English rockers Marmozets are a family affair for guitarist Sam Macintyre.
Sam is joined by his older sister Becca on vocals, younger brother Josh on drums, as well as brothers Jack and Will Bottomley on guitar and bass, respectively. “My mum really encouraged it,” Sam says.
“In our living room jamming out some tunes, she used to come out with some tea and biscuits and say, ‘You guys sound great’.”
Marmozets have grown since then. They’ve conquered stages around the world with their post-hardcore riffs and massive hooks on the back of their excellent 2014 debut ‘The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets’.
Four years on, they’ve released their second album, ‘Knowing What You Know Now’, but it wasn’t without struggle. “You know when you’re kind of writing some stuff and your mind’s not really in it?
"For us it was because Becca’s knees were dislocated and she was learning how to walk again because she had to get two major knee surgeries.
“We weren’t even in the mood for doing anything purely because we were trying to make sure Becca was ok. We were writing stuff, but when we listened back it was like ‘This is sh#t’, so we decided to scrap it and start all over again. It took us so long, but it’s finished now and sounds great.”
The band is still capable of crafting unforgettable hooks. On the new album, their songs have been given a massive boost thanks to working with Gil Norton, the producer behind classic albums such as ‘Doolittle’ and ‘Bossanova’ by Pixies and ‘The Colour And The Shape’ by Foo Fighters.
“Oh yeah, it was wicked! He’s a great guy and an amazing person,” Sam says.
“He actually came to us. When we finished the album we needed to record it in two months to keep on our schedule, so we needed to find someone. Someone mentioned Gil because he kept on badgering about when the next recording was happening. We rang up Gil and said, ‘Listen, dude. Do you want to make a record?’ He was like, ‘Where and when?’.”
Many fans first introduction to Marmozets is their song ‘Why Do You Hate Me?’ featuring Becca’s throat-shredding screams throughout.
On the new album, Becca spends more time singing than screaming. Her voice is magnificent, elevating the songs to the heavens.
As Sam explains, the lack of screaming is due to their expanding their sound and also out of necessity.
“We’re getting a bit older now, know what I mean? Becca’s already had throat problems, so we’re like, ‘Don’t scream if you can’t’. Poor Becca would get a bloody brain haemorrhage if she kept going the way she was going.
“I personally would rather hear my sister sing than scream. She’s got an amazing singing voice, so why wreck it by screaming it instead? A lot of people probably say, ‘Oh, but I want her to scream more’. Well, listen to the songs, come up with your own screaming over it, go to a show and you can scream it yourselves.”
Fans will surely be ecstatic to scream the new songs at upcoming live dates. Australian fans will have the chance to do so when Marmozets return for the first time since 2015, something Sam is excited for. “Yeah! Hell yeah! Definitely! You kidding me?! It’s the promised land.”
As for when, we will have to wait. “I haven’t got a f#$%ing clue. I don’t even know what my middle name is,” he jokes.
