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

The band took to their social media to announce the show, saying; “GIG ANNOUNCEMENT (sort of) This Saturday you’re invited to a FREE Somebody’s Child Concert Film airing on the @labyrinthmgmt YouTube Channel. So grab a glass of poitín and plonk yourself down at 8pm just before that bloke who punched a owl fella fights in the hectagon again.”

GIG ANNOUNCEMENT (sort of)
This Saturday you’re invited to a FREE Somebody’s Child Concert
Film airing on the @labyrinthmgmt YouTube Channel So grab a glass of poitín and plonk yourself down at 8pm just before that bloke who punched a owl fella fights in the hectagon again pic.twitter.com/8dGAEQEJdP

— Somebody’s Child (@SomebodysChild1) January 19, 2021

This comes after the band released their single Lost. Lost is the second single off the band’s upcoming EP Hope, Amongst Other Thing. The EP is due to be released in early 2021, not long after their last EP, 20-Something which was released on August 7th.

Speaking about the meaning of Lost, the band said; “Lost’ was written when I came out of college and experienced a lot of career anxiety. Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing except for me. It seems a fitting time to release it at the end of a year when so many of us faced this challenge. It taught me a lot in hindsight, I think I was probably suppressing a lot of emotions that were manifesting in situations that weren’t really relevant to what was going on inside. It’s a real example of what a therapeutic experience songwriting can be.”

The band are also currently set to take off on a UK and Ireland tour in March 2021. The band will be kicking off the tour in Mike The Pies in Kerry on the 18th of March before heading to Limerick, Galway, Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow, London and Manchester before ending the tour in Record Junkie in Sheffield on the 3rd of April.

Somebody’s Child will be performing their gig in the Kilkenny Set Theatre this Saturday, January 23rd, which will be available on YouTube. The dates for Somebody’s Child’s tour are down below.

18/03/2021 – Mike The Pies – Kerry
19/03 – Dolan’s – Limerick
20/03 – Róisín Dubh – Galway
25/03 – Duke of York – Belfast
26/03 – Button Factory – Dublin
29/03 – Garage Attic – Glasgow
31/03 – Colours – London
02/04 – Deaf Institute – Manchester
03/04 – Record Junkie – Sheffield

Other acts included Cliff Richard, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, OneRepublic, Kaiser Chiefs, Simple Minds and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield and was hosted by Nile Rogers. The virtual carol service showcased readings, performances and festive messages that were broadcasted from the homes of the stars taking part and even some performances that were streamed from St. Lukes Church and Abbey Road Studios in London.

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A post shared by Nordoff Robbins (@nordoffrobbins)

Speaking about the event, host Nile Rogers said; “I’m very happy to have been able to do this for Nordoff Robbins and that Merck and I were able to bring so many of our artist friends along in support of Nordoff Robbins’ important work.” 

“Thank you to those who gave generously and I hope this continues to bring joy to everyone throughout this holiday season. It’s crucial that we raise as much as possible for Nordoff Robbins to continue to provide music therapy to every who needs it. It truly makes such a difference.”

Nordoff Robins is the UK’s largest independent music therapy charity. They use music to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illnesses, disabilities and feelings of isolation. Unfortunately, the charity expects to lose 50% of its income in 2020 due to the coronavirus.

Speaking about the impact on their Instagram page, the charity said; “Nordoff Robbins has been severely impacted by #COVID-19. Most of our fundraising activities have been cancelled, meaning we are expecting to lose over 50% of our income in 2020, putting music therapy at risk of stopping for the people who need it most. Our #SingForNordoffRobbins online Christmas concert will help raise vital funds for our music therapy.”

You can re-watch the virtual carol service here. You can also check out Florence’s cover of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas down below.

He then explained that performances from the band will not be conventional and instead, he’ll rent a place which he’ll use to display his artwork which he created over lockdown and at night, he plans to host and DJ old school raves. He said during the live feed, “I’m gonna do this thing with my friends. Form a band and what I’m gonna do is rent a space, put my art in there. During the day it’ll be a gallery. Then at night I shall be DJing and it will be a musical venue, something the old folks will call a rave.”

He continued by saying, “I’ll be on the espressos. Oh yes I will. Quadruple espresso. Doing it old school. I’m very, very excited about this. I want to do it in Berlin. I also want to do it in Tokyo. I wanna do it in several places. Be fun won’t it? It’s one of them things, it’s a passion project. If some thing hap-pens then great, if not, I’ve just had fun.”

As well as keeping busy with his artwork over lockdown,  Robbie has been songwriting and has created more than 50 songs during the period. The Sun newspaper reported that back in June, “he confirmed he had been writing music with his former bandmate Gary via Zoom.” During lockdown back in May, Robbie re-joined his former Take That bandmates, for a one off virtual charity gig.

