The Fall‘s Mark E Smith has bemoaned the state of contemporary music, comparing Mumford & Sons to the founders of global accounting firm Ernst & Young.
Speaking to The Independent, Smith said: “Even pop, rock, it’s all very miserable right now. Everyone I meet says that to me. All that I hear is that it’s shit. Old people, young people, taxi drivers; there’s just nothing there. ‘When will the new Sex Pistols come, Mark?’ It’s not going to happen, is it? It’s not. The occasions I go to award shows, they’re just a bunch of shits. You sit next to The Killers, and it’s like, am I on the wrong fucking train here? No, really. Talking about shares and stuff. Mumford & Sons, it’s like sitting next to Ernst and Young.”
It’s not the first time Smith has had a pop at Mumford & Sons. The frontman took against the band at a festival in Dublin two years ago after they started a backstage singalong. Recalling the meeting last year, he said: “I was talking to the promoter who’s a mate of mine and said, ‘Look, don’t take the piss. You’ve stuck us next to some mongoloid Irish folk band.’ The promoter turns around and says, ‘They’re Number One in your English charts.’ I thought he was fucking joking. They started clopping about singing, sounded like they were dancing on the tables – so I told them to shut the fuck up.”
The Fall released their 30th studio album ‘Re-Mit’ on May 15. It followed the group’s 2011 LP ‘ Ersatz GB’.