As humans, we're such a discontented species. We're always trying to further ourselves, and you get all the way to the moon, and then it's just discontent. You want to go to Mars.
— Ted Dwane
We have this spirit that's just uncrushable.
We don't read a lot of what people say about us.
We started off as Marcus Mumford, which is our singer's name. But then it very quickly became apparent it wasn't really a one-man thing: it was indeed a band. We wanted to give the impression of a family business, and we just liked the ring of Mumford & Sons.
I don't know many artists who've managed to go a career without bringing these things up. Saying the word 'God,' 'Jesus' - it happens in a million rock songs.
We're a restless bunch, and we have a lot of energy - we're never going to stand still.
Sticking to our guns creatively is the only way we'll ever survive as a band and be happy.
We kind of are Okies at heart. I don't really know what an Okie is, but I feel like one.
Our spiritual home is definitely the U.K., but we have such a breadth of influence, and America's a huge part of that, as I think it is for most bands.
In December 2010, we embarked on a slightly strange tour of India. We played every kind of gig you could imagine over two weeks, from sports bars to hotel bars to a beautiful outdoor amphitheatre.
You can't really opt into something you don't believe in.
We always try to make each record a snapshot of the band at that time.
It's strange to think about the scathing reviews 'Sigh No More' got and then consider that we could win best album a year or so later.
Touring is something I do really well.
We're obviously a London band, and British at heart.
We'd never thought we'd get to travel so extensively, meet our heroes, and collaborate with so many people.
We never thought we'd be commercially viable, and we were proved wrong.
I think it's a great story, the story of Babel. I think anyone can direct it as an analogy for a lot of different situations.
There's not a lot to hide behind when you make the sort of music we make.
We have big limitations by not having a drummer. It instantly informs a lot of our musical decisions when it comes to writing. What we end up coming out with is not very cerebral music.
You leave school, work terrible jobs to pay rent, and that's when you start finding your way in music and forming bands.
As soon as we started playing sports arenas, we thought how great it would be if we could instead play to 25,000 people in our own way - a way we can control it so there's not all kinds of company branding around the show - and do it in a way that celebrates the community.
We don't make music except for the joy of making music, really - and meeting people and sharing ideas.
We were proud of our first two records, but the parameters were pretty narrow. We didn't have full drums, for example. There were just so many limitations to that setup, and we really fully explored them.
Being a bass player in a band without a drummer for seven, eight years has been kind of weird.
It's impossible to tell how you're perceived. I think it's important not to think about it too much, because it really means nothing. Some people think we're a rock band, and that's ridiculous, and the idea of us being a folk band - you sit in a pub in Ireland and hear those guys play, and you're like, 'Yeah, we're definitely not a folk band.'
Whether people jump up and down when they see us or are completely quiet, it just feels really good that they're connecting.
You look at the instrumentation, and you can't really argue that we set out with commercial aspirations. Banjos and things like that are not part of some formula for global success. But it felt right, and I think there's some value to purity of intention.
Because we are four creative people - four writers - there was no way that we were ever going to be satiated doing the same thing over and again. Change was inevitable for us. And a very natural thing.
We were thrilled when we were nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, but we were even more so when they asked us to play live.
You can't just repeat. It's valueless. So we - we're really keen to challenge ourselves. I suppose a byproduct of that will be challenging our fans a bit as well.
We wouldn't last a year on the road playing music that we didn't love.
We don't want to be as big as Oasis!
I was a bass guitarist first before I started playing double bass - and I only started playing it because my teacher said I'd get twice as much work, as there's not enough players out there.
I play the drums really, really badly.
Self-awareness is one of the biggest enemies to creativity.
Without a drummer, you've got that sort of running, chicken-chasing, rhythmic thing happening with the banjo in the top end - it's what gives our music a lot of its momentum, a lot of its energy.
Most people overcome something terrible at some point in their lives.
We never could have foreseen the success of 'Babel.' It's not like banjo records were soaring up the charts, you know.
Self-awareness is something that we actually actively avoid.
There's a point with every record we've made that the album starts to assert its identity, and I think that's kind of what happened with 'The Wolf.'
None of us had really any interest in doing a sort of 'Babel 2.'
There's definitely a negative correlation between the higher the profile and the enjoyment of the gig.
Ninety percent of the time, I'm sitting in a bus driving through some place like the Colorado mountains and thinking, 'Wow, we're not in a pub in London anymore.'
People don't really need to question our sincerity when it comes to our songs.
We really believe in our music, and it's still heartening to know that it's appreciated, and that's what sticks.
Can't cook. Can't, I dunno, do paperwork. I don't know, what else can't we do? I'm not to be trusted with other people's animals.
We don't sing about eating local produce or growing beards or anything like that. It's funny to find yourself in a position where people associate you with things that are completely arbitrary to your songs.
We've always imagined ourselves as a rock band. We've always been a rock band playing the wrong instruments.
A lot of the time, if you go into an arena, they're pretty uninspiring. But we try to create an atmosphere.
