Mumford & Sons are prepping the release of their third record Wilder Mind, having dropped its second single "The Wolf" earlier this week and "Believe" last month. They previously revealed that the album takes a more plugged-in approach, abandoning the banjos and kick drum for a more electric-driven effort. Now in Billboard's cover story, they reveal why the decided to move away from the sound that made them a massive success and that sparked a folk revival in the mainstream. Here are some things we learned:
1. The band is actually going back to its origins with the sound on the new album. "We'd been itching for a long time to do something different, and we picked the right time to do that. Well, maybe it was a bit late. Because we'd been a band almost as long as The Beatles, and this is only our third record, you know?" - Marcus Mumford
2. The band doesn't think they're the reason the folk revival came about. "We didn't want to claim responsibility for the sound, because there were bands like Fleet Foxes doing it before us. And some of it was great, and some of it was f**king awful. But naturally, we started our journey away from that stuff. We adopted acoustic instruments. These are the instruments we grew up with." - Marcus Mumford
3. There was no explicit discussion of taking Wilder Mind in a new sonic direction. "There's never an overt discussion of sonics, or direction, or inspirations. We were all in the same ballpark. The drums came out immediately." -- Ted Dwayne
4. Marcus Mumford believes that Kanye West is the biggest rock star left. "Winston Marshall: There's a lot of rock out there. But it's no longer ... I don't think it's what our generation will be remembered for. I think it'll be Kanye West and Rihanna. / Mumford: (Shakes his head.) It just makes me a bit sad. / Marshall: Why, though? They're so sick. / Mumford: Rihanna? I think Kanye is sick. He's the only rock star left. / Marshall: We went to one of his shows in London. He played Koko, which is a small venue, like 1,500 people. It was f**king mindblowing. / Mumford: It was f**king amazing. There were a bunch of cool London grime MCs doing stuff. But then he gets up and just blows them all away. Says one word and the whole room just...that's rock'n'roll, to me. / Marshall: He's everything he claims to be. Maybe not God, but ... (Laughs.) He really is incredible."
5. They've been playing secret shows at small venues to work out the kinks of the new songs. "They're f**king weird shows because no one has heard anything." - Winston Marshall
6. All the members have interests and passions outside of the band. Lovett runs the label Communion. Mumford has done outside production work while Dwane is a serious photographer. Marshall co-writes songs in Nashville and has been taking improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City and wants to put together a comedic web series.
Read the full cover story here, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
