This is not the first time that the easyGroup have apparently sued over their trade mark word ‘easy’. Back in 2018 Stelios Haji-Ioannou allegedly sued the company Netflix for using Easy in a new TV series title, at the time Haji-Ioannou had this to say, “This is a case of typically arrogant behaviour by a very large American tech company who never bothered to check what legal rights other companies have outside the US.”

Easy Life, through a social media statement, expressed their disbelief that the alleged lawsuit has been filed solely due to the likeness between their name and the company’s. They said “Okay…never imaged having to do this.” They went on to say, “easy jet are suing us for being called easy life, they’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford.” They further added, “for those of you that bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to tenerife, i apologise.”

Easy Life recently posted on their social media, stating that they had reached a rite of passage. It said, “we were joined by the BBC at @officialrandl . Reading And Leeds A Rite Of Passage available to stream now on Iplayer.”

Having made a huge imprint on the music scene at the Reading and Leeds festival, Easy Life are keen to maintain the brand name they have worked so hard to build. The group further commented on their Instagram post, “we’ve worked hard to establish our brand and I’m certain in no way have we ever effected their business.”

easyGroup, recently updated on the intended legal dispute with Easy Life. They stated Mr Matravers and his fellow band members were brand thieves and used the name easyLife without permission, and that they were confident they would stop Mr Matravers.

Fans of Easy Life, took to social media in support and expressed their disconcert. One fan’s comment said “This is (yet more) smoking-gun evidence of a big corporation bullying those that can’t feasibly afford to fight back. They’re actually, whole-heartedly lying. If you WERE brand thieves, then this would have happened in 2015-17. Not conveniently a year after they try– to start an easyLife branch. And the fact they have a whole page on their site proudly displaying everyone they’ve done this too?”

This is (yet more) smoking-gun evidence of a big corporation bullying those that can’t feasibly afford to fight back. They’re actually, whole-heartedly lying. If you WERE brand thieves, then this would have happened in 2015-17. Not conveniently a year after they try-

— Non-Newtonian Snake (@GuzBugs) October 3, 2023

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A post shared by Barn On The Farm (@barnonthefarm)

This year, I was lucky enough to play the festival and get a chance to snoop around (I moonlight as a wannabe popstar), and to cut to the chase, was pretty blown away by what Josh and his team have managed to put together over the years. Scattered with 3 stages, Barn, Outdoor, and Main, and accommodating no more than 2000 people, the site is small but bustling with more charm and sincerity than most festivals I’ve attended. Taking advantage of it’s status as a working farm, you can find ostriches, alpacas, donkeys, enormous pigs, and horses casually walking amongst the fields whilst interested and usually inebriated festival goers look on both amused and enamoured. There are hammocks, outdoor beds, orchards, and even the curious new addition of “Grandma’s House” to enjoy as you wonder around the site, the latter being the creation of chief festival designer Harriet Lily. Grandma’s House, a tiny wooden shack with an overgrown lawn and bras and stockings hanging on a washing line, remained a mystery until it’s opening at 19.00 on the Friday night, when it soon became swarmed with people looking to enjoy the late night DJ set that went on inside. Only able to house 15 people at a time, you are allowed to enjoy an aptly designated 15 minutes of dancing before being kicked out for the next batch of clubbers, with 220 Kid even dropping by to play a surprise set this year. Elsewhere James Bay, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Vaccines, Maisie Peters, Easy Life, Maverick Sabre, and Tom Walker headlined across the various stages over the weekend, with Holly Humberstone, Beabadoobee, Griff, and many other hotly tipped rising stars playing just beneath them.

As an artist playing there, the first thing you notice is an overwhelming sense of acceptance and welcome on arrival. The green room is the same for everyone, whether you’re me or Bombay Bicycle Club, everyone is put under one big barn roof that I can only imagine houses tractors during it’s everyday running as a farm. On the first weekend of July every year though, it’s home to hundreds of creatives from around the world as they wait to get on stage. With beer, cider, food, coffee, tea, and even a very friendly man named Tom’s bake off worthy homemade brownies scattered around the room, anything you want- the wonderful green room staff have got you covered.

Unfortunately I only get 500ish words to write this article, so I’m going to have to stop prattling on, however I would highly highly recommend checking this festival out and going next year. I think it’s my favourite I’ve attended so far and can’t sing it’s praises enough. For more info click here.

