India Thomas had a chat to Sam Macintyre and Jack Bottomley from Marmozets ahead of the Cardiff date of their co-headline tour with Lonely The Brave.

Quench Music (QM): Debut album ‘The Weird And Wonderful MarmozetsÔÇÖ is finally out, are you guys glad for it to be here at last?

Jack (J): Very hyped and relieved that itÔÇÖs finally out. ItÔÇÖs been a long winding road. But itÔÇÖs there, itÔÇÖs out, itÔÇÖs ready for people to get their hands on, which weÔÇÖre very happy about.

QM: YouÔÇÖve spent a long time working on the album. WhatÔÇÖs your favourite track off of the record?

Sam (S): Hit The Wave. I like ÔÇÿIs It Horrible?ÔÇÖ And ParticleÔǪ

J: It depends on your mood, IÔÇÖm always like that with music in general anyway. IÔÇÖll love one song one day and wonÔÇÖt like it as much the next day. I have days where I think ÔÇÿthis is coolÔÇÖ about every song of ours, IÔÇÖm sort of at that point now.

QM: Which is probably good for tour…How is the tour going?┬á

J: ItÔÇÖs been nice to see such a great reaction to the material. WeÔÇÖve done shows with these songs for the last year really, so itÔÇÖs been nice for people to actually know the songs. When weÔÇÖve played live before weÔÇÖd have the songs that were out as singles, such as ÔÇÿWhy Do You Hate Me?ÔÇÖ and ÔÇÿMove, Shake, HideÔÇÖ or something and people would go mental and sing along to them but wouldnÔÇÖt really know anything else. You get the ÔÇÿRa RaÔÇÖsÔÇÖ as we call them, [mouthing along]ÔǪ So itÔÇÖs nice to not have them as much, it’s great having a big group of people there to see us and sort of enjoy the music and actually know the songs.

QM: I guess its the difference between playing the NME stage and The Pit at Reading, did you find a difference between the two of them or

S: NME at Reading was so much bigger so you couldnt really see as much going on. I could tell there was a lot of people having a good time, though. But when youre in a tent like (The Pit) youre closer so you can see it more, you feel a bit more part of it and stuff. Both were very interesting

J: WeÔÇÖd just come back off a run of festivals in mainland Europe and were playing stages sort of similar to the NME in front of thousands of people so by the time we got to the NME thing, weÔÇÖd already done loads of those.

S: We had really good preparation for it, ÔÇÿcause again they were completely new crowds (in Europe). Playing The Pit was weird cos it felt like doing a gig but it was cool as hell as weÔÇÖd sort of missed it. As much as we love playing big rooms and in front of as many people as you possibly can, the small rooms are the ones with the vibe.

QM: We saw you play Hobos in Brigend, and to go from that small venue to The Pit tent at Reading was dramatically different. Do you think the atmosphere of that Reading set is where your live shows are headed?

J: Its one of those things where its down to your fan base and down to the crowd. The crowds have been really cool on this tour, yet theyve been really mixed ages, which it has sort of always been but theres been a lot of people all sort of similar to our age which is nice. Its down to the crowd, like the gig that you mentioned in Brigend 

S: The smaller shows do get quite violent, but when we do the bigger shows its a lot slicker because youd dont really have a choice

J: You need to live up to it and youÔÇÖve got a lot more room onstage and can actually focus on stuff that you canÔÇÖt actually focus on in a small venue without a dressing room or whatever. But weÔÇÖre sort of lucky in a way that we can do both things. If it is a sweaty, dingy venue we can do that and enjoy it as much as if it was in a big room.

QM: You guys are quite lucky I think, with the kind of music you make in that you can easily appeal to both kinds of shows. YouÔÇÖve got ‘Captivate You’ which is kind of perfect for bigger stages and stuff but you donÔÇÖt sound like youÔÇÖre ‘selling out’ in the way that a lot of bands planning to play really big festival stages alter their sound accordingly…

J: Thanks. With each song we donÔÇÖt really think about what our other stuff sounds like. We treat every song as its own little animal and wherever we feel like it needs to go, itÔÇÖll go there. In that respect as well, with having BeccaÔÇÖs voice on it, adding her character and everything it sort of makes it sound like us anyway no matter what we put underneath it. It is why the album sort of works.

QM: She definitely ties it all in. You did the Radio 1 Live Lounge session and covered Bruno MarsÔÇÖ Locked Out Of Heaven. I thought it was a really good and refreshing take on it. Do you think that it is important to challenge peopleÔÇÖs perceptions?

S: The thing is if you get on daytime radio, it gets out there.

J: ItÔÇÖs an opportunity you canÔÇÖt really say no to.

S: If you want your music to be heard, they have millions of listeners.

J: So if you get the opportunity, jump on it straight away. A lot of their audience will be solid pop listeners so when it came down to it, did we want to do a straight cover or did we want to do our own thing? And thereÔÇÖs people (online) on the comments saying ÔÇÿI donÔÇÖt like it because itÔÇÖs not like the originalÔÇÖ…

S: Some of them are funny: ÔÇÿI donÔÇÖt like this it doesnÔÇÖt sound anything like the originalÔÇÖ and then the top comment was basically this guy that posted something really cool actually. He was sticking up for us like ÔÇÿYÔÇÖknow what, if you want to listen to the original, go listen to the f***ing originalÔÇÖ. ItÔÇÖs like the whole point of this is trying to make it your own. I thought it sounded alright to be fair..fuck ÔÇÿem.

QM: Do you prefer the writing process or live shows?

S: Both, they have different vibes.

J: When weÔÇÖre in that moment we think we prefer it and then we go back to doing live shows and think ÔÇÿthis is the best thing in the worldÔÇÖ and then we finish and go back to writing and think ÔÇÿthis is the best bitÔÇÖ. We love every aspect of it equally, really.

S: ItÔÇÖs like asking do you like a cheeseburger or do you like a cheeseburger. I like ÔÇÿthe cheeseburgerÔÇÖ. Once you get off the tour and start doing the writing you get really excited, like ÔÇÿyes’ we get to create and then youÔÇÖve done the creating thing for a while and youÔÇÖre like ‘ugh greatÔÇÖ. And then you finish that and itÔÇÖs like ÔÇÿnow I get to playÔÇÖ. ItÔÇÖs like a never ending cycle.

QM: ItÔÇÖs good if you like it though.

S: ItÔÇÖs alright..

J: Nah itÔÇÖs great.