Leicester’s Mouth Culture made waves supporting their pals You Me At Six on the band’s farewell tour. As they head into a summer stacked with big festival appearances, there’s plenty of reasons – from their love of ’70s glam to a penchant for confessional songwriting – to get excited about British rock’s fastest-rising trio…
Mouth Culture are basically a family at this point. The almost fraternal connection between the Leicester trio – vocalist Jack Voss, guitarist Mason Clifford and bassist Todd Groome – has been forged through years of living together while fine-tuning their sprightly brand of British alt.rock.
The band have won friends in high places – notably UK rock heavyweights You Me At Six and Yorkshire metallers While She Sleeps – while their chaotic live shows, which they promise will ensure you get “kicked in the face”, have landed them slots at Slam Dunk, Reading & Leeds and the revived Vans Warped Tour over in America.
As they gear up for the biggest summer of their lives, Jack, Mason and Todd join Kerrang! to discuss the reasons why their band will leave you open-mouthed with wonder…
Be it glam legends or ’00s pop-rock, there’s no limit to where they’ll go for inspiration…
Jack Voss (vocals): “If you went through each of our Spotify accounts, you’d see there’s no single corner we gravitate to. A big influence that comes to mind, though, is Aerosmith. I used to get driven to school listening to them, and when I was 15 I didn’t think that was cool, but now, I couldn’t care less – they write bangers!”
Mason Clifford (guitar): “T. Rex is a big one for me. I remember being a kid and my dad playing 20th Century Boy in the van on the way to work, and something about that riff resonated with me right away. I’ve always loved music like that.”
Jack: “We came up listening to bands like Linkin Park, Paramore, Bring Me The Horizon and Incubus. But then we like random stuff like Keane – the last tour we were on, someone was playing Is It Any Wonder?, which is a great song, and we were all loving it!”
Todd Groome (bass): “All of that stuff subconsciously comes through in our music. Which, like our influences, doesn’t belong to any one genre.”
Some bands are sick of the sight of each other after a week in the van. Not Mouth Culture, who’ve spent years living on top of one another, forming a brotherly bond in the process…
Jack: “Living together has made us, I believe. We did it because we knew it’d help us get to where we wanted to be. It felt a bit extreme at times, with friends getting married, having kids and buying their first homes, whereas we just had tunnel vision on the band, but it was important for us to figure each other out, find what we were doing with Mouth Culture and discover our sound.”
Todd: “Immersing ourselves in each other’s lives that way made everything feel very fluid. Instead of coming home from work and it being like, ‘I’ve got to go to rehearsal now,’ the guys were there. We could just nip upstairs and work on something, or you’d get home and someone would have come up with a new idea. And the trials and tribulations of it all – we’ve argued so much over the years – have been worth it, because we’ve made the best memories during that time as well. Knowing that backdrop, I think it allows you to view our songs in a whole new light.”
It’s taken a bit of time to settle as a three-piece, but having hit their stride now, they’re intent on making their mark…
Mason: “We’re not kids anymore, and living together through our 20s really formed who we are now. We’ve been through some significant situations together, like past members leaving and losing close friendships, but we’ve always been serious about the band throughout all that. The achievements of the past two years have come through sheer dedication and living and breathing it every day.”
Todd: “We have creative freedom as a three-piece, whereas before with other members it was stifling – there were too many chefs with different avenues they wanted to go down. The three of us resonate with what we want to create.”
Killer recent single Ratbag is Mouth Culture’s somewhat autobiographical commentary on toxic bravado…
Jack: “It’s hard talking about this song, because I wrote it thinking it was about one thing, but listening back, it was about something completely different. It’s a bit of a confession. When we were first writing it, we wanted to write a song for the girls, because there’s so many ‘blokes’ and ‘lads’ acting all ‘Mr. Me’. We’ve met loads of them over the years. So we wanted to give the girls an anthem. Originally, I just wanted to vent about that, but I realised I was venting about myself and airing my frustrations about what I was doing and the way I was handling certain things. Deep down, I think I wanted to have a jab at myself… It’s probably too honest, to a degree.”
