Mumford & Sons are a British rock band from London, formed in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboard, piano, synthesizer), Winston Marshall (vocals, electric guitar, banjo) and Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass).

Mumford & Sons have released three studio albums: Sigh No More(2009), Babel (2012) and Wilder Mind (2015). Sigh No More peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in the US, with Babel and Wilder Mind both debuting at number one in the UK and US, the former becoming the fastest-selling rock album of the decade^[1][2] and leading to a headline performance at Glastonbury Festival in 2013. The band has also issued two live albums: Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2011) and The Road to Red Rocks (2012).

Mumford & Sons were formed in December 2007 by multi-instrumentalists Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshalland Ted Dwane.^[3] Band members play acoustic guitar, drums, keyboard instruments, bass guitar, and traditional folk instruments such as banjo, mandolin and resonator guitar.^[4][5] The band name originates from the fact that Marcus Mumford was the most visible member, organizing the band and their performances. Lovett indicated that the name was meant to invoke the sense of an "antiquated family business name".^[6]

A handful of similar bands were increasing their visibility in West London around the same time, giving rise to the label "West London folk scene". Mumford downplays that characterisation as an exaggeration—Mumford & Sons and a few other folk acts just happened to be operating in the same general area at the time. In an interview with the Herald Sun, Marcus Mumford said, "It's not folk really. Well, some of it is, and it's certainly not a scene. Someone got over-excited about a few bands who live in a hundred-mile radius and put it in a box to sell it as a package. It's a community, not a scene. It's not exclusive."^[3] Having developed in the same musical and cultural environment, Mumford & Sons' sound has been compared to that of artists such as Noah and the Whale, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, whose backing band had included Marshall, Mumford, and Dwane.^[7][8]

In early 2008 the band began working with manager Adam Tudhope, who, as part of management company Everybody's, also represents Keane and Laura Marling.^[9] It was through Tudhope's connection that Mumford & Sons were exposed to their future A&R at Island, Louis Bloom, who began monitoring the band. Bloom told HitQuarters that they were still at a fledgling state and not yet ready for a label deal: "There was no one there for it, just a few friends, and they needed time to develop. Over the next six months I kept going to see them and they were literally picking up fans every time."^[9]

In February 2008, the band completed an extensive UK tour with support from Alessi's Ark, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Peggy Sue and others. June 2008 marked the band's first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.^[5] They also toured Australia with Laura Marling, whose disinclination to interact with audiences encouraged Mumford into the spotlight. The experience helped inform his attitude towards Mumford & Sons audiences, which is to interact frequently and to try to create a comfortable, casual atmosphere.^[3] Mumford & Sons' first project was an EP entitled Love Your Ground which took a year to complete and was released in November 2008 on Chess Club Records.^[5]

We’ve worked so hard over the years to keep our ticket prices reasonable – we want all of our fans to be able to come to our shows.  We’ve also done everything we can to keep our tickets from finding their way on to re-selling sites.  Many tickets on secondary sites are being sold by touts who are simply in the business of ripping off the fan by charging an extortionate amount for sold out shows.  The activities of these touts are very sophisticated: they hire coders to try to break the software of the ticket companies that we hand-pick to sell our tickets in the first place (Primary Ticket sellers); they use multiple identities to buy several batches of tickets from the same ticket seller; and (contravening UK law) they pose as individual consumers when they list tickets on these services with no mention of seat number or row, when actually they’re businesses with no intention of going to the shows buying tickets in bulk to sell on.  It’s our hope that secondary ticketing companies root this out to stop it happening on their sites, and that they shut it down.

By our estimation when this tour went on general sale there were roughly 6,000 tickets out there on secondary ticket platforms across the UK tour, including 1,500 for each night at the O2 in London. People may argue that those tickets have already been sold and we’re getting the money anyway.   But that’s not how we see it.  We want fans of the band to be able to get into our shows for the right price, to feel that they’ve got value for money.  We want every seat in a sold out show to be filled with a fan.  Why do we care so much?  Because it’s not right, it hurts our fans and it’s a problem for all artists.

Yes, there are some fans legitimately trying to sell on tickets to other fans because they can’t make a show for whatever reason – but we believe this is a tiny percentage of the business being conducted on secondary tickets sites.  We strongly urge you to use a platform like Twickets, ScarletMist and other face-value-only sites if you can’t make a show and need to sell on your tickets (also look on the forum at the ‘Buying/Selling Tickets (Face Value Only)’ thread).  Sites like these won’t allow you to re-sell the ticket for a profit.  This makes them unusable to touts.