Easy Life frontman and songwriter Murray Matravers has issued an emotional update explaining more details surrounding the band’s ongoing lawsuit at the hands of easyJet and the easyGroup conglomerate over naming rights.
In case you somehow missed it, earlier this week the Leicester-based five-piece revealed they had been threatened with the prospect of being sued by the company owned by Greek-Cypriot billionaire, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, and best known for its budget airline, easyJet.
As ridiculous as it sounds (because it is), the multinational corporation intends to sue the band — whose name is stylised in lowercase as ‘easy life‘ — for using the word easy in their name, which they claim to have trademarked and have already been collecting royalties from other companies for some time.
Now, the latest according to Matravers is that the band and their legal representation have a clearer picture of how much fighting this in court will cost and when the wheels will really start moving.
Starting off by thanking fans and concerned parties in general for their “outpouring of love, anger, support and compassion” following the news, he labelled the reaction across the music industry and online as both “overwhelming” and “beautiful”.
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Despite multiple groups having “offered to crowdfund” to help the band take on the lawsuit, the singer, lyricist and co-founder reiterated that “this case is going to be extremely expensive to fight in the High Court” and wouldn’t actually begin until 2025.
“We would be undertaking an absolutely massive, potentially two-year-long fight against a billion-dollar corporation”, he continues. “We’re not a limited company: it’s our name on the lawsuit, they could take everything and we could be completely financially ruined — they know that and they are extremely aggressive”.
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With several dozens of ‘easy’-prefix businesses to their name, not mention countless more trademarks in existence (be they defunct, future-proofing or otherwise), the holding group has attempted to monopolise the word and already taken several other companies to court on the same grounds.
The full list of active easyGroup brands at present (Credit: Stelios Philanthropic Foundation)
The 27-year-old also commented on how both the company and other media outlets such as the Daily Mail are trying to discredit the group and “running [his] name through the dirt”.
Adding that he and his bandmates “feel intimidated” and “are going through it” during a very clearly emotional moment in the lengthy video statement, he went on to say that he believes they “have a very strong case” but warned they are going to need “upwards of half a million quid to get a fair trial”.
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Speaking passionately and defiantly, he ultimately declared that the ‘easy life vs easyGroup’ lawsuit is no longer just about the band but is instead “a case about corporate bullying” and merely one in a long line not just by this particular organisation but several others. Many of those commenting have been quick to draw comparisons between this situation and Joe Lycett‘s famous protest stunt against Hugo Boss.
As for the band, they have received a tidal wave of support from others in the music industry, with the likes of Arlo Parks, Mahalia, Professor Green and several others sending messages of solidarity and offering to help fundraise on their behalf. Murray was also praised for proving how the company doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to who came first:
In their latest statement on the looming legal battle, the now deeply unpopular easyGroup labelled Matravers as a “brand thief” and argued that Stelios has owned the ‘easy’ family of brands since 1994, adding that he “needs to understand that he is not being sued by an airline” but its parent organisation.
Warning that the company “has a legal budget of £4 million per year with which to take action against brand thieves, big and small”, they even went so far as to highlight “negative PR about Matravers (for example having to be carried off stage for being too drunk to perform)”, suggesting that this could “reflect badly on easyGroup” and that “confusion is not necessary for such tarnishment to occur.”
They also drew attention to some of Easy Life’s previous merchandising such as tour posters with planes on and band t-shirts, both of which appear to mimic the company’s branding.
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The statement continues to progress in a rather personal manner, claiming that “Mr Matravers has also tried to develop the story that this is a ‘David vs Goliath’ and somehow the ‘little guy’ has the right to use any name he likes because he can’t afford lawyers.” Let’s just say we sincerely hope David wins this one.
Featured Image — easy life (via Instagram)/easyGroup
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Oasis promoters drop biggest Knebworth hint yet after securing license around key date
Danny Jones
Not that we’re the type to get carried away, but we’ll confess that our curiosity, interest and general levels of anticipation have been piqued, as Oasis’ main promoters have recently renewed the license to host events at the infamous Knebworth.
My word, is this it? Like the reunion, is it ACTUALLY going to happen?…
We’re sure the raw, uncontrollable excitement will come should it be fully confirmed, but for now, all we know is that our colleagues in music media, SJM Concerts, have renewed the land in and around Knebworth Park and House for live entertainment once again.
Moreover, the company have also done so on a rather fitting date decades on from the original and legendary outdoor gigs.
