Fun Lovin' Criminals

But most music fans would agree that the Fun Lovin' Criminals definitely do fit into this category.

With their laid-back style, eclectic approach and a lead singer who has the look of a young Robert De Niro, this New York Trio epitomise what it is to be cool.

But Fast, the multi-instrumentalist from the band who have had hits including Fun Lovin' Criminal and Scooby Snax, isn't so sure.

"I don't really know what makes someone cool," he muses.

"We're not uncool, I mean, we not Darius!

"We're not manufactured, everything you see or hear about us is real. No one else is holding the strings, we're definitely not puppets.

"But I'd be the last person to be able to describe what cool is. Harrison Ford is cool to me. But I don't know what makes me cool."

And it's refreshing to learn that even if Fast and co don't seem to be able to put a foot wrong now, they weren't always such style icons.

"When I was at college I was a total computer nerd," admits Fast.

"I was a big time geek who would just make little home movies and play around with keyboards and synthesisers and stuff. But even then, there was the society that I was part of who thought it was cool at the time. You know, cool to one person is totally uncool to someone else - it's all relative."

As well as playing on computers and keyboards, Fast also spent a fair amount of time socialising, picking himself up his nickname in the process.

"When I was at college I used to drink a lot and get crazy. When people are drunk and they ask someone a question and then two seconds later they're talking so someone else before the other person even answers you? That's what I was like - fast."

Fast has become his name to everyone except one special woman.

"My name's Brian but that's really only what my mom calls me. When a fan comes up and says 'hey, Brian', I'm like, 'do you know my mom?'. I don't really care if someone calls me Brian or Fast but it's weird when someone calls me it because it's what my mom calls me."

These days the musician's got lots of fans to call him Fast or Brian, thanks to the Fun Lovin' Criminals' unique sound.

"Not being pompous or egotistical, I just think we're a band that people know doesn't sound like anyone else," he says.

"When we started out we were so against being in a band that sounded like anything else. It was very important that if we did a hip-hop song that it had a guitar solo or if we did a rock and roll song, it had Huey rapping on it."

But this approach hasn't been without its pitfalls.

"We realised soon after being signed to a record company that rock radio, especially in the States, wasn't going to play a song with rapping on it. Likewise a hip-hop station isn't going to play a song that has a guitar solo. They all stick to the same thing - everything sounds the same.

"Back in the day British radio stations were more eclectic but even now they're getting worse. Big American companies are trying to buy up English radio which will be the worst of everything.

"There shouldn't be any monopoly when it comes to music or movies and that's the problem with Hollywood and the big companies. They're all about having people see and hear the same rubbish and nothing original. That's why people prefer albums by The Streets or Gorillaz over hearing something from pop acts like Darius.

"This stuff is good for kids but when they grow up they don't want to hear that bubble-gum rubbish. They want to hear something that means something to them. That's something that's important to us.

"We come from New York and the least we can do is try and share our experiences of what it's like living in New York city, which anyone whose been there knows is a very special place."

Unsurprisingly, given that the band draw on their experiences of New York life in their music, the events of September 11 2001 have impacted on their recent songs.

"For a whole year after that happened we were confused about everything. New York was like our fortress of solitude, no one could penetrate it.

"People are going to hear our new songs and say 'wow, this isn't the usual happy-go-lucky Fun Lovin' Criminals, this is a little bit more serious', but if you think about what happened, it changed the world."

Fun Lovin' Criminals are at The Anvil, Basingstoke, on 25 June. Performance: 8pm. Tickets: £16.50. Box office: 01256 844244.