity shops with heaps of records for like a dime. I’d buy a box of ‘em and bring them back to New York and we’d get a whole record from this one box. Nowadays, you gotta pay people for samples and give them a percentage and if you’ve got four or five samples you’re never gonna own your music. It’s also not as creative anymore with all the technology. So recently we’ve been going really obscure, it’s safer. You know, if you chop up something from an old El Coco record you’re probably gonna get away with it.”
We’re a bit older now and still trying to do music now as a career. It’s kinda like we jumped the gun at the start and got it out of our system
We talk a little about one of the band’s many side projects, Radio Riddler. Under the pseudonym, Fast and Frank released a completely reworked reggae version of Prince’s “Purple Rain”, and some other music, too. Fast explains: “That reggae album was a definite passion project, we got Sinéad O’Connor on there, and we we actually got to tour with it in the US which was almost impossible with Fun Lovin’ Criminals. With Radio Riddler we toured with UB40 all across America and it was unbelievable. It gets us inspired to do more stuff with Fun Lovin’ Criminals.” Indeed, it is resoundingly clear that Fast and Fun Lovin’ Criminals have a real understanding and love for music and what they want to do with it, something that is audible just by listening to or watching them play. It is also resonant in my conversation with Fast: “In the beginning for Fun Lovin’ Criminals it was never about making money. It was just a really clever creative thing Huey [Morgan] and I did and it laid the foundations for the next twenty years. I think we’re getting to the stage now where we’re gonna do some more writing again because I don’t think we’re really ever gonna stop.”
Talking about the the band now and the upcoming dates, Fast says: “We’ve learned from our mistakes, we’ve said no a lot of times when we should have said yes but we have no regrets. We’re a bit older now and still trying to do music now as a career. It’s kinda like we jumped the gun at the start and got it out of our system. We’re a bit wiser I’d like to think, and we just live for those two hours on stage.”
Speaking with a fondness for Ireland, Dublin and our audiences, Fast revealed that the band have a tradition of starting their tours in the capital, something they hold dear. “It’s something really special to come and visit our friends, go to Crackbird – man I love Crackbird – and you know, Irish crowds, they’re very forgiving. When I land in Dublin on Wednesday I’ll be straight into Crackbird and I look forward to just a really good time.”
