Hard Life share moody new single ‘Ogre’ and announce 2025 UK tour

Hard Life have dropped their moody new song ‘Ogre’ and announced a 2025 UK tour.

• READ MORE: FKA Easy Life tell us about returning as Hard Life with ‘Tears’: “This is the energy I want to put out into the world” 

The band formerly known as Easy Life recently returned with the song ‘Othello’ last month – and now, they’ve release ‘Ogre’, which will form part of their upcoming album ‘Onion’.

The album was inspired by frontman Murray Matravers’ spontaneous trip to Japan. At the time, he was experiencing a breakup on multiple levels – romantic, cultural, and of course, musical – when he met a stranger named Taka and started making music in Shirokane’s local studio.

Speaking about the song, Matravers said: “OGRE’ is about a situation where nobody’s done anything wrong, but that almost makes things worse. Sometimes relationships are more complicated because they lack an antagonist, and someone to hate: I’ll be your ‘OGRE’, if that gives us a clean break.

“This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album with Taka, and this image of onions – partly inspired by ‘Shrek’ – became central to the record. Onions are so universally recognisable, and I liked the idea of something simple yet complex.”

In addition to releasing ‘Ogre’, Hard Life have announced a 2025 UK tour. They’ll kick off in October at Leeds, travelling through London, Glasgow, Manchester and more, before rounding off the tour at Nottingham’s Rock City. Purchase your tickets here and see all dates below:

Hard Life’s 2025 UK tour is:

OCTOBER
28 – Leeds – O2 Academy
29 – Bristol – O2 Academy
30 – London – O2 Academy Brixton
NOVEMBER
3 – Newcastle upon Tyne – The Boiler Shop
4 – Glasgow – SWG3 Galvanizers
6 – Manchester – Manchester Academy
10 – Nottingham – Rock City

We spoke to Matravers last June, where he opened up about the name change having conceded defeat in a legal battle over the moniker against easyGroup (the brand owner of easyJet airlines).

easyGroup had labelled the band as “brand thieves”, and Easy Life played their final show under that name, as they did not have “the funds to access a fair trial in the High Court”.
Speaking about the new name, Matravers told us: “I really don’t want people to read too much into the name. I was nervous, because as a white, middle-class man, I haven’t exactly had a hard life. It needs to be appreciated in context.”

According to Matravers, the new name was a unanimous decision: “We were laughing about it and I don’t think any of us were taking it that seriously, but as time progressed we went through a million of other options and we always came back to Hard Life because we thought it was funny. Everyone seemed to resonate with that, and it was the most stereotypical Easy Life thing to do.”

In other news, Hard Life will be appearing at the likes of Y Not, Truck, and Live At Leeds.

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