Exclusive: Huey Morgan talks tumultuous past with Fun Lovin' Criminals, returning to the road and his debut solo album
Huey Morgan is preparing to hit the road with a new backing band and has his debut solo album in the pipeline.
Huey Morgan never imagined he would make or perform music again after he departed Fun Lovin' Criminals four years ago.
However, the 56-year-old music legend - who is best known as the former frontman of the rock/rap group famed for the 1996 hit 'Scooby Snacks' - will be making a comeback to the stage with his new band at various O2 Academy venues across the the UK this May, kicking off in Southampton on May 6.
The upcoming jaunt — his first since he departed Fun Lovin’ Criminals in 2021 — comes just ahead of his memoir ‘Huey Morgan: The Fun Lovin’ Criminal’ and the announcement of a new album to come early next year.
In an exclusive interview with Contact Music, the Fun Lovin’ Criminal spills all on his big decision to return to music, his beef with his former bandmates, and how life on the road has changed over the years.
CM: How are you feeling ahead of your upcoming UK tour in May?
HM: Extremely excited. It's one of those things that I didn't really think I'd be able to do again. When my band broke up back in the day, three or four years ago, I really didn't think I'd be making or performing music again. It left me in such a really weird place.
Last year, I got contacted by Alan McGee, the very famous music manager, famously managed Oasis and all that stuff. He got in touch with me and wanted to manage me... So he gave me a call and said, ‘Hey, look, if you want to make music again, I'd be happy to give you a hand and help you do it’.
That was right about the time I was kind of coming out of these really bad feelings and experiences that I had with my old band, and I thought it would be something that made a whole lot of sense to me. So here we are, about a year and a half later, embarking on a tour, and that's really great. It's like this convergence of efforts. It's really encouraging to see.
You've announced your album for a tentative release early next year. What can fans expect from your debut solo project and return to music?
I think the idea of me being a storyteller from back in the day, when I wrote ‘Scooby Snacks’ and ‘King of New York’ and things of that nature, I'm still doing that on this album, but I'm meeting people where they're at. I'm not trying to bring anybody back to their 20s or their 30s. I'm trying to meet people at a point in their lives that they want to hear stories about lives that are similar to theirs, or ideas and passions and loves that are similar to theirs, so that's what I'm doing as a producer and a writer.
Do you have any collaborations prepared for this album? And if not, who would you most like to work with?
It's funny. I'm a 56-year-old guy making his debut solo record. That is daunting enough, and having other people involved in it would probably be a bridge too far, so I haven't really thought of any collabs or features of that nature.
But I really enjoy a lot of the music I'm hearing from people like Chris Stapleton, and there's another guy … Sturgill Simpson.
There’s these cats that are making what I would call classic rock music with a little bit of a Southern Rock feel, and I really like that kind of feel. And that's, in a lot of ways, what the album is aspiring to, where we're going back and going forward at the same time sonically.
What's it like performing with your new band compared to performing with your old band?
The vibes are very different. I didn't understand that for the last 10, 15 years, the two guys (Steve Borgovini and Brian "Fast" Leiser) in my band secretly hated me and resented me and were plotting my downfall. I had no idea.
These cats that I'm playing with now really want to make music, and are happy making music and contributing to the song and making it a group effort. And that's diametrically opposed to what I was experiencing with my old band. Just in that simple regard of positivity, that's the great thing about it.
Was it hard to make the decision to leave the band?
It was made for me. This is the funny thing: A lot of people don't understand what happened with the band. This was something that they engineered and manipulated to happen.
For the last couple years, things weren't really good with the band, because I was trying to do other things with my life and they weren't. This was how they made their money and made their living. I would always have to block out significant blocks of time to do a tour and play shows with the band so they could continue to, you know, hit their mortgage and keep their family afloat. So I was kind of obligated to do that, and they knew that.
I think that's where the resentment initially started with them. They knew that I didn't really necessarily want to be playing music with them personally anymore. And I think they got insulted by that and decided that they were going to say, ‘F*** this dude. We're going to orchestrate a situation where he has to leave’.
This I found out after the fact, but while I was still in the band, they went behind my back and trademarked the name “Fun Lovin’ Criminals”. Aside from being underhanded, it’s just like, why would they trademark something that's not theirs to trademark? It was the name of a graffiti crew in Queens that I had borrowed the name from, so I never trademarked it myself, obviously, because it wasn't mine to own. But they thought owning it would give them an advantage in the aftermath of me leaving the band.
Years ago, I said I wasn't in a really great place personally as well. I was battling a lot of alcohol addiction and stuff, which I've thankfully overcome — I haven’t drank in four years or so. But these are things that they used to their advantage. Like, they were hoping that I would have an episode, and they were hoping that I would have a situation they could point to and say, ‘Look, this is why we've fucked this guy over so badly, because he's a really bad person’.
