Easy Life frontman Murray Matravers was “nervous” about changing the band's name to Hard Life.
The indie group, made up of Sam Hewitt, Jordan Birtles, Oliver Cassidy, Louis Alexander Berry and Murray, faced a lawsuit from airline group easyJet in October, which forced them to change their band name.
However, the 28-year-old singer admitted that she felt uneasy about rebranding the group due to her own social background.
He told NME: “I really don't want people to read too much into the name.
“It made me nervous because as a white, middle-class male, I haven't had a particularly hard life. I need to be judged on the basis of my circumstances.”
“The first day our manager called us together and said, 'Guys, we have to change the band name because we're getting sued,' every member of the band clearly and immediately said, 'It has to be Hard Life.' That was our first instinct.”
Initially, Murray admitted that the band didn't take the new name “that seriously,” but ultimately “decided to make the change.”[they] “I thought it was interesting.”
He explained, “We laughed about it and I don't think anyone took it that seriously. But as time went on, we explored a million other options and always came back to 'A Hard Life' because we thought it was funny.”
“Everyone seemed to identify with it, and it was the most quintessential easy life thing.”
The band has unveiled the new single “Tears,” their first release under their new name.
Reflecting on the song, the “Skeletons” singer admitted that his legal battles had left him “absolutely unmotivated” to write new material.
He said: “I wasn't able to go into the studio much for a while. We were having some legal issues and I couldn't get out of that by writing music. It wasn't an emotional issue that I could explore and put into music.”
“For a while I was totally unmotivated. And Rob [Norton, producer and writer] And I decided to go somewhere on the weekend and do some light pressure with no pressure.
“I made 'Tears' that weekend and it felt like the first time I'd made music in a really long time.
“I loved it and it resonated with me. It put me in that flow state that you get when you're sitting on the couch at a house party at 3am and you're just talking nonsense. I had that same energy making this.”
“I knew it was a good song and it was a song that meant something to me. From the moment I wrote it, I wanted it to be the first song I put out.”