Easy Life bring the nightmares to The Cellar
“Who Gives A Fuck about my nightmares? But its nothing you should worry yourself about!”
Nightmares we all have them some of us daily, dealing with everyday struggles that life throws at us, but who really listens to our woes, does anyone really care? Nightmares about our family, friends, work, what the government are up to, the list goes on. This song perfectly captures that feeling and is written by Easy Life who are a fairly young band, from Leicestershire, and who have only been together for just 2 years, having heard lots of their music recently I wanted to check out what they sounded like live, as I couldn’t manage to get their hometown gig in Leicester two nights before.
Out of Leicester there are lots of great sounds emerging at the moment, however historically Leicester has been blessed with a melting pot of music over time, with the likes of Showaddywaddy, Kasabian, Englebert Humperdinck, Prolapse, Corner Shop, Crazyhead, Diesel Park West, Yeah Yeah Noh, Kevin Hewick and Kav Sandhu to name but just a few. Get yourselves along to Leicester to hear the new bands and musicians emerging, as you will be pleasantly surprised.
So back to Easy Life….Now for those who love the jazz scene and clubs such as Ronnie Scott’s you would think you have perhaps walked into a jazz club, particularly if you walked in half way through an Easy Life set. They have a very original and unique sound with Louis Armstrong influences (from the roaring twenties) but with a big eclectic twist of Hip Hop, indie, funk and a bit of punk all thrown into the pot.
It was refreshing to hear a fresh band that bounce off tune, after upbeat tune, that added a highly charged positive tone to the air. The crowd joined in with the band and sang along to most of their favourite tunes including Pockets and Nightmares, which shows how catchy and addictive Easy Life’s songs are.
Their set, in Oxford, was very tight, and as a band you can see their love of music which is a great pleasure to witness, most of the band learned how to play their instruments whilst still at school. Learning to play music at school certainly has its advantages, as many other bands and musicians have found.
Easy Life, for those who don’t already know them are a 5 piece band, and have their own soundman who works extensively with them to create their sound. The band are formed of Murray (lead vox/keyboards/trumpet), Sam (bass/saxophone, electric woodwind, vox), Jordan (vox/percussion/keyboards), Lewis (bass/guitar) and Olly (drums).
Murray has an uplifting presence on stage and is a great vocalist, he gets totally absorbed into the music, and is an awesome trumpeter as well as an excellent keyboard player. He loves singing and his interaction with the fans is amazing, which makes him a top front man.
The other guys in the band are equally amazing, and all add their own uniqueness to the band, which makes them highly interesting. I particularly loved Sam’s input on bass, and his highly compelling pieces both on the saxophone and electronic wind instrument.
Easy Life have already played a variety of festivals including Dot To Dot, Y Not, Reading, Leeds and most recently 2Q in Lincoln. Recently they have now completed their own first big independent tour starting at Leeds, continuing on to Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Hackney, Leicester, Bristol and finishing off in Oxford.
Speaking to Sam after the gig he explained how he and Murray had met each other at school in Loughborough, and have been making music since the age of 16. They met Lewis in 2016, along with Olly and then Jordan, from Leicester, completed their formation as a band. All the guys in the band have played with other bands previously so know their stuff, and how the music industry operates. Influences are other music, particularly jazz, hip hop, and Mac Miller being a recent influencer.
They have recently performed on Later With Jools Holland, which has raised an immense interest in the band, as for most bands it takes years to even get to appear on a show like this. The band are mentioned by Vevo and Billboard as a DSCVR artist to watch in 2019.
One of their biggest songs Pockets is on the official soundtrack for Fifa 19, and has become quite a classic, I have witnessed myself teens singing this whilst gaming. The song is about giving a middle finger to those people who don’t embrace simplicity, and are only absorbed with material wealth. It also entails that feeling of not being able to afford the month’s rent due to your own stupidity.
Other songs such as Silverado can take you on a journey far away from those cold wintery nights and relaxing somewhere a lot warmer. Ice Cream is a kind of dreamy song, trippy, with an edge of psychedelia all rolled into one.
Nightmares is their new song which is making a big stir at the moment, with the likes of Dame Emma Thompson singing it briefly after being made a dame at Buckingham Palace (a clip you can find of this on Easy Life’s own FB page). My take on it is that its very catchy and the song’s meaning, is that it can relate to people who don’t really listen to you and if you are going through pain it can depict how shallow people can be, who appear that they are listening to you, but in fact they are not that really interested.
This is certainly one highly, uplifting and creative band from Leicester to definitely #Onestowatch and have on your radar, particularly in 2019.
SET LIST IN OXFORD
0520
Frank
OJPL
Slow Motion
High Hopes
Temp Love
Silverado
Trust Exercises
Pockets
Ice Cream
Lust
Nightmares
Easy Life are already booked on for Live at Leeds in May 2019 and are making plans to visit the US for a tour. However there are lots of eager fans out there, who would love to see them tour again in the UK - and Easy Life don't disappoint:
