At the time I wanted to kill him, but in hindsight I probably deserved it. Not that I'm saying the FLC's aren't great, because they are, but I think after hearing the King of New York for the twentieth time that day, my brother finally snapped.

So imagine my trepidation when nine years later, I am faced with the prospect of meeting Hughie, Fast and new recruit Frank in a London apartment to talk to them about their new album, 'Livin' in the City'.

What's the new album about?
Hughie: The album's about us living in the city (New York) and the things, good and bad that can happen along the way.

If you were trying to describe the record to someone who had never heard your music before – what would you say?
Frank: It's like Tapas; it's got a little bit of everything in it. It's not just 11 melancholy songs, it's got relaxing songs, party songs, even reggae songs, there's a lot of different flavours that's how I would describe it, I can't say its just one thing. So if you like difference then you should purchase this album.

What kind of feeling would you like a person to be left with after listening to your album?
Hughie: I guess that their cousins from New York sent them a post card.
Fast: To know that their not alone in the world.

There's a song on the album called 'Gave Up On God', was that written as a kind of commentary piece on religion and 9/11?
Hughie: It has a lot to do with the way people like George Bush or Osama Bin Laden, invoke the name of God all the time and use it to cover a lot of ground. If you take God out of the equation and look at what they're doing – they're just common thugs and they don't give a shit.

Are any of you particularly religious?
Hughie: I would say we're all quite spiritual.

How does this album differ from your previous releases?
Hughie: Well most importantly, Franks working with us, so this was like the team home run because he's kind of rounded everything out. Fast and I, we knew we had a good thing going and that we were making cool music, but then Frank came in and made it all make sense.

So why did you decide to record this album on a yacht?
Hughie: That was a lie.
Frank: We're very embarrassed about that.
Hughie: Our press guy kinda got the wrong end of the stick with that.
Fast: I told him that my father has a Ganoe, which is a mix of a canoe and like a robot. No, not a robot, a rowboat you know. So if you can imagine a rowboat and a canoe with a robot like engine that's electric, that makes no noise…
Frank: No, what happened was that this guy took us out sailing, in fact he took us on it the other day and…
Hughie: Why can't you guys just say – no we didn't record it on a boat and leave it at that?

Well I'm quite disappointed now.
Frank: I'm disappointed that we didn't record it on a boat.
Hugh: I was worried I might have forgotten - that was the worst part of it!
Frank: Yeah – did that happen? Were we just drunk and we've forgotten it?

Do you have a funny stories relating to the recording of the album?
Fast: No but we have plenty of mixing the album stories…The air conditioning kept breaking… smashing guitars… people playing golf all day every day.

Who was smashing guitars and why?
Hughie: It was an inanimate object and I didn't want to hurt any body.
Frank: Well you kinda did because the first throw of the guitar skipped along the floor and cracked a sound guy right in his knackers, which he got a bit upset about.

So what offended you?
Hughie: I wasn't offended, I was…
Fast: Descending to the dark side, he had to be saved from himself… Then Obe Wan Kinobe said to him, “Who are you trying to save yourself from?” and he said, “Myself”.

So do you have a favourite FLC album then or is it impossible to choose between them?
Hughie: I like the one that made us all money. If it wasn't for Scooby Snacks then all this would be a rental – you know.

How would you say you have changed since making the first album?
Hughie: I don't think we've changed at all. In attitude we have, in age we have and therefore…
Frank: Actually can I just say that the guy that cuts your hair has done a really good job, that haircut has taken years off you. And your hair Fast, as you get older you hair looks more distinguished. You're both aging well, where as me I don't have to worry, being 27 years old.

While Hughie is out the room I ask Frank to spill the beans on Hughie's love life…
I've been reading a lot in the paper about Hughie's love life, is it true that he's been dating an IT girl called Beverley Bloom?
Frank: I think you'll find that that's another lie – because we were in Germany at the time when this was all in the papers, and he said 'how can I have been out with this Beverley last night when I'm stood reading about in Germany?'

So has he even kissed her?
Frank: Yeah but that was two years ago now.

So he's most definitely a free agent?
Frank: Yeah and he's been doing his best as a free agent as well!

So who is attached and who isn't?
Fast: We're all single. We're single all the time… (pulls a sad face)

Would you consider yourselves to be bad boys?
Frank: Oh yeah
Fast: What like Will Smith? We like to have fun, we live each day like it's our last and we try not to be disrespectful to people so, no harm no foul. We treat people how we wanna be treated and if they treat us bad then we treat them how they treat us.

Would you like to settle down?
Fast: Yeah we try to settle down. I mean if you're talking about settling down to have a family, then yeah that's something we both aspire to have one day. I think for Hugh and myself, we acknowledge that before we take that step we need to be able to properly take care of those people. Running around, acting like a hooligan and living the lifestyle we do, we're not going to be able to give the proper woman the love and support she deserves. When I'm 70…
Frank: Are you going to shut up? Lets move on.

What about you Hughie?
Hughie: What's that?

Women?
Hughie: Yeah women are cool.

I was just asking about Beverly Bloom.
Hughie: Yeah what's that about?! I know her but it's nothing like that!

I remember reading about a time when you apparently shot some man in the foot… Why did you do it?
Hughie: Because he made me mad. I was a punk, you know. He was stepping on my shit and I popped him.

What's the worst thing you've ever done – was that it?
Hughie: Depends. No, actually that wasn't that bad. He was all right, the hole wasn't that big. It healed!

Do you think being a musician has made you any less of a bad boy?
Hughie: No, but I think it's given me less of a chance to be bad.

Do you think if you hadn't found success musically you'd be in the gutter now?
Hughie: No, I think we pretty much keep things together as people but we suffer no fools. We don't really start shit but we end it, you know what I mean.

Frank – how did your parents react back in Yorkshire when you told them you were joining the FLC? Were they impressed or did they just say, who?!
Frank: My dad's cool, he knows his music. So, when I rang him up and told him, he was very impressed. My mum was just said, 'don't do any drugs'.