A lot has changed for Marmozets over the past eight years, with marriage, children and day jobs all playing a part. Then, in 2025, the cult punk-cum-post-hardcore alt.rockers announced their return with new single A Kiss From A Mother, word of a new album (due later this year), and their first tour since 2018.
“I’m so tired,” vocalist Becca Bottomley (née Macintyre) says giddily, just home after completing the first leg of the band’s UK tour. “I’ve not really talked to anyone today because everyone is back at work.”
Nothing says “welcome back” like a list of sold-out shows.
It was a bit bizarre, actually. We’ve been holding out for this for so long, putting this whole project together with labels, management… it’s all been very intense. So to get there and do these shows, we’re playing these scrappy punk venues, and it’s like: “What was that all about?”
Which was your favourite show from that first run?
Patterns in Brighton. It’s right on the coast, and I remember being so excited because I just love being able to look out and see the edge of the world. You can pretend there’s nothing else out there, no expectations. When I saw the sea, coming over that hill, I was like: “This is amazing.” But then I also got this sudden lurching feeling, like there might be a tsunami.
We get there, it’s all very exciting, then when we finish we realise the windows are shaking. It turned out there was this huge storm, but it just added to the energy of the show. A load of old characters came out to see us and one of them got arrested. It was a full-moon vibe.
It never really seemed like Marmozets were gone-gone; there were always rumblings that they might come back.
Absolutely. After that You Me At Six tour, when I found out I was pregnant, we were actually trying to sign a deal, but it just didn’t happen. Me and Jack [Bottomley, guitars] started writing again and we kept fighting for it. There were maybe some moments where we thought: “Maybe we won’t do this again.” But as soon as we wrote New York we were like: “Yeah, we can do it.”
So New York was the song where everything came together?
It was punky and fresh, all based on us going to New York for the first time. It was carnage – we were so young and had a lot of… everything. But we learned quickly that New York isn’t a city you mess with.
This is when the band got signed to Roadrunner Records?
Yeah. We had no money, but we were dead excited to be there. It was like: “We’ve made it”, because this diva limo came to pick us up. I remember Africa came on so we were all having a dance in the back.
What’s the new album all about?
It’s called CO.WARD.DICE – cowardice. It was all about the absolute fear of going back into all of this when I’d gotten quite comfortable. I didn’t want to just sit back and have this life without it. It’s so funny, the number of times I’ve seen the word ‘cowardice’ since is weird. There are so many cowards out there – running countries, industries… It’s all about the money and not about the soul. That’s why it’s called ‘cowardice’.
CO.WARD.DICE will be released on May 22. Marmozets support Biffy Clyro at London’s Finsbury Park on July 3.
