Marmozets: “We had to fight to get back to where we are now”

Forget Guy Fawke’s Night. November 5, 2025, belongs to Marmozets. The day their explosive comeback single, A Kiss From A Mother, finally arrived, kickstarting their third chapter.

It ends nearly an eight-year wait for new music. And perhaps more agonisingly, a 16-month wait since going public with their new record deal, confirming a return that, on paper, was never actually guaranteed. At long last, the pieces were in place to bring Marmozets back to life.

“We’re the happiest we've ever been, and that says something,” declares Becca, unprompted.

“I think this is the best album we've done,” adds Josh, behind his sunglasses.

That’s as far as sweeping statements go from this bubbly family of four, meeting K! at their HQ in Keighley, the next town along from their West Yorkshire home of Bingley. The music, as always, does most of the talking.

“That song's such a nice call-back to that ruckus,” smiles Josh. “That was the golden ticket for me. We’ve still got it!”

“You can dance to it. You can see everyone having the best time, with a drink in their hand, letting loose on a Friday night,” continues Becca. “That's what we want to be part of. We want to have a party with people! We want people to be themselves, go to shows, get sweaty and have a good time. That is the ‘kiss’.”

Which makes Becca the ‘mother’, right?

“Well, it didn't mean to work out that way…” she ponders. “It definitely comes from a mother. But it's weird. A Kiss From A Mother is the first single back, and that’s the thing that stopped us from doing what we were doing.”

In an alternate universe, Marmozets plodded on, knuckled down, and found a way to make it work – as many bands do. And while that hypothetical timeline has crossed the minds of all four members, it doesn’t look pretty. Becca can only picture a “car crash”.

“Your baby was a blessing in disguise,” realises Josh.

“We were pretty burnt out, even before we got the news,” adds Jack. “Normally you get back from tour and crash, but it was happening while we were on the road. Time to refresh and refocus was definitely needed, for all of us.”

“We didn't know how to do anything outside of touring. How do we do taxes? How do we make friendships?” Josh continues. “I have autism, and I hadn't really figured out how to navigate that with touring. Not to go on a sob story, but we'd been doing shows, non-stop, since we were 14.”

Having been in the back of vans for a decade, the relentless lifestyle and endless road miles had taken their toll. It was time to consciously remove that constant, leaving Becca, Jack, Josh and Sam with somewhat of a blank slate.

“It wasn’t like someone took it away from us,” Josh points out, when asked if that transition was difficult at first. “It was our own decision to stop the truck here.”

“I was focused on having a kid, and we needed to get a house,” adds Becca, who didn’t have time to reminisce thanks to the pressing responsibilities of parenthood.

For Sam – the quietest of the four – he took his empty diary as a window of opportunity.

“You think about [touring] now and again, but your whole self isn't just playing music in front of people. You can be much more than that. I didn't realise how much I loved cooking. I started working in the chippy, I absolutely loved it. People used to [leave] reviews at the place I used to work at, and that was so rewarding,” he reflects.

Between cheffing up the finest seafood in West Yorkshire, Sam, Becca and Jack all picked up odd jobs around their local community, including factory work and guitar teaching – we spy some sheet music for Teddy Swims’ Lose Control lying around in the corner of the room. Josh moved down with his mother to Norwich. He also underwent therapy for his autism, to help “figure myself out, and my thresholds” for future life on the road.

As the members of Marmozets adjusted to their 'new normal’, they found some of the balance that they craved. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they grew fond of this newfound stability, embracing routine and structure that had been so elusive across the past 10 years.

“I got to a point where I was like, ‘I just want a normal nine-to-five, to live my life and go on holiday twice a year,’” admits Becca. “Our jobs didn’t pay that well, but we’ve found so much happiness, enjoying that. We were part of a world where it's all about materialistic things. For a lot of people, your worth is from that. No – it is family, happiness, being able to have a roof over your head and food on the table.”

Although Jack did a one-off tour with Hundred Reasons (guitarist Larry Habbitt produced Marmozets’ debut album), and Josh subbed in at 2000trees to play with Lonely The Brave, music wasn’t at the forefront of any of their lives.

“A lot of musicians go into depressive modes because their whole identity is in the art of the band,” explains Josh. “As soon as something crashes, everything about you is lost too. It's about finding who you are in yourself, and then bringing it to the art.”

Memories of their former life surround us in this rehearsal space, effectively a museum of Marmozets memorabilia. Their old backdrop. A merch board. Jack’s vintage Fender Twin Reverb amp, accidentally gifted to him by his neighbour. An image of the team huddle before their 100 Club show that gave their debut album its artwork.

