Marmozets

This philosophy has served Marmozets well so far, with a slew of sold-out gigs, festivals and awards trailing in their wake. On the eve of their Splendour appearance, Macintyre talks about the realities of how this young act continues to burn bright.

“We’re working on our second album right now, so we’re always looking ahead, really,” he says in a rolling Yorkshire brogue; it somehow makes Macintyre sound much older than his 20-something years. “You try not to look back. Clichéd as it sounds, we don’t have any regrets. When the album was finished we instantly started writing more, and looking back, I don’t think there’s anything there that we would change. I wouldn’t, at least.

“I think the album has given us a good first step. Thinking of the band now compared to when we released the album, I mean, we were very, very small. We couldn’t even pull a hundred people anywhere. Then after the album, that all changed. Just last week we won Best Album at the Kerrang! Awards, which is kind of cool. But you don’t want anything to happen too fast, either. We’re enjoying it here – it’s a journey. If everything happened really quickly, you’d be missing out on all of that cool stuff in the middle.”

It has been quite a whirlwind for the alt-rock quintet, arcing across from Europe to the United States for increasingly larger performances. Of curious note is the fact they’re also a family band; Sam’s sister Becca is the band’s frontwoman and brother Josh is on drums, while another pair of siblings, Will and Jack Bottomley – bass and guitar respectively – round out the group. Though nobody knows how to piss you off better than a brother or sister, it also ensures that any time the fame game gets too reckless, someone is there to pull them back from the edge.

“We used to absolutely rage with the whole partying aspect of music, but we’ve all really calmed down now,” Sam says. “We still love to have fun, but at the end of the day what’s most important is making sure this band has a career. Everyone’s very focused; no-one is all that reckless. We’re not stupid. Everyone helps each other out, and everyone knows when one of us is starting to step on that line, you know? Of course we’ve done some pretty funny and wild stuff. But it’s a no-brainer. I think in terms of people going off the rails, things like the ‘27 Club’, they obviously have a hard past and have been introduced to these substances that make the pain go away. But we don’t need to rely on things like that to make us feel better.

“I mean, I’m not saying we’re perfect, that’s a bold statement,” he laughs. “But when it comes to making music and doing it right, it’s something that takes all your focus. As a band, we’ve always had that in us; we’re all really hard workers. I think that’s something you can see with us onstage as well. You hear plenty of bands say, ‘You have to give 100 per cent every single time for each performance,’ and I guess that’s true, but it’s also really hard. But you know, people who say they bring 100 per cent to every gig, I reckon that’s a load of bollocks. 100 per cent? Ha. Yeah, yeah, of course you do. You’re saying you’ve never been onstage and thought, ‘Fuck, I just cannot be bothered?’”

The group’s work ethic is no hyperbole, either; from the moment their debut, The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets, was released last year, they were straight back into writing, and they have already begun demoing tracks for their follow-up. When it comes to how their sound is described, however – and even a brief glimpse online reveals a plethora of genres attached to them – Macintyre is happy to let the songs speak for themselves.

“I think nowadays, because there’s so much music and genres out there – and I generally think having genres is pretty stupid, it seems like there’s a new fucking genre every day – it’s hard just to listen to one certain thing. Ask anyone, ‘What do you listen to?’ and everyone has a wide range now. Back in the day, people dressed up like punks, you’d look at them and know, ‘Well, they like punk music.’ But personalities are so varied now and a lot of that’s because everywhere you go there’s different music. Someone might look completely normal, and you talk to them and they’re really into hard metal and Bon Iver and Slipknot and Ben Harper.

“I’m not into metal music at all, not in the slightest, but I can still appreciate quite a bit of it, and there are certain metal bands that I think are absolutely wicked. But then I’ll also sit down and listen to, like, three albums of some Sigur Rós back to back and then some of The Dead Weather. Everyone is spread out, and everyone’s tastes are blurred. It’s great.”