Jake Longhurst
Shortly after the beginning of their biggest tour yet, Jake Longhurst spoke to Murray Matravers of the Leicester-based band easy life.
On a slightly overcast afternoon in February, I gave Murray a ring, to find he was sitting in a Nando’s with the rest of the band grabbing some food ahead of playing that evening. They’d played in Bristol the night before, and were playing in Newcastle on the day of the call. We exchanged pleasantries, and then got into conversation around the band’s new album ‘Maybe In Another Life’. Their sophomore album is more mature, jazzier, and more introspective than the conceptual debut album ‘life’s a beach’. The jazzy sound of the album was apparently largely situational, with the band having been listening to lots of jazz over lockdown and incorporating more of that sound into their writing, making for a very soulful sound across the entire play time.
The album also had some great features as part of the release, with my personal favourite song DEAR MISS HOLLOWAY featuring Kevin Abstract, and Benee taking a spot on a later song. Gus Anderson is the third and final featuring artist, joining Murray and co on track 14 ANTIFREEZE. Having talked a little about features, I asked Murray what his dream feature spot would be, and pretty quickly he came back with the legendary Stevie Wonder, saying that a guest spot on a Stevie Wonder song would be “a dream, if only just to see him playing piano in person.”
the Leicester-based group have rapidly become one of the most popular new artists in the Midlands
We also discussed the tour, and as previously mentioned the band had played Bristol the night earlier in an intimate show supporting the charity War Child UK at the Trinity Centre. The band took over the main room of the venue, for a 600 person capacity event that apparently had the whole room bouncing! For the rest of the tour, however, the band will be hitting much larger venues, from the 2200-capacity O2 City Hall in Newcastle to arenas in the vein of 10,000 capacity, such as London’s magnificent Alexandra Palace and Nottingham’s very own Motorpoint Arena. With multiple sellouts before the tour had even begun, and at the time of writing a number of further shows looking close to selling out (Nottingham included!), the band is clearly on a run of form that is well displayed by their popularity! Their local status is also helpful for their Motorpoint show, as the Leicester-based group have rapidly become one of the most popular new artists in the Midlands.
easy life have made their rider into a bit of a Bargain Booze equivalent
Part of the conversation devolved then down to the rider, which for those who don’t know is what a band sends to a venue to help them make the dressing room a little more comfortable. Plenty of bands have made the rider into a joke, or into a test to see if they think the security or staging will be done properly, but easy life have made their rider into a bit of a Bargain Booze equivalent! The O2 City Hall in Newcastle is apparently the first ever venue to get it completely right, and when a group has asked for a nice rum, a nice tequila, some whiskey and gin, red wine, four different types of beer, premium tonic water, chambord, champagne, and loads of food, you can see why! But when you’re bringing the kind of money that easy life will bring to a venue, I can imagine the payoff is more than worth it. I can only wonder how much of their impressive collection the band got through before going on stage, but I’d be surprised if at one point or another on this tour the tour bus doesn’t become some sort of bar, or even a club!
There was plenty more discussed by Murray and myself, including asking about what his dream supergroup would be, getting a taste of who he wants you to listen out for, and a little bit of advice for any readers! You can find out all this and more in the full interview, coming in the next print edition of Impact Magazine, or if you’re lucky maybe Murray might tell you himself at their show on February 17th. One thing is for sure, it’s bound to be a good one!
Jake Longhurst
Featured Image courtesy of Jack Bridgland. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 1, 2, and 3 courtesy of @easylife via Instagram.com. No changes were made to these images.
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