Frontman and multi-instrumentalist Murray Matravers have spoken to BANG Showbiz regarding the group’s upcoming new album, whilst providing an insight into the group’s creative process. “We’re already working on the second record, we started working on that six months ago after we submitted the first one. We’re pretty close, actually, with that one. We’re always writing in the background.”

He went on to describe the bittersweet benefits in which lockdown provided as well as the downsides in which the group encountered in their creative process. “It was the first time that we’ve been given an extended period of time to actually make music. Usually, we’re be writing music, touring and also not taking it very seriously at all. We’d always be doing music on the side, but this is the first time where we could sit down for a year and make music. It was a bit strange. I think the luxury of having so much time was a positive but also a negative because I was in danger of overthinking every single step of the process. Whereas usually I’d be doing the writing on the side and no one really cares… I wrote a lot of bad music.”

The new album will follow up their debut album ‘Life’s a Beach’ which was released on 28th May 2021. The first studio album was released through Island Records and landed at number two within the UK Albums charts. The fivesome’s debut sired five singles, the album’s lead single ‘Daydreams’ was released on 21st October 2020. Followed by ‘A Message to Myself’, ‘Skeletons’, ‘Have a Great Day’ and finally ‘Ocean View’, released on 24th May 2021. The album’s most successful single was ‘Skeletons’ and was performed on the American chat show ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ on 13th April 2021.

Before the group’s first studio album, their first mixtape entitled ‘Creature Habits’ was released in April 2018. The mixtape sired their first single ‘Pockets’, due to this release the group signed with Island Records leaving their previous label Chess Club Records. After which, the group started to gain traction within the industry, in September 2018 Easy Life performed on the prestigious music show, ‘Later… With Jools Holland’. The group began their festival appearances in 2019, they played the US festival South by Southwest as well as other UK tours. Easy Life have also earned their stripes at the legendary event Glastonbury Festival in 2019, where they headlined the BBC Introducing stage.

The group took the stage again this year within an unusual setting, the performance was held inside the popular video game Fortnite. The band played the virtual concert held on 24th June 2021 and their venue was an electronically recreated O2 Arena in London. The concert was held in partnership with O2, Epic Games, Globe and Island Records UK and can be viewed via the new digital space created by the developers, entitled Fortnite Creative.

The group made history with their set as they are the first UK band to perform via the new platform. Matravers has provided the following statement concerning the group’s latest revolutionary gig and also described how such technological advances have created more opportunities creatively. “In the game, you can just do anything. We’re performing underwater, inside a fish, we get flushed down to the toilet. The possibilities were literally never-ending, we could do anything.”

Easy Life UK Tour Dates

11/07/2021 – Rough Trade Bristol – Bristol
14/07 – Rough Trade East – London
19/07 – The Y Theatre – Leicester
21/07 – Metronome – Nottingham
22/07 – Rough Trade Nottingham – Nottingham
24/07 – Arts Club – Liverpool
03/09 – Victoria Park – Warrington
04/09 – Neighbourhood Weekender – Warrington
04/09 – Victoria Park – Warrington
25/09 – Northamptonshire The County Ground – Northampton
01/11 – O2 Academy – Bristol
02/11 – O2 Institute – Birmingham
05/11 – Morningside Arena – Leicester
06/11 – Albert Hall – Manchester
07/11 – O2 Academy – Leeds
09/11 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow
11/11 – O2 Academy – Newcastle
12/11 – The Foundry – Sheffield
14/11 – The Wedgewood Rooms – Portsmouth
15/11 – Dome – Brighton
15/11 – Brighton Dome and Festival LTD – Brighton
16/11 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
17/11 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
21/11 – Limelight – Belfast
22/11 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin

Frontman Murray Matravers explains how difficult it can be ‘to talk about how you feel, especially if how you feel isn’t very well or very healthy. To have that conversation, you have to put yourself in a very vulnerable place and as blokes, you’re conditioned to not be vulnerable, especially not to your girlfriend or boyfriend. We don’t want to go, ‘Actually, I’m a fucking wreck and cripplingly insecure’ because we think that’s not an attractive quality to have. Everyone feels like they have a lot of shit in their lives but never feel that they can talk about, so it creates this vicious cycle where we know that we should be talking about these problems, but we’re not going to because we think that no one gives a fuck about them.’

