A British indie band formerly called Easy Life have changed their name to Hard Life after they said they were sued last year by the brand owners of the easyJet airline.

Writing on Instagram, the Leicester group admitted the “last nine months have not been easy” but they have now released a new single, Tears. Part of the video was included in the social media post.

Last October, the musicians said they were going to change their moniker.

It came after they said they were sued by easyGroup because their name was too similar.

The band said the lawsuit pointed out they had used an image of an orange and white plane, similar to the branding for easyJet, for their Life’s A Beach tour, among other accusations about reputational damage.

In a statement at the time, easyGroup founder and chairman Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou labelled them “brand thieves”.

The band initially hoped to fight the case, which they said would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, but they were forced to concede defeat, realising essentially it was “David vs Goliath – and our British legal system favours Goliath”.

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Their supporters – including fellow musicians such as Professor Green, Arlo Parks and Mahalia, several MPs, plus UK Music chair and former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson and Tom Gray, the chair of the Ivors Academy – argued any similarities were tongue in cheek and harmless, with plenty of fans offering to support a crowdfunder to raise money for legal fees.

The group themselves said they were “certain in no way have we ever affected their business”.

After their farewell gigs in October in their hometown and London under their original name, they said: “Thanks so much for celebrating our story with us”, adding: “See you later, maybe never.”

Read more: The charity brand taking on easyGroup

Now in a post on Instagram on Wednesday, Hard Life wrote: “Hey it’s been a while. Safe to say the last 9 months haven’t been easy. New song Tears out now.”

The critically acclaimed band released their first single in 2017 and has had two top 10 albums.

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EasyGroup was set up in 1998 by Sir Stelios and owns the family of brands under the “easy” name. It is the private investment vehicle for Sir Stelios but each of the brands, including easyJet and easyHotel, are separate companies.

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