Easy Life on fan interactions, community and success - video Dailymotion

NME

Frontman Murray chats to NME about their upcoming material, hitting the smaller venues and their rapid rise through the ranks

Transcript

00:00 (audience cheering)

00:03 - Hello, you're watching NME.

00:07 We're here at Reading Festival with Murray from Easy Life.

00:11 Just been on the main stage, how was it?

00:13 - Yeah, it's good to see you again.

00:15 Yeah, doing good, it was great.

00:17 Kids are crazy.

00:20 - I know, and you've got a bad back,

00:22 so you got dropped in the mosh pit the other day.

00:25 - Yes, sympathy for me, please.

00:28 Bundles of it.

00:29 Yeah, so we did a warmup show,

00:31 like a Reading and Leeds warmup.

00:33 It was supposed to be, you know, get us hyped and ready,

00:36 and stupidly, I decided to crowd surf,

00:41 or attempt to crowd surf,

00:42 and I got dropped in the front row.

00:44 Didn't even, I just jumped off and landed flat on my back,

00:48 and it was okay at the time, but yeah,

00:50 next morning I was in A&E feeling very sorry for myself.

00:54 - I remember, like, the gigs you were doing,

00:57 the stage dives were getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

01:01 And like, sadly, it's caught up with you.

01:04 - I think this might be the end of an era.

01:07 Yeah, this was one of my smallest ever dives,

01:09 and it's the little ones that will get you, man.

01:12 - They all add up, don't they?

01:13 - Yeah, exactly, exactly.

01:14 - But it must be fun to see, like you say,

01:17 the kids were going wild,

01:18 and they're still coming back every time, you know?

01:20 Like, you played the main stage last time as well,

01:22 and the crowd gets bigger and bigger.

01:24 Like, that must be so rewarding to see,

01:26 like, new people come along, new people discover you.

01:29 - It's really nice.

01:30 I think we have, like, something that I recognise

01:33 when I look out, there's like a real sense of community.

01:35 I don't know, like, people bring their friends,

01:37 like, "Oh, come along, this is gonna be fun."

01:39 And I don't know, it just feels like,

01:41 we're like a really wholesome, like, the wholesome act.

01:45 You know, we're like the family act.

01:46 It's like, bring your kids, bring your friends,

01:48 like, it's gonna be chill.

01:50 - But that's kind of, you know,

01:52 testament to what you guys have been doing.

01:53 You've cultivated that. - Thank you, Tom.

01:54 - 'Cause you, you know, quite recently,

01:57 doing, like, pop-ups in Viki Park and stuff like that.

01:59 You want people to come down and bring their friends

02:02 and engage, and that's really important.

02:03 - Yeah, I think that's important for us, like, yeah.

02:06 It's, you know, we didn't expect any of this to happen,

02:10 and, you know, it sounds very cliche,

02:12 and it is, even just hearing myself say it,

02:14 I'm like, "Edit that out, cut that out."

02:15 But, like, you know, we wanna just give something back,

02:17 and we haven't been touring that much this year,

02:19 so it was important for us to, like, show up in Leicester

02:21 and different cities and sort of just show some love

02:24 and say, "Hey, guys, come hang out."

02:25 We, like, had a barbecue and threw a couple pop-up events

02:29 and stuff, and it's kind of fun, you know?

02:32 It keeps us busy. - That's what it's about,

02:33 you know, like, you don't want that barrier

02:34 to get too big, like. - Yeah, like,

02:37 I find that part of it really strange, you know?

02:40 Like, some people, we did a meet and greet

02:43 or, like, a photo booth thing earlier with Radio 1,

02:46 and people, like, people cry.

02:48 They will unmute you and start crying, and it's like,

02:53 I don't know. - It's interesting, though.

02:55 - It's like, don't cry, it's fine.

02:57 - Sam Fender last night, he was talking about

03:00 imposter syndrome and, like, he can't believe his other,

03:02 I mean, I feel like that's everyone.

03:03 They're just like, we're just like you.

03:06 - Yeah, exactly, exactly.

03:08 It's really nice, don't get me wrong,

03:10 it does great things for the ego, but,

03:12 yeah, we're just happy to be here, man.

03:16 Super grateful, back at Redden in Leeds.

03:18 - You've been busy, like you say,

03:20 you've been releasing some new music,

03:21 you've got some new singles out.

03:23 - Yeah. - Mixtape, maybe.

03:24 What's going on in Easy Life World in that sense?

03:27 - It was basically, we're writing a new album,

03:31 and we figured that it's gonna take a little while,

03:33 and we didn't wanna just go completely silent

03:37 for a year or two years, and we had loads of old tracks.

03:41 We have so much, like, hundreds of songs unreleased

03:44 that are just on hard drives, as I'm sure any artist does,

03:48 and we figured we just went through them

03:50 and chose a few that we liked,

03:51 and we're just putting them out.

03:53 We don't really have a, we don't know why, really,

03:57 or just to give something, keep people engaged.

04:00 Yeah, give something back to the audience.

04:04 They're all just daft, a lot of them are really stupid,

04:06 like we released a song the other day

04:07 called Ultimate Jutsu, and, you know,

04:12 I guess, kinda taking the pressure off it.

