Easy Life band changes name to Hard Life after legal row with easyJet brand owners

Easy Life has been forced to change its name to Hard Life Credit: PA

A band formerly known as Easy Life has changed its name to Hard Life following a legal battle with the brand owners of easyJet.

Global conglomerate easyGroup, led by founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, had accused the British indie band of being "brand thieves", saying their name was too similar to the budget airline.

Writing on Instagram on Tuesday, the band said "the last nine months haven't been easy", but announced the release of their new song, Tears, under their new moniker.

The band's new song includes the lyrics, "It was easy in my twenties, now I got to lawyer up / Give me air-miles or a fair trial Stelios."

The Leicester-based band had initially hoped to fight easyGroup's legal case against them but were forced to concede after saying it would cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The band's Life's a Beach tour poster. Credit: X / @hardlifeco

Writing on social media platform X in October, the band said the battle was akin to "David vs Goliath", and "our British legal system favours Goliath."

But the group said it was "certain in no way have we ever affected [easyGroup's] business."

The band joked in an Instagram post: "For those of you that bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to Tenerife, I apologise."

But easyGroup had earlier warned on their website that they "do not consider this confusing situation to be some sort of joke," saying the band was deliberately "misleading the consumer to think they are part of the easy family in order to increase their own sales."

The company said the band had copied their branding by promoting their Life's a Beach tour with a poster showing a plane in the style of easyJet, using their signature orange and white colours.

In October, the band, formed by frontman Murray Matravers in 2017, agreed to change its name.

In a tearful video on Instagram, Matravers said: "This is a case of corporate bullying, we feel intimidated. We're going through it."

But posting on X on Tuesday, Hard Life said it was "good to be back".

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