Speaker
Marcus Mumford
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Marcus Mumford met his future wife Carey Mulligan at Bible camp when he was 10 and she was 12, and she recorded the encounter in her journal.
Carey Mulligan's journal from Bible camp gave 10-year-old Marcus a 9 out of 10, beating his older cousin who got an 8.5, despite Marcus being deemed not boyfriend material.
During the peak of Mumford & Sons' Babel success, the band played approximately 250 shows a year.
There was a roughly 7-year gap between Mumford & Sons' fourth and fifth albums, including 2 years of touring and the COVID pandemic.
Mumford & Sons took only 6 weeks off from touring to record Babel, which their producer found creatively frustrating.
Marcus Mumford deliberately quit TikTok before releasing his new record so no outside opinions or comments could affect how he experienced it.
For the first time ever, Marcus Mumford put out a record without reading a single word of press about it, and says it made him feel free.
In one year Carey Mulligan was present at 48 Mumford & Sons shows but only watched 2 of them start to finish.
Marcus Mumford uses vocal straws — blowing bubbles in a bottle — as a warm-up technique to create back pressure that opens and massages the larynx.
After quitting alcohol, Marcus Mumford replaced it with an ice cream-based diet until he couldn't understand why he wasn't losing weight.
Marcus Mumford's first professional music job was being hired as a session drummer for Laura Marling, which led him to quit college.
Mumford & Sons guitarist Ted had a brain hemorrhage but headlined Glastonbury just 2 weeks after surgery, with the band cancelling only 2 shows.
Marcus Mumford threatened to fire his entire management team if they ever booked the band to play on a day England is playing a World Cup or tournament match.
Marcus Mumford studied classics — Greek and Latin — at Edinburgh University before dropping out to play drums for Laura Marling.
When Carey Mulligan recognized Marcus at a Laura Marling gig, she left only her email address with the tour manager rather than going backstage — a move the hosts praised as classically elegant.
Kendrick Lamar invited Marcus backstage after his Bonnaroo headline set. Marcus walked in to find Kendrick stripping down to his underwear — and Marcus called it pure gumption.
After three hours of performing for 5,000 people, drenched in sweat, Madonna got this from Kevin Costner: 'We thought it was really neat.' She turned to the camera and said he had to go.
Going backstage uninvited after a show is arrogant, not flattering. Both Jason and Marcus agree: sharing fame doesn't mean you're welcome in someone's dressing room.
Marcus was 10, Carey was 12, and they were at Bible camp together. She wrote in her journal that Marcus got a 9 out of 10 — beating his older, taller, age-appropriate cousin. They became pen pals and reconnected in their twenties.
When Carey Mulligan recognised Marcus at a Laura Marling show, she didn't go backstage. She left her email address with the tour manager. No phone number. Pure class.
Babel turned Mumford & Sons into a global phenomenon overnight. Marcus wasn't prepared for it. The success fed a pre-existing shame narrative and he drank more than he should. His friendship circle shrank. His marriage saved him.
Marcus quit TikTok before releasing his new record. He didn't want any comment to spoil his own experience of the album. It's the first record he's released without reading a single word of press — and he feels free.
Marcus started drumming on pots and pans in the kitchen, took it seriously through school, then quit college to be Laura Marling's session drummer. That first job in music led directly to Mumford & Sons.
Marcus warms his voice up with 'the penguin noise' — a throat-opening hum — plus blowing bubbles through a straw into a bottle. The back pressure acts like a reverse massage on the larynx. He learned all this from Brandi Carlile's vocal coach.
Mumford & Sons hired all their favourite musicians as a house band and rode a train across America, learning special guests' songs the day before performing them. Everyone got paid equally. Whatever was left after the expensive trains got shared out.
Having three kids made it impossible for Marcus to stay the center of his own universe. It made him more intentional at work, pack more into shorter trips, and come home sooner. He calls it a season of gratitude.
In Australia on the opening night of the Prizefighter tour, Mumford & Sons started a new song that went so catastrophically wrong — everyone in the wrong key and wrong time — that they just stopped halfway through and never restarted it. Marcus wanted to fall through the floor.
Sean Hayes warms up for his one-man show by singing 'All By Myself.' If he can hit the high note, the show is on. If he can't — trouble.
T-Bone Burnett found unused Bob Dylan lyrics from the 1960s in shoeboxes at Big Pink and asked if musicians could set them to music. Dylan said yes. Marcus joined Elvis Costello, Jim James and others to write and record songs for them — with Sam Jones documenting everything.
Marcus studied classics at Edinburgh before dropping out for music. Reading Homer led him to T.S. Eliot at 17. That love of language and poetry became the bedrock of how he writes lyrics today.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Music 64%
- Health & Fitness 27%
- Society & Culture 9%
Connections
Shows they appear on and people they share episodes with. Drag to explore.
