Easy Life band renamed Hard Life after EasyGroup authorized row | EUROtoday

The band previously generally known as Easy Life have modified their title to Hard Life, after a risk of authorized motion by the model house owners of airline EasyJet.

Last yr, the indie band mentioned EasyGroup was suing them as a result of their title was too related.

“We felt angry and powerless,” frontman Murray Matravers advised BBC News. “But if our name affects them that much, I’ll walk away from it – because it’s not worth it.”

EasyGroup has mentioned it might have been “unfair” to let the band use the Easy model title with out royalty funds.

The Leicester band introduced their new title – and a brand new single, Tears – on Tuesday night.

The band, which Matravers shaped in 2017, has 5 members.

They discovered themselves locked in a battle with EasyGroup final yr, after the corporate mentioned the band had promoted their Life’s a Beach tour, in 2021 and 2022, with a poster exhibiting a airplane within the model of EasyJet’s orange livery however substituting the airline’s title for their very own.

In its declare, lodged with the High Court, EasyGroup additionally mentioned the band had produced T-shirts bearing their title within the firm’s branded model and their web site infringed its trademark with its similarity to EasyJet branding.

EasyGroup mentioned different corporations paid to make use of its model title.

“We cannot allow others to simply use it free, gratis and for nothing,” a spokesperson mentioned on the time.

“That would be unfair.”

In October, the band mentioned they have been going to cease utilizing the title Easy Life, following the authorized risk.

And they performed their last present below their previous title at KoKo, in London, on 13 October.

In an unique interview, Matravers advised BBC News the row was “the weirdest, most surreal thing” that had occurred to him.

“I mean, it’s absolutely nuts,” he mentioned.

“We didn’t get into music to fight huge corporations in legal battles, obviously.”

The band mentioned they may not afford to take the matter to court docket – however now, he was “over it”.

“The name doesn’t change anything – it doesn’t change who I am as an artist,” Matravers mentioned.

“We made our peace with it.”

And when it got here to deciding a brand new title, there had been no query what to decide on.

“All of us, unanimously in the group, turned around and said, ‘It’s got to be Hard Life, surely,'” Matravers mentioned.

The band did brainstorm different names however stored returning to Hard Life.

It was just like when he had inspiration for a track, Matravers mentioned.

“I’ve learnt that the first idea is always the best, so I’ve kept that same philosophy with the band name,” he mentioned.

And each time associates had requested him what the brand new title was going to be, it had all the time raised a smile or fun.

“So it just feels appropriate,” Matravers mentioned.

“I’m a white middle-class man from England – it’s not to say I’ve had a particularly hard life either.

“It was extra simply, in response to what had occurred, Hard Life felt like the apparent factor.

“It’s a great name – I’m really happy with it.”

For some time after the row, Matravers discovered it exhausting to work on music – however earlier this yr, he discovered his movement once more and wrote Tears.

And the band say the track, “about growing up – and lawyering up”, marks a brand new chapter.

One lyric makes a reference to EasyGroup proprietor Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

EasyGroup’s attorneys have objected to that lyric, calling it “disparaging and defamatory” and claiming it’s a breach of the settlement it reached with the band.

They mentioned EasyGroup and Sir Stelios have been “disappointed” Hard Life have “chosen to needlessly refresh the dispute, which the band chose to settle several months ago”.

But Matravers mentioned he wished to make use of the music to replicate what the band had gone by means of.

So what’s subsequent for Matravers and his bandmates?

“We want to tour – we want to get out there, we want to play festivals,” he mentioned, including their followers had been “incredible”.

“Everything’s brand new – we’re hitting the ground running with this new song, who knows where we’ll go next?” Matravers mentioned.

“I’m just so excited to be out and about again.

“Hopefully, we will put this chapter behind us and transfer on – and concentrate on the music once more.”