He revealed his latest news just weeks after his surprise release of his latest Christmas song, “Can’t Stop Christmas,” which is a light hearted, cheeky song which has references to the measures we’ve all faced over the past 12 months due to the pandemic. Robbie mimics zoom, facetime, hand sanitizer and the two metre social distancing rule in his latest track with a line which is written in The Daily Mail, “‘Santa’s on his sleigh, but now he’s two metres away.”

The song begins, “Oh what a miserable year, but what a time to be alive. Sadly some friends disappeared , It’s never been like this before, It feels like we’re at war. So I wonder who’s gonna decide, if we can do the Auld Lang Syne. I wish that I could do what I like, with this family of mine We’re going out of our minds.” Although the unprecedented 2020 in nearly at an end, it seems that Robbie has used his time over lockdown wisely with new creations and exciting plans for future projects for 2021.

“With a set-list packed with tracks from their recent, much-praised album Duck and anthems such as ‘I Predict A Riot’, ‘Oh My God’ and ‘Ruby’, Kaisers will provide the rock‘n’roll celebration we’ve all been waiting for. Groundbreaking livestream technology will transport fans from sofa to stage, for a one-off show full of immersive features and surprises.”

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HUMANS! We’re bringing the DUCK tour to your living rooms on 28th November, 8pm GMT, when we’re broadcasting a very special gig live from @o2academybrix! @melodyvirtual Tickets are a tenner and you can get them right now – more info in stories!

Публикация, споделена от Kaiser Chiefs (@kaiserchiefs) на Ное 12, 2020 в 12:07 PST

The iconic Brixton Academy have adapted efficiently to the ongoing government restrictions on live events, starting an exclusive livestream series broadcast worldwide via MelodyVR. The next few acts on their busy calendar include punk rockers Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (13 Nov), global sensation Burna Boy (18 Nov) and Dublin favourites Fontaines D.C. (23 Nov) before Kaiser Chiefs deliver their signature indie rock straight to your living room at the end of the month. The event will be available worldwide starting at 8pm GMT and can be watched on live streams through the MelodyVR app. In case the app is not available in your country, or your phone is not compatible, there is also a web player alongside further information and download links at the official MelodyVR website. 

At the beginning of the year, Kaiser Chiefs briefly continued their Duck tour from 2019 before the pandemic shut down all performances in March. The band was getting ready to perform at numerous summer festivals but had to posptone all for the time being and are offering a one-off chance to ‘get the full gig experience from the comfort of your own home‘.

We’d have loved to take on a summer festival tour, but for obvious reasons we couldn’t do that. If you caught the tour earlier this year, re-live a great night, and if you missed it you can get the full gig experience from the comfort of your own home — Kaiser Chiefs (@KaiserChiefs) November 12, 2020

Kaiser Chiefs released their seventh studio album Duck in July 2019 via Polydor Records. The album peaked at #3 at the Official UK and Scottish Albums Chart, outperforming its predecessor Stay Together (2016). The record was received moderately well by critics and fans, but failed the match the global success of their earlier chart topping Education, Education, Education & War (2014), Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007) and the six time platinum debut Employment (2005).

Most recently, the Leeds indie outfit released a special Halloween song ‘Zombie Prom‘ with a comic lockdown-inspired music video.

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Haaave you seen our Zombie Prom video yet? Watch it now – link in bio!

Публикация, споделена от Kaiser Chiefs (@kaiserchiefs) на Ное 5, 2020 в 10:48 PST

I’m performing a one off celestial live performance for you to stream, ‘Down By The River Thames’, on 5th Dec 2020. I’m performing tracks from my 2 number 1 solo albums & some stone cold Oasis classics, some of which you haven’t heard for a long, long time. C’mon you know. LG x pic.twitter.com/yDlojWPWR4

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 9, 2020

The musician confirmed that his set will include songs from his two solo albums, and some hits from his time in Oasis. Tickets will be available this Friday, 13th November at 9am for £16.50 each or the pre-sale is on now with the addition of a physical commemorative ticket with each purchase. Gallagher hinted to fans, commenting, “C’mon you know.”

Showing exclusively on MelodyVR, the show is pre-recorded, and many fans noticed Gallagher performing last week, wondering what was going on. The trailer, shared today, has over 153,000 views on Twitter, and has some incredible visuals of London at night, as well as the full band giving a lively performance while they pass famous landmarks such as the London Eye and Tower Bridge.

DOWN BY THE RIVER THAMES. DECEMBER 5th https://t.co/HXxrjIOj1I pic.twitter.com/vWr7bqEwwZ

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 10, 2020

The streams will air all over the world; find the full times below.

