Marcus Mumford joins Klein/Ally Show in studio to talk about new music from Mumford & Sons and more.
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00:00We are Cline Alley Show, but enough about us. In our studio right now, the great Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons is here.
00:07I would say that of all the K-rock artists, you would be on the Mount Rushmere of K-rock artists.
00:12That's very sweet. I've just walked past the kitchen where we played.
00:15I remember you guys played a very memorable set right there in that kitchen.
00:18Of all the venues you played, that's got to be one of the most memorable.
00:20And then you guys very politely put our picture on the wall before I got here, which is very sweet of you as well.
00:25Oh, they're already taking it down. They just put the offspring back up. There you go.
00:29Kurt Cobain's coming in soon. That's why that picture's up.
00:32We just keep waiting. We hang his picture. Eventually he'll come back.
00:36I know you have an announcement, but the announcement is not really an announcement. It's an announcement about an announcement.
00:41Yeah, I'm here to talk about absolutely nothing. That's why I'm here, yeah.
00:45Well, they were very strict with us about how we have to tease an announcement that's not happening now.
00:51It's happening later, but we can't talk about it, but we should talk about it.
00:55I'm just living in fear that I mess it all up, or say what I think Vanessa referred to as a bad word.
01:02And I checked out some of my bad words on her, and apparently they're all bad.
01:05There were none of them that got through the Vanessa filter.
01:07Yeah, she's very strict about the words.
01:09So I can't say bad words, and I can't tell you what I'm going to be doing for the rest of this year with new music out.
01:13So I'm just here to hang out.
01:16We'll take you.
01:17Make sure my picture's still on the wall.
01:19We'll just talk about the Super Bowl, then.
01:21That's all right. That's what everyone's talking about. You're going to watch it?
01:24I'm going to watch it with glee.
01:25Yeah. Are you rooting for anybody, or do you care?
01:28Well, here's the thing. I think circa 1990, whatever it was, four, if you're a neutral,
01:35and you're watching that Jordan team the first time with the three-peat, you probably want to see history made, right?
01:42So I suppose I'm supporting the Chiefs, but they make me very unpopular with some of my greatest friends in Philadelphia.
01:50Except their fan base is a terrible fan base.
01:52But those aren't your words. Those are my words.
01:54But, you know, we were talking about this earlier. It's interesting, because you were born right here in Southern California.
01:57Yes. I think you referred to me as playing both sides.
01:59Yeah, you could play. Yeah, because you could play both sides.
02:03And I wonder, is it ever useful to you to be the Californian, or as opposed to the fine, upstanding British gentleman?
02:10I whip it out every now and then.
02:13Yeah, yeah. It's like a little trump card.
02:15Right.
02:15Well, that's probably the wrong word, actually.
02:18Yeah, I sang California with Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl.
02:22And at that moment, I was very much from California.
02:24Right, right.
02:26And then when we're discussing political issues at home in the UK, I'm very much not an American.
02:31Right, got it. So you could play both sides.
02:33I'm a dual citizen, so I feel like a spy at the airport, because I've got two passports.
02:37And I'm very proud of that, actually. I really am.
02:39I know that one of the things we can talk about is, and we're going to listen to Rushmere in a second,
02:44it's your single that's doing very well right now, but also the name of the album that'll be out on March 28th.
02:48First album you guys have put out in, I think, seven years as a band.
02:50You did some solo stuff. Did you miss doing the collaborative thing?
02:55Yes.
02:56Very much so.
02:56With all my heart, yeah. I was longing to get back.
02:59And it actually started for us two years ago in Los Angeles.
03:02I was living here, and Ted and Ben both came out,
03:06and we just started by playing some instruments together in the room.
03:10And then these songs started coming.
03:12So was there a plan, then, to create a new album, or that just started happening?
03:15It was like, let's just see how it feels. This is a choice.
03:18It's not, we don't have to do this. You know, no one's forcing us to do this.
03:22Let's do it if it feels right. And these songs just started pouring out of us.
03:25And it's been two years. It's been the, like, most prolific two years of my life as a writer.
03:30How was it, then, just doing your own solo thing?
03:33Did it feel a little lonely, because you're so used to working with these guys?
03:35I was surrounded by really wonderful collaborators,
03:38people like Phoebe Bridges and Monica Martin, Daniel Ponder, Blake Mills,
03:42all these cats that I really admire that I wanted to work with
03:45and haven't been able to, you know, in the band setting for, you know,
03:49because you can't work with everyone.