Matravers also points out the connection between mental health and the negative impact of social media: young people are ‘constantly confronted with an idealised living of being beautiful and successful. But 99 per cent of people aren’t represented [on these platforms], so it’s no wonder that they feel so terrible because they don’t see themselves achieving anything worthwhile,’ he says. ‘That fucked with me, because I didn’t see a 5’4” farmer boy from Leicester doing anything.’

You can listen to ‘Life’s a Beach’ below.

ENJOY it , LOVE it, EMBRACE it, FEEL it ! LIFES A BEACH BABYYYYYYY

— easy life (@easylife) May 27, 2021

 

Easy Life can’t be confined to one genre, every track on the album varies -from indie to pop to jazz. It’s this unique fluidity that makes the release of their album greatly anticipated. There is something for everyone. ‘life’s a beach‘ consists of 12 songs, including one interlude and features the single ‘ocean view‘.

In discussing the album with DORK frontman Murray Matravers said:

“the album is about wishing things were simpler, but also coming to terms with life and realising: ‘…but it’s okay!’”

Matravers also stated:

“It’s a celebration of all the things that are wrong with the world in a way which flips them around and says: Yeah, but isn’t it great that we’ve all got these similar issues that we can relate to one another with?”

It’s this accessible and relatable aspect of Easy Life’s music that makes their success as artists inevitable. Not only is the album perfect for summer, with  energetic hip-hop and references to the beach, but the lyrical narratives in the singles make the album something everyone can listen to. Although inspired by personal experiences, the lyrics are never confined to that, and instead Easy Life have created a positive spin on common experiences that aren’t necessarily positive.

Finding positivity in the negatives, and offering words of encouragement in amongst brilliant music – Easy Life’s ‘life’s a beach‘ is exactly what we need this summer and for the foreseeable future.

You can listen to the album here.

The festival is to be held in Northampton, the hometown of Slowthai, at the County Cricket Club. The personal feel of the festival on Slowthai’s behalf, has caused it to receive hopeful reception. Festival goers can expect the same energy at the festival as that which Slowthai delivers in his music and performances.

The line-up includes names such as Greentea Peng, beabadoobee, Easy Life and Shygirl – a list hand-selected by Slowthai himself. The line-up shows the diverse talent that the next generation of UK music has to offer. It has been stated that each act represents “a different facet of the UK music scene in 2021”. So, it is no surprise that all of the artists chosen have  risen in popularity throughout the last year or so, with the production of unique and modern music.

Of course, amongst those set to play at Happyland is Slowthai himself. After the success of his second album, ‘TYRON’ earlier this year, fans eagerly anticipate the festival – for with it brings the first live performance of the album. The rapper’s gritty, punk energy and politically charged lyrics add a uniqueness to his music and makes him extremely distinctive as an artist. This year has been a turning point for the British rapper and his career. We can be confident that Happyland is another reason to confirm Slowthai’s importance on the music scene.

Discussing the festival, Slowthai said: “Happyland with happy folk. The place where we can laugh and joke. The place you can be yourself without judgment, expectations and impressions of someone else. The space from the shackles of the everyday. The mountain where we climb to run away”.

starting my own festival in my hometown!!! NN to the world… this has been a dream of mine forever. i’ll see you at the happyland

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/slowthai-introduces-his-one-day-festival-happyland/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-new-single-ocean-view/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-new-single-ocean-view/#comments Wed, 26 May 2021 10:52:33 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=35709 Alternative, English band easy life have released their new single ‘ocean view‘ ahead of their debut album ‘Life’s A Beach‘ which is out Friday 28th May.

The band, formed in Leicester, gained popularity with their single ‘nightmares‘ back in 2018 and have since developed a creative, unique discography. Their new single ‘ocean view‘ perfectly captures the dazed hip-hop that is heavily associated with the band.

Frontman Murray Matravers offers detailed, lyrical narrative in the single. In his own words on ‘ocean view‘, Matravers stated that it is about:

“managing expectations. With great anticipation comes great disappointment. ‘ocean view’ is the feeling of taking your mate/lover out on a wild trip to the seaside and finding out the whole trip is massively underwhelming, and they don’t even enjoy trips to the beach.”

