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| Fast was born on the Naval
station in Maryland, Minneapolis (his dad was in the Navy) and grew up
in Westchester County. He went to school in Syracuse on a "trumpet
deal" whatever that is, where he met Steve (who comes from Rome
just outside of New York City).
Huey is from Manhattan on the Lower East Side of New York. He had a hard childhood which involved him being put into care and getting involved in various criminal "activities". These "activities" landed him with the stark choice of either going to jail or joining the marines. "I was given kind of a choice between the Marines and working with people making big rocks into little rocks, so I figured I would be a Marine." Whilst in the marines, the Gulf War broke out and he was sent over to Iraq to fight. During this time he witnessed many things which scarred him for life, such as the death of his best friend. He has still not recovered which is why he smokes so much of "the 'erbs". He was discharged after two and a half years and returned to his native New York. He got a job as a bar back in the Limelight Club. Whilst there he made friends with the guy who answered the phones, whose nickname was Fast due to his phenomenally slow work rate, and Fast's friend who was a regular customer named Steve. They moved in together along with two other guys. Fast and Steve had been in a techno outfit and one night in 1993, they drafted in Huey on blues guitar and the Fun Lovin' Criminals were born. Their rehearsals involved them playing their music very loudly and unsurprisingly they were eventually evicted from the apartment. Their first gig was at the Limelight at a friend's birthday party, and after that they were drafted into play whenever the normal act did not turn up, as they were already on the payroll so they did not need to be paid. After only a dozen gigs, the head of EMI saw them playing and offered them a record deal, which of course they gratefully accepted. (Huey had to shelve his dreams of becoming a fireman for good - "I figured it would be a good way of getting kicks without breaking the law.") They recorded their debut album in a record two days due to the overwhelming (yet unnecessary) fear that someone from the record company would realise they had made a mistake and stop giving them money. Their debut album "Come Find Yourself" was released in 1996. It includes the singles "Scooby Snacks", "The Fun Lovin' Criminal", "King of New York" and "The Grave and the Constant", and has sold over a million copies worldwide. When they released their single "Scooby Snacks" (which reached number 22 in the UK charts) they were taken to court over their use of the words from Quentin Tarantino's movie "Pulp Fiction" and had to acknowledge him as a writer on the single and give him a large chunk of the royalties. The FLC were understandably miffed by this action and have yet to resolve their dispute with Tarantino. Their second album "100% Colombian" was released in 1998. It features the singles "Love Unlimited", "Big Night Out" and their most recent release "Korean Bodega". Also on this album they collaborated with Blues legend B. B. King on "Mini Bar Blues". |
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Da boys hanging out with B. B. King at the Q Awards. |
| They toured all round the
world, but especially in Great Britain, where they are particularly
popular. During one of their gigs their sound man was attacked and Steve
jumped to his rescue, injuring his hand at the same time. This meant
that he could not play the drums any more, and that coupled with the
fact that his girlfriend wanted him to stop touring so that they could
get married meant that he left the band.
His replacement was a bloke called Mackie who had played drums with the Cro-Mags and Bad Brains. How long Mackie is staying is not known though it looks like he will be with the FLC for some time, as his name has also been substituted for Steve's mid-song in "Scooby Snacks". |
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