03:50So I got to, you know, enjoy leaning into some of those collaborations.
03:55I was surrounded by people, but I really missed the band.
03:58And everyone wanted to come back and just see what it felt like.
04:03Ted and Ben and I just, in a room together, see what it felt like.
04:06And it felt great. And then, and now we're sitting on all this material,
04:09and I'm not allowed to talk about it all, but there's a lot of songs.
04:14There's a lot of songs. So we're starting here, and yes, with Rushmare,
04:17which comes out in March, but there's a lot of songs.
04:20And you've got to kill ones that you probably think are great,
04:22but there's just not space, even though...
04:24Yeah. Yeah, we've edited it down to, like, 60 or something. There's a lot of songs.
04:2760? You've whittled it down to 60?
04:29Well, it's been two years in the studio.
04:31Dang.
04:32Yeah, and also they were apart for some time, too,
04:34so I think all that just comes flowing out again.
04:37I was thinking about this, because I know you did the theme song.
04:39Or, like, the theme music, the score for Ted Lasso.
04:42That was you, right? That was your doing.
04:43And what a successful show that has been.
04:45I saw this thing the other day that said the band Devo,
04:48one of their songs is used on the show Ridiculousness,
04:51which, as you know, on MTV, just plays around the clock.
04:53It's just non-stop. And they're making millions of dollars from that.
04:56When you provide a theme song for a show, and it becomes a very successful show,
05:01that's got to feel so much better than if your music gets put on a show
05:04that's cancelled after two episodes.
05:07Yeah, I think so.
05:08Although, you know, because of the format that show's watched,
05:12most people just know the drum fill.
05:15They go, digga digga dig, yeah!
05:17And then it's skip intro.
05:18Right, I was so stupid.
05:20Yeah, so they just hear the digga digga, yeah!
05:22So you get paid for the first three seconds there.
05:24Yeah, no, not at all, really.
05:26But, yeah, and I think it was when they won a bunch of Emmys,
05:30it was just that drum fill on that first note, and then they cut it.
05:35So when you watch Ted Laszlo, I'm sure you do, do you skip intro,
05:38or do you sit through your song?
05:39I've never watched it, because I scored the first two seasons,
05:43so I watched it a lot. It took me a lot of time and energy.
05:49Marcus, you have a couple Grammys under your belt.
05:52Your beautiful wife, Carrie Mulligan, also has an Oscar.
05:54Do you keep...
05:55She doesn't yet, actually.
05:56Oh, that she hasn't gotten it yet?
05:57It's a source of real contention, actually.
05:59Thanks for bringing that up, Ali.
06:01No, no, no, I thought she won an Oscar last year.
06:03She's been nominated three times for Best Actress.
06:06She didn't win for Maestro?
06:07She did not, but this is the thing, that's why a nomination is like a win,
06:11because no one really remembers.
06:12Okay, but she has many awards, and so do you, is my point.
06:15And do you have an awards room?
06:17Do you have a place where you put them all, or are they just in a bathroom?
06:21That's exactly where they are, yeah, they're in our downstairs loo.
06:24So do you have a competition that I have more awards than you, Carrie?
06:28Oh, nominated, man, that must be rough.
06:30Do you know what, there's some really questionable ones.
06:34Anything that's glass doesn't really count as an award.
06:38Do you know what I mean?
06:39Like, it's glass.
06:40Or it's just an innocuous shape.
06:41Yeah, and there's some good ones that are certificates, you know.
06:45I'd like, I think Grammy nominations are cool,
06:48but they're certificates, you don't get a statuette.
06:51I suppose you have to win.
06:53Oh, you get like a diploma, almost, from the Grammys that say you've been nominated?
06:56We watched the Grammys on Sunday, we're here in Los Angeles at the moment for a while,
06:59and I watched it with my kids, and the first bit comes up and they're like,
07:02oh, Daddy, you got those?
07:04Yeah.
07:05I recognize that.
07:06That's great.
07:07Those are from our bathroom.
07:08We have those in our bathroom.
07:09That's good stuff.
07:10Well, we're going to play Rushmere now, and what would you like to say about it
07:13before we put it on KROQ for the masses?
07:15Nothing.
07:16All right, here we go.
07:17Let's time it, here it is, you cannot skip this.
07:19This is Rushmere, of course, Marcus Mumford in KROQ Studios as we speak.