So I didn't really leave the band. I think I might have said something along the lines of, to the drummer, told him to f*** off or something. He took that as me telling him I’m going to quit the band. But first of all, the drummer is in no way, shape, or form in the position to accept the resignation of a guy who created the group and came up with the name and stuff, so that was a weird situation in and of itself.
It took me a while to actually want to make music again, because it left me with such a bruise over that part of my heart that loved music that it was hard for me to even get in the room with a guitar. So after those years have passed, I'm just trying to do what I do and keep it positive.
As far as playing music again with the band that I put together now, it's night and day. I mean, aside from them being really good musicians, their approach to it is not selfish, or as selfish as those other two guys were.
What's it like to see your old band continuing to perform while you're with this new band?
Well, I don't go to these little, tiny pubs that they perform at.
It's kind of weird, because they're trading off things that I created. All the stories of all the songs, they're my stories. I've written every damn lyric of every damn song, and I had a lot to do with writing the music to all those songs as well. For them to go off and do it, it reeks of a tribute band, frankly.
I know that everybody's got to make a living. I'm not upset with them, but the way they went about it was pretty s*****. But to me, having the keyboard player up there mumbling my lyrics, not really understanding what he's saying, it just reeks of a tribute band and desperation.
I don't think I would ever go see them play, just because it would probably be extremely sad to see grown men kind of debase themselves for money like that.
How has life on the road changed over your years performing?
I was a young man then, and I'm not a young man anymore.
Back in the day I'd leave my house in New York in June sometime and come back in late September. That was just how life was, and you didn't really count the days. You just were playing shows and enjoying your life, and there was no responsibility, and you were living the rock-and-roll life, and it was great.
And then years pass, and I suppose in a lot of ways popularity wanes, so you're not playing these huge, big places anymore, so it's more of a business … and then things get a little bit non-cost-effective. And then you realize that you put yourself over a barrel, and then you start scaling your touring back.
What I'm doing now is I'm going out and playing shows and doing it the right way.
Reflecting on how you walked off set on ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ in 2013, how do you look back on it now?
Well, it was unfortunate. I don't know if you know, I'm a Marine Corps veteran. Through that, I have a stress disorder, and a lot of veterans in my age group have this issue, and things get a little bit out of hand. And when you mix those with alcohol, things like ‘The Buzzcocks’ happen.
It's not a proud moment of mine. If anything, it's a learning moment. It's kind of embarrassing sometimes, because a lot of people's most embarrassing moments happen at the back of a pub in an alleyway. Mine happened on TV.
It is what it is. But I have to take it as a learning experience and realise that maybe it helped a lot of other veterans out there who had alcohol dependency and a stress disorder figure out that they had to choose between the two.
You're from New York, but you live in England. Have you adopted any British traits or habits in your time living here?
I think throughout the time that I have lived over here, I have been kind of encouraged to be the UK's New York cousin. So for me to then become anglophiled and start drinking tea with my pinky in the air and calling everybody “mate” might be a little a bridge too far. If people appreciate my authenticity, which I believe they do … it would be kind of self-defeating or counterproductive for me to all of a sudden lose all that.
Head here to grab remaining tickets to Huey Morgan's 'Fun Lovin' Criminal Tour'.
In response to Huey's interview with Contact Music, Fun Lovin' Criminals have insisted there was no "coup to oust him" from the group and insisted he is deliberately trying to discredit the band.
A spokesperson for Fun Lovin’ Criminals said: “Huey Morgan continues to make statements that are untrue and concocted to discredit the members of the band. Sadly, this narrative is often repeated by some press outlets, who have failed to verify any of the claims made. We would like to thank Bang Showbiz/Contact Music for the opportunity to respond. Huey Morgan quit Fun Lovin’ Criminals in 2021.
"Before he made his decision, Fast and Frank spoke to lawyers about firing Huey from the band because he forced the autumn/winter tour of that year to be cancelled because he wanted to go on holiday, resulting in the band disappointing fans, crew staff missing work and venues rescheduling bookings. Huey was told Fun Lovin’ Criminals would continue without him and the band have texts and emails between them, former management and Huey confirming it was his decision to leave the band.
"He is not the victim of a coup to oust him from Fun Lovin’ Criminals. It took two years before Huey said anything about his departure and he has made a concerted effort through media interviews and social media posts to discredit the band, who are releasing new music and entertaining fans on tours around the world.
"Fun Lovin’ Criminals have moved on and are happy to announce the release of their new album, 'A Matter Of Time', the first LP in 15 years, in August, and a 34-date tour of the UK and Europe.”
