Mumford & Sons: We're not a religious band

Mumford & Sons find being labelled Christian rockers highly annoying.

The British band comprises of frontman Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane, Winston Marshall and Ben Lovett.

Much has been made of Mumford & Sons' supposedly religious lyrics and it's not something they feel that comfortable discussing. Marcus' parents founded a Christian organisation in the UK and he is loath to get too caught up in questions about his beliefs.

Winston is more open about how irritating he finds people's perceptions.

"Yeah, it p**ses me off. Just being thought of as a Christian is pretty annoying. Not that there's anything wrong with it. But just being told you're anything when you're not," he explained, adding sometimes fans come up and ask him if they can pray together.

"My reaction us, 'Thank you, but no thank you.' And if I'm in a bad mood, 'F**k off.' No, I mean, it comes from a good place, y'know. But it's just quite invasive."

Ted doesn't understand why the band are singled out, when many other major groups pen similar lyrics.
"It's funny, bands from Coldplay to Kings of Leon... everyone uses these words and it's not preachy at all and it's not even religious, they're just musing. They're just exploring this massive thing that we're aware of," he told Q magazine.

The British folk rock band cancelled some of their Summer Stampede Tour after bassist Ted suffered a blood clot on the brain earlier this year. He has since recovered and was well enough for the band to headline at the Glastonbury music festival in June.

The group are thrilled to be back on stage as it's the one place they feel at home.

"Idleness isn't something any of us are very interested in," Ted said. "We're lucky that we can tour so much, y'know. There's this demand for us just to travel the whole time and play gigs. What else are we gonna do? Sit at home?"

Marcus added: "I think that we're slightly addicted to touring now."