Fun Lovin’ Criminals Rise Again After 15 Years of Silence

After a bitter break with frontman Huey Morgan, the New York band emerges with their first album since 2010, and they’re not holding back. It’s Thursday afternoon when Brian ‘Fast’ Leiser, Frank Benbini, and Naim Cortazzi call in via Zoom from their respective home studios. “Man, that’s where I am right now,” Leiser chuckles as he adjusts his background. “A few hours ago, I was still in Tony Montana’s mansion; now I’m on spaceship Discovery.” It’s precisely that relaxed, somewhat absurdist humour that has characterised Fun Lovin’ Criminals for nearly three decades, and which has remained intact even after all the turbulence surrounding the band. That turbulence? We’ll get to that. Because after fifteen years of silence, the band is about to release their new album “A Matter of Time” on August 29th, their first studio album with new material since “Classic Fantastic” from 2010, and their first without iconic frontman Huey Morgan.

A Painful Liberation

“2021, the year he left the band, was honestly the best blessing ever. He just thought that meant the end of the band, which shows how little he understands about the music industry,” says Brian ‘Fast’ Leiser.

It’s a devastating statement about someone who was the face of the band for 28 years. Drummer Frank Benbini, who, besides his work with the Criminals, also plays in one of the UB40 reformations, is equally merciless: “If you look back at everything Huey had to do with the band, literally everything was ruined by him. And he knows that too.”

The break didn’t come out of nowhere. In his final years, Morgan wanted to play less and less of the old repertoire and even cancelled a complete UK tour in October 2021 to go on vacation. “For him, it was about other things than respect for the fans and the creativity of the music,” Leiser states. “He just wanted money.” How bad it had become with Morgan is clearest with the album “Another Mimosa” from 2019. “Frank and I went into the studio in 2018 to write a new record. That’s what we all thought, anyway. But when we got there, Huey wanted to make a covers album, which eventually became Another Mimosa,” Leiser tells bitterly.

‘”Another Mimosa” is shit. I hate that fucking record. And it’s the only album we’ve ever made that I just ignore exists, because it wasn’t a good time for us,’ Brian ‘Fast’ Leiser ultimately confesses.

The Rebirth

What followed was not an easy period. The remaining members had to not only find a new guitarist—that became Naim Cortazzi, formerly of Happy Mondays—but also redefine their entire identity. Leiser evolved from his role as bassist to that of multi-instrumentalist and singer, a transformation that changed the entire philosophy of the band.

“I like to say lately: this is a band that doesn’t have a frontman. And when it started, it didn’t necessarily have a frontman either. It was about those three guys who were gangsters from New York, blah blah blah, whatever the press would say. Then it started changing into Huey and the others,” says Brian ‘Fast’ Leiser.

“We didn’t want this new album to just be a continuation of what we did on the last two EPs,” Leiser explains about “A Matter of Time.” “We wanted to rock more. If you look at songs like “What It Is” or the chorus of “Out of Darkness Comes the Light,” that’s just insane.” The band’s sound has indeed evolved on the new album. Where Morgan was known for his impulsive, sometimes destructive studio approach (he would sometimes throw a guitar through the studio), Cortazzi works much more structured.

“There are many different types of guitars used. I play acoustic guitar in alternative Nashville tuning. On “What It Is” I play on an original Flying V, then you have a Burns guitar, just like Hank Marvin of The Shadows played, and of course, my own Les Paul, Stratocaster and Telecaster. There’s never been so much guitar on an FLC record,” laughs Naim Cortazzi.

Back to the Core

It was Grammy-winning engineer Tim Latham who brought them back to their raw core. “Tim said: what makes your band cool is that it’s rough around the edges. He’s been the fourth band member for ages,” Leiser states. This stands in stark contrast to earlier experiences. “We worked with different producers around the ‘Loco’ era,” Leiser remembers. “The label thought: how can we take the Criminals to the next level? They put us in the studio with a producer, who I won’t name, but man, he was worthless. He took my sloppy but stylishly played Rhodes part, and had someone else record a polished version.”

The Shadow of the Past

Of course, the Morgan issue continues to hang over the music. The former frontman has started his own ‘Huey Morgan: The Fun Lovin’ Criminal’ tour, which leads to comparisons with the UB40 split, a situation Benbini knows from his own experience through his work with one of the UB40 formations. “It doesn’t bother us,” Leiser claims. “If people always want to hear the same ten songs from the first two albums that we played for twenty years, and want to hear him sing them, fine. But we change our setlists every night.” Benbini has become more philosophical about the whole situation: “As I get older, I try to look forward. It gives me less anxiety to look forward than backwards. And if you look back at everything Huey did with the band, literally everything was ruined by him. And he knows that. So that’s enough for me. It’s enough for me that he knows what an asshole he was to Fast and me. So I can leave that part behind, and now I’m moving forward. We’re making new music.”

Outlook

With dozens of international shows planned through 2026 and a new single “Full Stop”, which, according to Benbini “, gets a bigger and louder reaction than all other songs in the set,” the future looks bright. “The funny thing is how many people still think the band doesn’t exist anymore,” Leiser laughs. “Every time we post something new, people discover what we’re doing. That’s pretty cool.”

“A Matter of Time” will be released on August 29th via their label Kilohertz Limited. It promises to be a statement about survival, renewal, and the power of friendship, even after the most bitter breaks.

Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Tour 2025:

SEPTEMBER
04 – Reading – Sub 89
05 – Norwich – Waterfront
06 – London – The Garage
07 – Brighton – Concorde 2
11 – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
12 – Leeds – Warehouse
13 – Liverpool – District
14 – Manchester – Gorilla
18 – Torquay – Arena
19 – Bristol – Thekla
20 – Birmingham – O2 Institute
22 – Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms

OCTOBER
02 – Brussels – La Madeleine
05 – Leipzig – Werk2
06 – Berlin – Hole 44
07 – Nuremberg – Hirsch
08 – Munich – Backstage Halle
10 – Ruesselsheim – Das Rind
11 – Dudelange – Opderschmelz
12 – Haarlem – Patronaat
14 – Paris – New Morning
15 – Bordeaux – La Salle des Fêtes
30 – Prague – Lucerna Music Bar

NOVEMBER
05 – Helsinki – Korjaamo
07 – Stockholm – Kollektivet Livet
08 – Malmö – Babel
10 – Copenhagen – Pumpehuset
12 – Groningen – Oosterpoort
16 – Milan – Legend Club