05/12/2020 – UK, Ireland and Europe – 8pm GMT
05/12 – East Coast North and South America – 8pm ET
05/12 – West Coast North and Central America – 8pm PT
05/12 – Australia, New Zealand and Asia – 8pm AEST

The event is going to be free to view via the, ‘My McDonalds App,’ with family sessions being available on the family website. The UK has missed their live music scene this year and with the restrictions getting tighter again due to the pandemic, the popular fast food chain has put together a weekend of live music to lift the spirits of music lovers.

The festival will open on Friday with live performances from female pop stars, ‘Jess Glynne’ and ‘Becky Hill.’ Saturday will see pop band, ‘Kaiser Chiefs,’ take the centre stage along with, ‘Craig David,’ and ‘Olly Murs.’ The show go out with a bang as pop star, ‘Lewis Capaldi’ an rap legend ‘Stormzy’ headline the show.

This is going to be a treat for Stormzy fans as he had to cancel his ‘Heavy is the Head’ tour in March due to the pandemic. His rescheduled tour is set to take place in the UK in April 2020.

Make sure you don’t miss I’m Lovin’ it Live! Tap ❤️ and we’ll Tweet you a reminder just before each show is about to start. pic.twitter.com/gF7hFrilbv

— McDonald's UK (@McDonaldsUK) October 23, 2020

Michelle Graham-Clare who works for McDonalds in the VP Food and Beverage, Product Development and marketing sector for the company said, “We know the new normal is tough on everyone. I’m Lovin’ it Live is our way of saying thank you to our people and to our customers for all their support this year. Hopefully our week of good things and good times offers something for everyone from families looking for fun to music fans missing the gig scene.” – The Mirror

McDonalds has done a lot this year including teaming up with the, ‘End the Child Poverty Campaign,’ and funding the provision of ‘One Million Meals,’ in the coming weeks through their partnership. In addition the fast food chain is going to be hosting football sessions with legend Peter Crouch as well as lioness England footballer Lucy Bronze. They are also planning a reading club with pop star children’s author Tom Fletcher.

The meals that will be distributed in the coming weeks will support Marcus Rashford’s campaign for ‘Free School Meals,’ in the UK as families struggle with the ongoing pandemic, which the footballer has been urging the government to extend over the half term period.

McDonalds have been slated this year as the Bank of America have stated they are, “tired of their own cooking,” -Business Insider. As the pandemic movers into a deeper stage of turmoil, the company have proven themselves and shown their support through the current crisis.

The Line up for the virtual gig as follows:

30/10/2020
Becky Hill
Jess Glynne
Craig David

31/10/2020
Kaiser Chiefs
Olly Murs

01/11/2020
Lewis Capaldi
Stormzy

The band relayed all the details to followers via social media, revealing that they’ll be playing on Friday 13th November at 8pm BST, and fans will choose the setlist as well as being able to “invade the stage” virtually. General sale tickets will be sold from Wednesday 14th October at 10am, and tickets bought before midnight will allow a chance to be shown on stage.

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Brixton. By Request. We’re getting back on stage via the powers of @melodyvirtual, and you are all coming with us. You are going to pick the setlist (), and invade the stage via giant screens looming over us.⁠ ⁠ We’ll see you @o2academybrix on Friday 13th November. Tickets bought before 23:59 on Wednesday 14th October put you in with a chance to be on the stage. Screen space is limited so get your tickets fast  General sale starts 10.00am BST on Wednesday.⁠ ⁠ Our shows, in person or virtual, aren’t right without you all involved.

A post shared by Frank Carter &The Rattlesnakes (@andtherattlesnakes) on Oct 12, 2020 at 2:06am PDT

⁠Frontman Frank Carter gave more insight into the show, saying, “There are few places like O2 Academy Brixton, a venue where you feel the history every time you walk out onto the stage. Our sold out Brixton show a few years back was wild and we had to create a live album from it.”

This specific show has been dubbed ‘Brixton By Request’ in the ‘Live From O2 Academy Brixton’ series, and it will feature live versions of songs from the band’s new deluxe rendition of their 2015 debut album ‘Blossom’. Announced in June, it was disclosed that in addition to the ten original tracks, there will be fifteen unreleased songs.

Carter said of the release, “It all started with Blossom, an incendiary record as visceral as it was chaotic. An experiment in capturing pure emotion. To commemorate this prestigious event we have curated a special version of the album. Included with the original studio recordings are three previously unheard tracks that were recorded in the same session. We listened to them recently and sadly enough they sound as though they were made for the year 2020.”

The upcoming performance follows that of Tom Grennan who kicked things off last week on Friday 2nd October, debuting new material and playing his most popular hits. He commented, “Nothing can replace the thrill of live music, especially in a venue as iconic as O2 Academy Brixton.”