Mumford And Sons' Rock Dream

Mumford & Sons ''always'' wanted to be a rock band.

The 'I Will Wait' hitmakers have moved away from the folk sound of their first two albums on new record 'Wilder Mind' and say they are much more comfortable with their new material.

Bassist Ted Dwayne said: ''We've always imagined ourselves as a rock band. We've always been a rock band playing the wrong instruments. Now we have the right instruments.''

And Winston Marshall - who has switched from banjo to electric guitar - added: ''We always saw ourselves this way. We didn't really think we were a folk band.''

And the group admit they couldn't bear the thought of continuing to ''churn out'' any more folk albums.

Ted said: ''We've been working within quite narrow parameters. As a band, we feel that over two records we've pretty thoroughly explored that sound.

''Nobody was that excited about playing a drum with a foot anymore. And there was no way we were just going to churn out another album for the sake of it pleasing fans.''

Keyboard player Ben Lovett added: ''We started doing this in 2007 and the worst thing we could have done would be to get trapped making the sort of music we'd been making.

''That would have put our lives on pause until the band ended.''

In August, the band will headline the Reading and Leeds festivals and can't wait to top the bill.

Ben told NME magazine: ''Reading and Leeds are rock festivals and that's exactly why we wanted to play them.''