As can be found on the planning application section of the North Hertfordshire Council website – the county in which the storied Britpop gigs took place – a fresh license to hold new events.
If/when the announcement happens, the already granted permission will allow for a capacity of up to 125,000 and a curfew of 3am.
We know the original Knebworth shows were beyond iconic, but let’s say this would be nailed on to be nothing short of absolutely box office.
Besides having also helped promote Oasis’ colossal Live ’25 reunion tour last summer, it’s also worth noting that they secured said license just over a week before the 30th anniversary of the pair of nights back in 1996: 10-11 August, to be specific.
The licence is said to have come into effect this past Saturday (1 Aug) and is believed to be indefinite.
What added even more fuel to the fire of these well-established rumours over the past year was when Baroness Sharon Taylor of Stevenage told the House of Lords the band would be playing FIVE whole nights at Knebworth in the future, before later clarifying that she was speaking in “hypothetical terms.”
All that being said, it’s fair to say we’ll be keeping a very keen eye on socials over the next few days, in particular, just in case.
The Manc has reached out to SJM for an official comment (surprise, surprise), but we are yet to receive a response regarding the matter.
Your silence speaks volumes, just saying.
This coming Monday, 10 August 2026, will mark the official 30th anniversary of Oasis at Knebworth 1996, and with the likes of ‘Wonderwall’ seeing a chart resurgence as the go-to England anthem at this year’s World Cup, we’re choosing to be optimistic. What about you?
Blossoms deliver most rock and roll performance in years as Declan McKenna joins them on stage
Danny Jones
Last night, we were fortunate enough to be there in the flesh not only to see Blossoms play a special anniversary show in Manchester, but to witness Declan McKenna join them on stage.
A tiny part of us was wondering if we’d see Rick Astley roll out into the venue, but let’s just say we’ll absolutely take this.
Celebrating a decade to the day since the release of the self-titled debut LP – yes, we feel old, too – Blossoms announced the one-off intimate show at The Deaf Institute, a venue they hadn’t played in 12 whole years (good lord…), and it served as much more than a night of nostalgia.
But we’ll admit, the highlight was almost certainly seeing the ‘Brazil’ and ‘British Bombs’ singer join Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Myles Kellock and Joe Donovan on stage for their smallest gig since god knows when.
We’ve gotten somewhat used to seeing the Enfield-born solo artist popping up at random venues across the country and even performing DJ sets at local pubs.
If you haven’t seen that Kylie Minogue clip before, you really need to…
However, we don’t think anyone in the crowd was expecting this cameo, let alone hearing them perform a co-written track off the new record live in front of the audience for the very first time.
As if all of this wasn’t already a bit bonkers and left-field, the song in question, entitled ‘Additional Driver’, was self-admittedly so surprising in SO many ways that Tom felt he needed to explain the full story behind it and why Declan shouted “shoulda got the 192” before they started playing.
Yes, in some kind of Greater Mancunian fever dream, we’ve finally got artists writing lyrics about the region’s most infamous bus route that we’re sure most, if not all of you, can relate to.
But it wasn’t just this moment that had us debating in our heads, ‘are they the best Manc or maybe in Northern band full stop going right now?’, it was seeing them slip so seamlessly back into the more straight-down-the-line indie rock from their first chapter of studio material that did it.
Everyone knows and loves the biggest bangers from that inaugural outing: ‘Getaway’, ‘Charlemagne’, ‘At Most a Kiss’, ‘Honey Sweet’, etc.; but it’s hard to forget just how quintessentially rock and roll tunes like ‘Blow Rose’, ‘Cut Me and I’ll Bleed’, ‘Texia’ and even some of the other deep cuts/early releases are.
Don’t get us wrong, we love how much the dressing up (musically and quite literally) they’ve done over the years as their production, creativity and experimentation has increased, but it’s always hard to beat that feeling you get when finding an artist’s first album – especially one as good as Blossoms‘.
In fairness, listening back to ‘Deep Grass’ all these years later, we’ll still remember how spacey, psychedelic and downright different that intro felt back in the day; it now feels like a fitting end to that maiden outing and the perfect jumping-off point for what has been a real sonic exploration ever since.
For a lad born in SK2 and lucky enough to have seen these lads right from the start, stuff like this will never not feel surreal to me.
Long live ‘Blossoms from Stockport‘, and roll on Songs From The Wedding Cake this October.
Danny Jones -
6th October 2023 
