insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 12 - February 2016 | Page 14

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

STICK 'EM UP PUNK, IT'S THE
FUN LOVIN' CRIMINALS
It’s been two decades since Huey Morgan and his bandmates gatecrashed the UK’s Britpop
party bringing with them a welcome dose of swag and a seminal record: Come Find Yourself,
an album that defined the 90s and still sounds as cool today as it did then. Polly Humphris had a
chat with the original fun lovin’ criminal to find out more about the album.

Hi Huey. What was the inspiration behind
the album’s name, Come Find Yourself?
“Come Find Yourself” was always a song
that the band loved. The track was a really
big breakthrough for me when I was writing it
because it’s autobiographical and was about
me looking back over at my life and everything
I’d achieved, for good or bad. It’s the stand
out track for me as a person because I literally
did find myself while being in the band, and I
thought the song would stand the test of time;
here we are 20 years later, and I think it has.
What do you think it is about the album
that makes it so timeless?
A combination of different musical influences
and honest lyrics. Some of it’s rap; some of
it’s straight-up love song; some of it’s very
autobiographical. It’s hard to put your finger on
something like that and if you could, it would
take some of the magic out.
Has your perception of the album changed
over time?
As a recording artist you have to look at stuff
as a snapshot in time, and when I look at the

record like that, it makes a lot of sense and
seems how it’s supposed to be. If you listen
to “Some Girls” by The Rolling Stones, for
example, you listen to it as them then and I
can appreciate that. I was a pretty cool guy
back then, and even though I didn’t know what
I’d be now, I was on the right track. When
you put a record out, it doesn’t belong to you
anymore, it becomes more about how people
emotionally interact with it and make it part of
their lives.
Did you have a track that resonated with
you more than others when the album was
first released and is that still the same
track?
It’s a song that was with us for a long time
called “I Can’t Get With That”, which we did
a couple of versions of and was included
on our first EP, Original Soundtrack For Hi-Fi
Living, because we loved it and it really spoke
volumes about our circumstances in New York
City at the time. I talk about certain dynamics
in the city and the politic of the area and
listening back to the record now, aside from
changing the politicians’ names, nothing’s really
changed.

You’ve said before that being a rock star
is a ‘young man’s game’ and is a lifestyle
that doesn’t appeal to you anymore – do
you still stand by that?
Being a rock star is something that’s really
changed. When I was first coming up, it
was something that you could exercise your
personal freedoms doing. I think now it’s not,
and with that you have to be a lot younger and
a lot more naïve about the world to actually buy
into it. I don’t think many people making music
now are compelled to do it with a passion,
maybe a few are, but the majority just want to
be on TV and be “famous”.
What’s next for the Fun Lovin’ Criminals?
Fast (band member, Brian Leiser) and I were
talking about putting some music together and
we have some ideas that we’re floating around,
but right now we’re focused on the world tour.
I’m a family man now too; that’s my main job
and I love it.
The Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ world tour kicks off
this month and comes to Worthing Pavilion on
February 12th. www.worthingtheatres.co.uk
www.funlovincriminals.co
@funlovincrims

14