Marmozets have spoken about how they nearly gave up while making their second album – and how Liam Gallagher is wrong about ‘rock n’ roll being dead’. Read our interview with singer Becca Macintyre below.

The Yorkshire band recently announced the follow-up to their 2014 debut ‘The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets’ with the Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies) produced ‘Knowing What You Know Now’. However, the death of singer Becca Macintyre’s grandmother and debilitating injuries saw her often considering calling it a day.

“I had some knee operations, then felt like I had to start again,” Macintyre told NME. “I had to learn how to walk again and everything. I had this ultimate fear in my heart, mind and soul – I let fear do me over. I thought I was done. But fear never wins. I had a voice in my head going ‘get up girl, you’re going to be fucking fine’.”


She continued: “I had all of the confidence blown out of me. People don’t always tell you that you’re doing great. It can be very stressful at the time, I’m a very sensitive person and all I needed to hear was ‘girl, you’re awesome, this is what you’re supposed to be doing’. I just needed some attention! It was just a shitty patch and I’m out the other side of the storm now. It’s a beautiful place to be.”

Read the rest of our interview below

‘Knowing What You Know Now’ will be released on January 26, 2018. Pre-order it here.

If you were going to quit, what else is there outside of the band?

“It got a bit difficult and I was like ‘you know what? I’d be fine working in Maccy D’s because you’d get better pay and less stress’. But in reality, that would have been a stupid teenage thing to do. Never quit.”

What was it that pulled you through to the other side?


“Not everyone knows what they want to do in life, but it’s so surreal and beautiful that we get to do this. I’ve found my place in the world. I know what I was designed to do. There’s that dark side of the world that wants to bring you down and make you feel shit. Some people hit rock bottom and they don’t know what’s next because they don’t have faith or believe in themselves. They have that dream and never follow through with it. You need to just get over that, and the only way you’re going to get what you want is just to go for it. Nothing about bettering yourself or the world is easy, that’s why it’s worth it. Get over your petty shit and get it done. If people don’t understand their talents and their dreams, then they need to start asking people. The people who know you and love you can tell you what you’re good at. We need to talk to each other and let each other know how awesome they are.”

Lyrically, is that what the album is about?

“It’s ‘Knowing What You Know Now’ – it’s everything that I’ve gone through and everything that the boys have gone through. It’s our journey. It’s more of a celebration, because I have this motto where I ‘rejoice through the bad’. When I get bad news or bad things happen, I laugh and I rejoice. If you’re happy in the moment and don’t let it get to you, then you don’t go through any of that paranoid thinking of stressing yourself out. You can just smile, laugh, shake it off, and move yourself on. You have to. Otherwise you end up not living.”

Sonically, where would you say this record takes your sound from your debut?

“You can feel our passion and our hearts racing all the way through it. It is what it is. It’s all of us individually on a plate. The boys will all say different things about it, but this is my fighting album. It’s letting people know that if I can get through my shit, then hopefully you can get through yours. The world can be a bit scary at the moment and this album is the remover of irrational fear!”

How are you going to measure the success of the album?

“I want everyone to own it. We’ve been a band for 10 years and we’re brothers and sisters. This is our lives. We were at school saying ‘how sick would it be to play Leeds & Reading?’ That was our dream and we did it. Obviously we want the record to be huge so we can be comfortable about knowing where we’re going to have somewhere to stay each night.”

How do you feel when someone like Liam Gallagher or Kasabian claim that rock n’ roll is dead or in need of saving?

“It’s a load of bullshit. Some people just write shit tunes and want something to complain about. People like that make me want to work harder and be like ‘fucking watch this’. Rock n’ roll is not dead. That just comes from these people who think they’re so fuckin’ cool being indie. Don’t me wrong, I love indie music, but it does piss me off because they think they’re the Gods and creators of rock n’ roll. Nah, you’re not mate.”

Robbie Williams was a big fan of the last album. Do you think he’ll like this one?

“Oh I bloody hope so.Through social media, I’m sure someone can hook us up. A little bit of banter with Robbie Williams would be quite interesting. If we could duet, we’d probably one of his rockier ones that we could make a little bit more rocky. That would go down a treat. Something like ‘Rock DJ’ could be really cool.”

Marmozets on tour

The band’s upcoming UK live dates are below. Tickets are available here

October 2017

21 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

22 – Manchester, Academy 3

23 – Birmingham, O2 Academy 2

25 – London, The Garage

27 – Norwich, Arts Centre

28 – Bristol, The Fleece

29 – Bournemouth, The Old Fire Station

30 – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms

February 2018

7 – London, ULU