The single teases the release of the new album ‘Life’s A Beach‘ – a suitable title which is reflected in ‘ocean view‘. Murray acknowledges the hardship that your expectations won’t always be met, as seen in his deep lyrical contemplation, yet the band portrays this through energetic hop-hop. You can never have the highs without the lows – life’s a beach.

Previous singles have shown the bands ability to fluctuate emotionally and lyrically depending on subject matter. From the bands happy go lucky, upbeat approach in ‘ocean view‘ to a slower tempo in ‘a message to myself’. In interview with DORK, Easy Life’s guitarist Lewis Alexander Berry commented on why the band were yet to make an album. Berry summarised the bands ability to adapt between singles, something that makes their music so unique – “I think we realise that there isn’t going to be a point where we go ‘this is what we sound like’. That’s great. If anything, that’s really exciting for us because we just write whatever we want”.

The single captures unrealistic expectations under a nostalgic, romanticised melody. It is suitably accompanied by the music video, directed by Greg Barth. The video is supposedly set at the beach with frontman Matravers appearing to be on a date with a giant goldfish. By the end of the video the camera pans out and reveals the beach is a complete set up – a crime scene of a car crash. Of course, the car crash suitably resembles ‘ocean view‘ and its theme of failed expectations.

‘ocean view‘ will be featured along with 12 other tracks on Easy Life’s debut album ‘Life’s A Beach‘, which has been greatly anticipated. The band are also set to perform on their upcoming Record Store Tour in the UK this July. You can watch the music video for their new single ‘ocean view‘ here.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-new-single-ocean-view/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-bring-forward-the-release-of-their-new-album-lifes-a-beach/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-bring-forward-the-release-of-their-new-album-lifes-a-beach/#comments Fri, 07 May 2021 11:29:38 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=35098 Alternative R&B group Easy Life shared news about the early release of their debut album ‘Life’s a Beach’. The album originally was set to come out on the 4th June, however now it will be available a week earlier, on the 28th May. The musicians announced it on their social media with a note: “OH SHIT THE ALBUM CAME EARLY. WE’RE BRINGING THE RELEASE FORWARD A WEEK YOU HEARD IT RIGHT 28TH OF MAY GO GET IT”.

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A post shared by easy life (@easylife)

The Leicester band’s new album will feature the singles ‘A Message To Myself’ and the latest one ‘Skeletons’, that only came out last month. Those two tracks give a glimpse of what’s coming in their album. Frontman Murray Matravers previously described the upcoming album as “a record that wishes it was anywhere else but here. Yet at the same time fixates on a dreary middle England existence”. 

The single ‘Skeletons’ that premiered on 13th April, has been described by Matravers as: “the idea of a slightly mysterious and potentially terrifying past. Everyone has baggage and everyone has skeletons”. You can check out the video below. Easy Life’s debut album ‘Life’s a beach’ via Island Records is available to pre-order here. See full track list below:

1. A message to myself
2. Have a great day
3. Ocean view
4. Skeletons
5. Daydreams
6. Life’s a beach (interlude)
7. Living strange 8. Compliments
9. Lifeboat
10. Nightmares
11. Homesickness
12. Music to walk home to

Easy Life are out on the road in UK and Europe from November this year. See full tour dates below. Tickets are available here.

01/11/2021 – O2 Academy (sold out) – Bristol
02/11 – O2 Institute – Birmingham
05/11 – Morningside Arena – Leicester
06/11 – Albert Hall (sold out) – Manchester
07/11 – O2 Academy – Leeds
09/11 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow
11/11 – O2 Academy – Newcastle
12/11 – The Foundry (sold out) – Sheffield
14/11 – The Wedgewood Rooms (Matinee) – Portsmouth
14/11 – The Wedgewood Rooms (sold out) – Portsmouth
15/11 – Dome – Brighton
16/11 – O2 Brixton Academy (sold out) – London
17/11 – O2 Brixton Academy (new date) – London
21/11 – Limelight – Belfast
22/11 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin

16/03/2022 – Den Atelier – Luxembourg
18/03 – La Trabendo – Paris
19/03 – Kantine – Cologne
21/03 – Dynamo – Zurich
22/03 – Grelle Forelle – Vienna
24/03 – Meetfactory – Prague
25/03 – Praga Centrum – Warsaw
26/03 – Columbia Theater – Berlin
28/03 – Lille Vega – Copenhagen
29/03 – Obaren – Stockholm
30/03 – Krosset – Oslo
01/04/2022 – Gruenspan – Hamburg
02/04 – Melkweg MAX – Amsterdam
03/04 – Trix – Antwerb

half the tour sold out and remaining dates almost gone pic.twitter.com/XZoVFdsKHs

