GET Outta here! New York’s finest are back on the block – and fighting fit.

The sharp-suited The Fun Lovin’ Criminals, whose soul and funk-infused street-smart rock provided a Manhattan-flavoured soundtrack for the mid-90s, had been out of sight for too long before last year's triumphant return.

And the Kings of New York are repeating the fun by making their way back to Oxford for a show at the city's O2 Academy.

“It feels great to be back,” says Huey Morgan, who is now equally well known as a slick presenter on BBC 6 Music, and, more bizzarely, as the star of Sky One's Pet Nation... alongside that other notable gangster, err... Liza Tarbuck.

“It’s like I’m a kid again," he says."And being on tour is like being on a school trip.”

The band’s biggest hits, such as Scooby Snacks and Fun Lovin’ Criminal, still sound fresh now, a decade and a half since we first heard them.

It is, Morgan insists, a New York thing. “They still sound ‘in the moment’,” he says.

“It’s that mix of blues, jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop. The mindset of a New Yorker is to go to new places and explore something different – artistically and musically.

"And because we’ve been trying different styles, our music has elements other bands don’t have.

“It’s nurture not nature; as New Yorkers we were nurtured to have an eclectic source of music to draw from.

“We don’t live in an ivory tower; we are blue-collar dudes, making music for the people.”

And, still, no one else sounds anything like them. “We were once described as the Tom Waits of rock, which is cool,” he says.

“We have to focus on our strengths – and that’s playing music for people.

“There’s this thing called ‘noetics’,” he elaborates. “It says if everybody thinks the same good thoughts, good things will happen.

"Likewise negative thoughts – it’s not rocket science. And we all want the same thing, to be a Fun Lovin’ Criminal."

The Fun Lovin' Criminals play the Oxford O2 academy on saturday June 18. Tickets are £15 from ticketweb.co.uk