While memories flood back to the quartet, as they talk us through the clutter, these items do not define the four members of Marmozets. Nor do they only serve the purpose of validation. Safe in the knowledge that the life they’ve now built outside of the band is – and will always be – enough, they are ready to be Marmozets again.

“I’ve found the joy to just exist in this bad world that we live in,” smiles Becca. “I don't think it gets any better than that.”

With no internal or external pressure, trust and confidence found its way back into the process, building towards the mayhem that made the world so captivated by them in the first place.

“It was finding that confidence of our raucous energy from The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets, when no other voice cared,” continues Josh.

Of the four, Josh seems particularly passionate about his band’s return, admitting he felt “isolated” in Norwich, hardly compelled to touch his drum kit apart from playing at his local church on Sundays.

United back in Bingley, the four gradually got the ball rolling, spurred on when Nettwerk, their new record label, approached them with an offer in 2024.

“What? We've written songs good enough again to get a deal?” recalls Becca, almost still in disbelief.

“For years, there were moments when we thought we would release an album, and moments where it almost didn't happen,” reveals Josh. “But we've always believed – ‘Push on, just keep going.’ And it is so worth it.”

Becca takes out her pink lyric book. The first page shows the title of Marmozets’ third album, which we’re not allowed to share. Jack gets out of his seat, moves his Gretsch aside and brings us the chart; the progress tracker. At the bottom is Keep Going Darling, the last song written for the record, spanning seven minutes of heartening, Britpop-infused rock.

“It was so magical, because that was the first time we finished a song together, with all our instruments, collectively in a room,” glows Becca. “We wrote everything else at home. It was almost a snippet of the future, coming in here to write again, together.”

Cut Back, a track which nearly didn’t make the album, is an anthemic piledriver that could lace the shoes of Play or Habits. Another sinister alt.rock stomper, New York, reminisces on the band’s inaugural trip to the Big Apple to sign with Roadrunner in 2013. Recorded at Liverpool’s Coastal Sound Studios during the final weeks of 2024, the album went down to the wire.

“Every day, minute and second counted,” urges Becca. “I remember coming back to our boat” – “We stayed on a boat,” Jack clarifies – “at 11 o'clock at night, and I just collapsed on the bed.”

Immortalised on Sam’s right arm is a lyric, ‘You’re alive when the stars are dying’, followed by ‘J.J.B.J.F’ and the day the album was completed: December 20, 2024. That initialism stands for Jack, Josh, Becca – plus Jonathan Gilmore and Freddie Williams, who produced the album.

One name missing from that list, and this interview, is Will Bottomley – brother to Jack, and now their former bassist.

“He plays with a band called Stiff Meds – he gets his fix, without it having to be his life,” explains Jack. “He’s got security with his work, house, girlfriend and dogs.”

“We've got nothing to lose, whereas he would be taking a massive risk,” confirms Becca, clarifying how the others actively sought out self-employed work to enable a future return for Marmozets.

Sam now swaps guitar for bass, making Jack the only guitarist, creating a fresh challenge as they relearn their golden oldies. But new music is ready. The comeback gigs are booked. The rebirth of Marmozets is upon us.

“There's another album tied to the same deal, so that's a guarantee,” smiles Jack, when asked if longevity is the goal. “We want everything we do to be incredible. We never want to release anything half-arsed.”

“We've found that confidence and love again, but the identity isn't in how successful it is,” continues a measured Josh.

Sustainability, rather than success, is the founding principle of Marmozets’ comeback. They’re keeping the team around them tight-knit. Becca won’t be drinking on tour. And the schedule has been meticulously planned, to avoid spiralling into old habits and combat the new challenge of leaving their daughter at home with her grandparents.

“This next stage is quite scary, because we're gonna be away from Dolly quite a bit,” says Becca. “But she's at a good age now where she understands. She’s coming to see us live for the first time! We’ll have to get her some ear protectors…”

The band’s first shows since 2018 start next month in Huddersfield, and wrap up in London at the end of January. But right now, Marmozets just grateful to be here, after what feels like a lifetime of absence. And for their fans, the message is one of undying respect and appreciation.

“Thank you for being patient,” repeats Becca. “We're gonna have music coming out sooner and quicker. We're gigging soon, and we're going to be playing [unreleased] songs on this tour…”

After seven years, and a successful search for some “inner peace”, Marmozets have forged an absolutely monstrous third album. In sync with their strengths, there’s an added maturity that flows through every riff. Fundamentally, when you place it alongside their first and second, this record feels like they never truly went away.

“We're family again, aren't we?” concludes Becca, gazing around the room. “This album has been a gift that has brought us together. We’re stronger… [now we've] got to crack on with it, be peaceful and grounded with every opportunity.

“If you're being the best you can possibly be, then you're doing something right.”

A Kiss From A Mother is out now. Stay tuned for more news on their third album.

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