When Mumford and Sons keyboardist Ben Lovett first heard American Idol winner Phillip Phillips' blatant soundalike hit "Home," he was momentarily confused. Said Lovett, "I was like, 'What's that? Did we do that?'"
On the Cover: Mumford & Sons Rattle and Strum
But other than that, Lovett doesn't mind the sudden, post-Mumfords ubiquity of acoustic rock (see the Lumineers, among others). "The only thing that makes me a bit sad about it is that if people think that it's a good commercial move," he told senior writer Brian Hiatt in interviews for the band's Rolling Stone cover story. "I think that's just stupid. Because it's not about the setup. It's about the songs, how we're expressing our songs with this kind of accidental selection of instruments. That's not like a formula to go and sell records."
Marcus Mumford added that it's "strange" to hear people talking about an American Idol winner imitating his band: "Because that's kind of what we were reacting against," he said. "When we started it was quite fun doing what we were doing 'cause no one else was doing it. It was like our little secret."
For more from the Mumfords, see the new issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands and the App Store now.
This article originally appeared on Rolling Stone: Mumford & Sons Keyboardist: I Thought Phillip Phillips Was Us!
