Easy Life reveal plans for new music and discuss the Brexit impact on touring
It’s 12 months since Leicestershire innovators Easy Life played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury before Paul McCartney’s historic set. Since then, the group have endured a rollercoaster year full of monumental highs that have been punctuated by harsh reality checks.
Last October, they released their second album, Maybe In Another Life, which landed at number two on the UK Album Chart, the same position as their debut. Following the release, the band played a monumental headline tour of the United Kingdom, including huge shows at London’s Alexandra Palace and Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena.
However, they were also due to take their tour to North America and across Europe, but due to rising costs, it was unfeasible. Therefore, they’ve spent most of this year at home when they should have been on the road, but they haven’t let it dampen their spirits. Instead, they’ve used this time to work on new music and plot ahead of festival season, including a huge main stage appearance at Reading & Leeds.
When they take to the stage at Reading & Leeds, Easy Life will incorporate Fender’s Player Series into their set-up. Fender recently put Far Out in touch with the band to discuss their use of the best-selling series, plans for new music, their whirlwind year, and much more.
Over Zoom, Far Out spoke with guitarist Lewis Berry and bassist Sam Hewitt who provided an update from Easy Life HQ.
Q&A with Easy Life:
Far Out: Earlier this year, you completed your most extensive headline tour, which concluded at Alexandra Palace. How was that show?
Sam: “That was probably the most comfortable of the bigger shows we’ve ever played because it was at the end of the tour, and we’d been constantly building up to that point. It’s the biggest headline show we’ve ever played, and it was wild being in a space that big, let alone filling it up. We’d already played the Motorpoint Arena in Notts the week before, and at that point, that was the biggest headline show we’ve ever played, and Ally Pally was literally double the size of that.”
Have you started to think about album three yet?
Lewis: “We’ve decided we’re going to do one. We’ve been working on some more fun, interesting stuff that may not fit an album. Our plan is to release them in slightly unconventional ways, so they might not be released to the masses, but Easy Life fans might be able to get ahold of them somehow. With album three, we’re still trying to find our feet with it and find a direction.”
Before releasing your debut album, Life’s A Beach, Easy Life shared multiple mixtapes. How different is that process compared with recording an LP, and would you return to making mixtapes in the future?
Sam: “I guess it’s a thematic issue. We love churning out music, and we feel like there’s a time and a place that all music represents, so if it doesn’t feel like now is the time or the place, then we will hold on to it and keep it until it fits with something. Mixtapes are a good excuse to smash a load of ideas that we still feel passionate about and keep the fans fed.”
Lewis: “When you speak about albums, it sounds a lot more important and permanent than the idea of a mixtape. You could say we’ve released five albums if you include the mixtapes, but they never count as an album for some reason. I could see us doing something else like that again in the next year rather than an album, just something to recapture the essence of Easy Life. There are also certain connotations with an album that aren’t there with a mixtape, so we can experiment and maybe find a new sound.”
Sadly, you cancelled scheduled tours in Europe and North America in 2023. Instead of saying it was due to “unforeseen circumstances”, you transparently explained the finances to fans. How important was it to be open about the situation?
Sam: “We didn’t have much input into writing the explanation Europe one, which was a little like that with ‘unforeseen circumstances’. We all turned around and went, ‘That’s bullshit’. If I was a fan reading that, as far as I’m concerned (singer) Murray (Matravers) can’t be arsed to get off his golden toilet. It’s the same for artists all over the world right now. The world has just become a crazy expensive place for everyone living in it, and we can’t afford the burden of losing money.”
Lewis: “Brexit really messed around our Europe tour. As with America, there were just a lot of costs you don’t anticipate all at once. With Europe, you see bands everywhere struggling to tour after Brexit because it is a logistical nightmare. There’s so much red tape. We were one of the first bands to tour Europe after Brexit went through, and it was so stressful, and so much extra work was involved. We couldn’t sell merchandise or do a lot of standard things that you take for granted on a tour that would bring in a tiny bit of income to make it feasible. Props to all the bands still doing it because I can tell you now, they’re not making any money.”
Thankfully, this summer, Easy Life are returning to the stage, including a show at Reading & Leeds. How do you incorporate the Player Series into your live-set up?
Lewis: “Murray’s been playing the Player Lead for six months. It’s his main guitar, and he’s a slightly smaller guy, so it’s like a three-quarter length. He’s been loving it, and it’s basically the only guitar he uses. It also enables us to have a bit of fun because Murray likes to throw his guitar across the stage, and he’s grown very attached to it now. I still carry one in my case, too. One of my main guitars is a Player Series Telecaster, my first ever Fender. It’s done a few miles and been re-sprayed to matte black, but it’s still one of my favourites”.
When you think of Fender, who is the one guitarist who immediately comes to mind?
Lewis: “The first one for me was Johnny Marr, but he plays all sorts of stuff, but he’s synonymous with the Fender Jaguar, which is how I got into the offsets and the slightly quirkier looking ones.”
Sam: “It’s got to be Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s got his own line too, and I always have my eye on the market trying to find one of those when they pop up.”
Johnny Marr also has his own signature line. What would your design be?
Lewis: “Every time I speak to Fender, I try and bring this up. It’s a Precision Bass guitar but with six strings rather than a bass. I’d also love to do a hollow body too, like the Coronado they did in the 1960s with the archtop. I think I’d get a lot of use out of that and play it a lot.”
Sam: “You’ve got to try and outdo the Jag-Stang (Kurt Cobain’s signature) and create your own silhouette so they’ll remember you forever.”
Watch Easy Life’s live session for Fender below.