— easy life (@easylife) April 27, 2021

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-bring-forward-the-release-of-their-new-album-lifes-a-beach/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-single-skeletons/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-single-skeletons/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2021 21:10:08 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=34022 English indie band Easy Life have unveiled a new single. Skeletons comes ahead of the release of their debut album Life’s A Beach, due out on 4th June. This is the album’s second single to come out after the group shared A Message To Myself last month.

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A post shared by easy life (@easylife)

Skeletons premiered as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record in the World on 13th April. Speaking on the show with presenter Jack Saunders, the band mused: “I think we kinda got a bit fed up of playing really slow, sad songs all the time live. It was definitely from the touring… there was a gap in our set that Skeletons could fill quite nicely.”

“The lyrics for me, in this one, just kinda describe getting familiar with somebody but you know they’re probably bad for you – but you wanna go there anyway. I think we can all relate to that.”

Lead singer Murray Matravers said of the track: “‘Skeletons’ plays with the idea of a slightly mysterious and potentially terrifying past. Everyone has baggage and everyone has skeletons. Falling head over heels with somebody who may be bad news, we’ve all been there.”

The band are set to play the track on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in what will be their debut American television performance. Easy Life also recently announced that they will be touring the UK and Ireland in November 2021, and Europe in March and April 2022. They will be playing in cities including Glasgow, Belfast, Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield and Brighton.

 

 

 

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A post shared by easy life (@easylife)

Easy Life formed in Leicester in 2017, with bassist Sam Hewitt, guitarist Lewis Berry, drummer Oliver Cassidy and keyboardist Jordan Birtles joining Matravers. The group performed on Later… with Jools Holland in 2018. Their 2020 mixtape Junk Food hit number seven in the UK Albums charts, and they came second in the BBC Sound of 2020 poll.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-release-single-skeletons/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-unveil-new-song-pop-tart/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/easy-life-unveil-new-song-pop-tart/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2020 04:48:12 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=20473 Indie pop group Easy Life just dropped a new song titled “Pop Tart“. The track is released as the B-side of the 2018 single “Nightmares“.

As fans are impatiently waiting for the first full-length by indie band on the rise Easy Life, they are kind enough to share a new track for them to soak in the joy. The five-piece from Leicester unveil a double single dubbed ‘who gives a fuck?‘, which consists of their previous hit “Nightmares” and a brand-new breezy tune “Pop Tart“.

“our new song pop tarts is out at midnight and is part of ‘who gives a fuck?’ which also has nightmares on it because we never properly released it,” wrote the band on their Instagram post. See it below.

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

our new song pop tarts is out at midnight and is part of ‘who gives a fuck?’ which also has nightmares on it because we never properly released it

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย easy life (@easylife) เมื่อ ก.ค. 9, 2020 เวลา 3:24am PDT

“Pop Tart” has continued Easy Life’s hot streak of good songs since the start of their career. The track loudly gives off a Rex Orange Country vibe, a half-rapped-half-sung catchy tune over an atmospheric melody with quirky lyrics comparing the loved one to the delight of eating a pop tart. As weird and cheeky as always, the band also features a voice note of a man they encountered in Alabama, US at end of the song. See the video below.

poptarts pic.twitter.com/qxV1BwiLYm — easy life (@easylife) July 10, 2020

Earlier this year, the “Sangria” group has won the second place of BBC’s Sound of 2020 behind soul songstress Celeste. Right now, the band is reportedly working on their debut album with a list of exciting producers with the likes of FINNEAS (Billie Eilish’s very own brother and producer) and Bekon (Kendrick Lamar).

Accompanying the release of ‘who gives a fuck?‘, Easy Life has launched a merch pack that can be pre-ordered on their official site. Stay tuned for more news about Easy Life here.

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

the ‘who gives a fuck’ merch pack is available to preorder includes a cap for ur dog link in bio

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย easy life (@easylife) เมื่อ ก.ค. 13, 2020 เวลา 6:56am PDT

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