hard life (stylised in all lowercase), formerly known as Easy Life, is an English

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

group formed in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in 2017. They came second in the 2020 edition of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's Sound of..., an annual music poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. Their third mixtape, ''Junk Food'', reached No. 7 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

a day after its release. Their debut studio album, '' Life's a Beach'', was released on 28 May 2021. The band ceased performing under the Easy Life name in October 2023, after they announced that they were being sued by

easyGroup EasyGroup Ltd (styled as easyGroup, or simply easy) is a British multinational corporation, multinational venture capital conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1998. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and privately owned b ...

over the use of the "easy" name and were financially unable to contest the dispute in court. In June 2024 the band returned under the new name of Hard Life.

History

The band was formed by frontman Murray Matravers in mid-2017. They released their first single, "Pockets", via Chess Club Records in November 2017, and subsequently signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. They released their debut mixtape, ''Creature Habits'', in April 2018. Following the release of the singles "Frank" in July 2018 and "Nightmares" in September 2018, the band appeared on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. They ended 2018 by releasing their fourth single, "Temporary Love Part 1" (with B-side "Temporary Love Part 2"), in December. In 2022 they took to

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

's Pyramid Stage for their second Glastonbury appearance; they featured alongside former Brockhampton member

Kevin Abstract Clifford Ian Simpson (born July 16, 1996), known by his stage name Kevin Abstract, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter known for his role as a founding member of Brockhampton. Releasing music since 2009, he released his debut album, '' ...

, who joined them on stage and forgot his verse. They released their second mixtape, ''Spaceships'', containing the single "Sunday" in March 2019, and headlined the

BBC Introducing BBC Music Introducing is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. The backbone of that network consists of 32 BBC local radio shows on stations across England and the Channel Islands, various ...

stage at the Glastonbury Festival in June. Debuting as

Annie Mac Annie Macmanus (born 18 July 1978), known professionally as Annie Mac, is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, includ ...

's "hottest record" on

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in July, the band released the single "Earth". The music video, commenting on

environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

, was shot at a

plastic recycling Plastic recycling is the processing of plastic waste into other products. Recycling can reduce dependence on landfills, conserve resources and protect the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling rates lag beh ...

plant in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. The band released their debut album '' Life's a Beach'' on 28 May 2021. It reached the number two spot on the

. Their second album ''Maybe in Another Life...'', released on 7 October 2022, also reached number two.

Litigation and rebranding

In October 2023, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported that Easy Life were being sued for

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may occ ...

EasyGroup EasyGroup Ltd (styled as easyGroup, or simply easy) is a British multinational corporation, multinational venture capital conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1998. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and privately owned b ...

, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

conglomorate. The company alleged that the band used their branding and imagery of

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...

, a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the group, in their 2021 and 2022 ''Life's a Beach'' tour. The band confirmed the lawsuit in a statement posted to their

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and X accounts, saying that they found the whole situation hilarious but they were "virtually powerless against such a massive corporation." In a statement to the

and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', a spokesman for EasyGroup referred to the band as "brand thieves." Following EasyGroup's statement the band posted a timeline of their activities from as early as 2015, and pointed out that EasyGroup's trademark application for "Easylife" had been registered in August 2022. Later that month, Easy Life announced that they would change their name because they did not have the financial resources to continue with the litigation. They played their final performances under the Easy Life name on 12 October 2023 at O2 Academy Leicester, and on 13 October 2023 at Koko in London. On 11 June 2024, the band announced their rebrand to Hard Life and released their single "Tears" the same day. In April 2025, the band announced a new album, ''Onion'', to be released on 18 July 2025, and released a new single, "Othello".

Band members

* Murray Matravers – vocals, synthesizer, keyboard, trumpet * Oliver Cassidy – drums, percussion * Lewis Alexander Berry – guitar, bass guitar * Jordan Birtles – percussion, keyboard, backing vocals

Past member

* Sam Hewitt – bass guitar, saxophone, backing vocals (2017–2024)

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Singles

Notes

Awards and nominations

, - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Easy Life , NME Best New British Act ,

References

External links

*{{official website, https://hardlifemusic.co.uk Musical groups established in 2017 English alternative rock groups 2017 establishments in England Musical groups from Leicester