04:15 I think when you go through the major label system,

04:18 there's quite a lot of pressure,

04:20 or certainly I put a lot of pressure on myself

04:22 when writing and making the albums,

04:24 and being like, oh, it has to be this, it has to be huge,

04:26 it has to sell a million copies, otherwise it's shit,

04:29 you know, and this was like, no, fuck that,

04:32 we'll just put music out 'cause it's funny and it's fun.

04:35 So it feels nice, I think we're in a really good place,

04:37 actually, as a band.

04:38 - How do you find that kind of, like, what is success?

04:43 You know, like, you get bigger sets, you know,

04:46 bigger stages, you get, you know, major labels,

04:49 but, like, how do you quantify success now?

04:52 Like, is it a few people turning up to that pop-up

04:54 at Vicky Park, is that, for you, success, you know?

04:56 - It's an interesting question, I think it's something

04:58 that we've all been asking ourselves recently,

05:00 because I think if you had of asked me

05:02 two or three years ago, I would have said, like,

05:05 oh, huge gigs and international critical acclaim,

05:08 and, you know, being famous, but I think now,

05:13 it's definitely not that, in fact, I don't want that,

05:15 you know, so, yeah, I think success is just trying to,

05:20 if you're happy in what you do, then you've smashed it,

05:24 you know, like, we were just talking off camera

05:26 about where you're at in your life, and, like,

05:29 that's sick, congratulations, that's wicked,

05:31 do you know what I mean?

05:32 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

05:33 - Yeah, if you can, in whatever it is you do,

05:36 if you're enjoying it and you're healthy

05:39 and you're healthy in your mind as well,

05:40 then that, for me, is success,

05:42 'cause that's not always been the case.

05:43 I've been doing a lot of, yeah, I've been doing a lot

05:46 of working on myself and trying to figure out

05:49 that exact question, and I think I've realised, like,

05:52 yeah, health and happiness are the most important things.

05:57 - What was that process like, going back through

06:00 some of these old songs?

06:01 How do you, how do you look back on, like,

06:03 the work that you do from, like, a few years ago?

06:05 Are you someone who's just like, ah, it's so embarrassing,

06:07 and you're like, no, actually, I love this?

06:10 - I think it's both, don't get me wrong,

06:12 99% of it's very embarrassing,

06:15 but we chose the 1% that wasn't.

06:17 Yeah, I don't know.

06:20 It's, all music, it's all very embarrassing,

06:25 even the stuff I've just written.

06:26 I'm always terribly embarrassed.

06:28 It's really strange, you know, you kind of, like,

06:30 talking about your feelings and stuff like that,

06:33 it's never the easiest thing to do,

06:34 so there's always definitely a big element of, like,

06:39 yeah, I'm always a bit scared in general,

06:40 but, I don't know, I get less embarrassed now, you know?

06:45 I just don't really care anymore.

06:47 If you dig it, cool, if you don't, then that's fine.

06:49 - That's it. - So, yeah.

06:51 - It doesn't matter, and you're gonna be playing,

06:53 you know, a little secret set, something a bit smaller.

06:56 - Yes, this is our favorite part of Redding and Leeds,

06:58 actually, we've did it before, I think it was in Leeds.

07:01 Yeah, we're gonna be, like, doing a secret show

07:04 on the BBC Introducer, and it's just mental.

07:09 It's just insane, 'cause nobody knows it's happening,

07:11 we don't announce or anything,

07:12 and people just stumble across it.

07:13 - How do you find doing those big sets,

07:17 and then those little ones straight away?

07:19 You must love it, the juxtaposition.

07:21 - I mean, the big set's great,

07:22 like I touched on the ego thing already, like, great,

07:25 there's thousands of people singing at you, amazing,

07:27 congratulations, high five, but the small ones are,

07:31 for me, like, that's where it's at.

07:33 That's how we started, hilarious, you know?

07:35 There's eye contact, and they're all the same people

07:38 that come to all the small gigs,

07:39 they're just full of the same people,

07:40 they're all mental, they love it,

07:42 you know, they throw shit at you,

07:44 and it's just great, man.

07:45 I'm all about the small gigs,

07:47 we were actually talking about what our next tour

07:50 might look like, and we were thinking, like,

07:52 wouldn't it be nice to do smaller gigs,

07:53 'cause, you know, we've done the big gig thing,

07:56 and it's cool, but something about the sweaty,

08:00 horrible ones, you know?

08:01 - People throwing lemons, people with the inflatables.

08:04 - Exactly, I like that, man, it's just stupid,

08:06 it's daft, and it feels like,

08:08 feels way more authentic than a huge show

08:10 with, like, smoke and lights, and, you know,

08:13 all of that shit. - That pressure to, like,

08:15 oh, we've gotta put on a performance, you know?

08:17 Just a song. - Yeah, exactly,

08:19 and, like, I don't think people want that.

08:21 We're all just searching for some kind of connection

08:25 or something that actually feels tangible,

08:27 and all that, like, huge show always just feels

08:29 a bit gimmicky to me now, so.

08:31 - Yeah, well, have a great time.

08:33 Best of luck with the mixtape,

08:34 and the small, intimate tour that maybe may come up.

08:38 Thank you very much for watching.

08:39 - Thanks, guys.

08:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Easy Life on fan interactions, community and success

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