Having been championed by Britrock heroes You Me At Six, Mouth Culture have been able to lean on some experienced stars for advice…
Jack: “I was obsessed with You Me At Six. I grew up walking to school listening to them all the time. The relationship between us started when they shared one of our songs, after which we were invited out for a drink with Josh [Franceschi, vocalist]. He said we might be getting an offer for one of their UK shows, which I lost my mind over, but then I thought I’d be cheeky and ask about Europe, too. I didn’t think anything would come of it, but to then get the offer to do that European tour was a dream come true. I think they see their younger selves in us, and to have Max [Helyer, guitarist] now as one of our best friends and working on music with us is crazy.”
It turns out that stepping in front of thousands of fans comes naturally to the Mouth Culture boys…
Jack: “It was a strange, humbling experience to go out and be the biggest rock stars in the world at those You Me At Six shows, in between playing headliners to 100 people. We were going from these small clubs one night to turning up the next day at Brixton and having our minds blown – there were a lot of ‘pinch me’ moments!”
Mason: “That said, I don’t think we ever felt out of place. In between playing those huge support slots, our longer headline shows and other live sessions, it was a case of sink or swim, because we had no time to rehearse and had to keep jumping into different sets. But we threw ourselves into it and it went really well.”
Todd: “We had a nice moment with Max after one of the Manchester shows where he sat us down on the stage in front of this huge room and was like, ‘Take it in, look at what you’ve just done – you could be headlining this in a few years.’ That’s a special memory.”
On the bill for Slam Dunk and Reading & Leeds, Mouth Culture are promising to bring their A-game this summer. After which they’re heading stateside for Vans Warped Tour’s comeback…
Jack: “We’re totally ready for it. We went out last year, played some early sets and had a point to prove. I think we turned some heads, so to now have good slots at places like Slam Dunk is really cool.”
Todd: “Warped is the most nerve-wracking one because it’s so different to anything we’ve done before. We’re heading out there, just the three of us, with no team or anything, but it’s a huge door that’s opening. It feels like we’re really opening the next chapter in our career.”
Jack: “I was a 15-year-old emo reading about Warped Tour in Kerrang!, so to now be able to go over there is amazing, let alone the fact that we’re playing as well. I can’t wait to take it all in.”
Booking Warped means Mouth Culture can repay those who showed the ultimate dedication…
Todd: “The America thing is scary, but it’s also really exciting because we know we have a lot of American fans. We’ve even had some come over from there and places like Canada for shows in the UK. To have people make that journey is incredible. They’re always so energised, so it’ll be great to see more of them when we go over there.”
Jack: “We’ve been a band for about six years, and from day one we’ve had people saying, ‘Come to America!’ so it’s quite surreal for it to actually be happening!”
Mouth Culture are an in-your-face lot. But one of their upcoming tunes promises something very different…
Jack: “We’re not all riffs. There’s some heartache in us, including what’s possibly the best song we’ve ever written – that will be coming out this year. It’s essentially a lullaby, which is something we’ve never released as a single before. I’m really excited about that, because we’ve been pushing the big energy and rock side of Mouth Culture for a while. It makes sense to have done that, because it’s our bread and butter – if you come to a Mouth Culture show, you’ll probably get kicked in the face! But with songs like this new one, you’ll want to cry, too.”
With a huge year of shows planned, Jack, Mason and Todd are promising that the tracks they have up their sleeves will leave you mouthing off about what a great band they are…
Jack: “I knew you’d want to know about new music, and our plan is to give you banger after banger this year.”
Mason: “Working with Max from You Me At Six has really helped us with that, because he’s got so much experience that he’s been able to pass on in terms of writing.”
Jack: “He doesn’t give the secrets away easily, though! He never tells us the answer when we’re stuck on something with a song – he just nudges us in the right direction.”
Mason: “That’s the beauty of how we’re working at the minute, though, because there is no answer – we’re all happy to try loads of stuff and see where it goes.”
Todd: “The music we’re making now is without doubt the best we’ve ever made, with Ratbag being a good first insight into that. I think everyone’s going to be surprised with some of the stuff that we do come out with, and we’re excited to hear what people think of it.”
Mouth Culture play Slam Dunk Festival in May and Reading & Leeds in August, before hitting the road for an October headline tour. This interview originally appeared in the summer 2025 issue of Kerrang!.
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