Fortnite Creative: Easy Life enter gaming world for 'live' gig

Easy Life are Sam, Lewis, Murray, Jordan and Oliver

"We play part of the gig inside a fish and then we get flushed down the toilet."

Things are definitely taking a surreal turn for Leicester group Easy Life as they prepare for their next live show - inside the Fortnite universe.

"There are no boundaries in Fortnite," says lead singer Murray Matravers. "It was like making a huge music video."

In-game gigs aren't anything new, but Easy Life are the first British act to appear in the hugely successful franchise.

They've recorded a six-song show, which blends their tracks with trippy visuals, like the toilet flush.

Developers have also built London's O2 Arena inside Fortnite Creative, which is where Easy Life will take to a virtual stage on Thursday evening.

Travis Scott appeared as a huge virtual version of himself

The band follow US artists like Travis Scott and Marshmello who have previously performed in the game, to huge audiences.

In the case of Travis Scott's April 2020 gig, developers Epic Games said 12.3 million players logged in simultaneously as they watched the US rapper morph into various avatars.

Scott appeared as a computer-generated hologram of himself and Easy Life were originally going to go down a similar route.

"Travis's show was amazing but everyone's seen that now," says Murray. "We wanted to make sure ours was very different."

The Easy Life Fortnite setlist

• pockets

• have a great day

• ocean view

• skeletons

• daydreams

• nightmares

The band took their entire team (including videographers) to Leeds to work on the set and the visuals, and feared they might have to fit into a brief laid out by Fornite creator's Epic Games.

But in the end they were allowed to do "whatever we wanted" and built an "entire world for ourselves".

"It was totally led by us creatively," Murray said.

"We wanted to make sure we brought our own vibe."

Gaming and music: A perfect match?

Despite UK music venues still largely unable to put on shows with capacity audiences, Murray, 24, says there will "never be a substitute for going to see music live" and their Fortnite gig is "a different experience altogether".

"I think technology is moving so quickly that the integration of music and video games is an obvious progression. There are all these new experiences on how to expand on live music."

When the first lockdown was announced in March 2020, many artists turned to livestreaming their music through social media.

The gigs started off as an enjoyable novelty but as time's gone on Murray feels everyone is getting "a bit bored" of them, which is why the Fortnite appearance appealed.

"The player has choice within the gig so it's got a lot more to it than a normal livestream."

Easy Life were runners-up in the BBC's Sound of 2020

When creating their world, the band wanted to expand on the themes of their debut album, Life's A Beach.

"At one point we're on the beach and a huge sinkhole appears that we dragged into. We end up playing inside a giant fish which is filling up with plastic and then explodes. It's basically a stoner's dream come true.

"We had a lot of fun making this."

For anyone who doesn't play the game, the full performance will be posted to Easy Life's YouTube channel from Monday.

Analysis by Steffan Powell, Radio 1 Newsbeat gaming reporter

Appointment-to-view TV has been a way for traditional channels to stay relevant in a world of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Millions sat down on a Sunday night to watch Line of Duty live. It will be the same for Love island.

Historically the joy of gaming has been in giving the player the power to go on their own adventures whenever they wanted. To choose their own path.

But games like Fortnite, NBA2k and Warzone are exploring and beginning the trend of appointment-to-play gaming.

Moments that you have to be there at a certain time to experience.

Did you see Post Malone's set on the island? We're you there when Verdansk was blown up and sent back to the 1980s?

These moments take months for developers to create and minutes for players to experience but the buzz and excitement they create is priceless - keeping these games relevant by re-energising fans and giving them something unique to talk about and share online.

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