Mumford and Sons at a hoe-down in an out-of-town barn...

When I first came to university (and to London) I started writing for rockfeedback.com – it was a window into the wider music industry, to have CDs posted to me, merely for the benefit of me having a public opinion on them. Writing about music was something that slipped away more and more, and not for any Zappa/Costello/Steve Martin-quoting disdain, but simply because actively filming music and writing/performing music often took over, both in time and attention.

In any case, from time to time I’ll be writing column-pieces or reviews for rockfeedback, and as-and-when I do I’ll cross post them here. I just wrote my first ‘blog’ for them, on the idea of ‘the perfect gig‘, from which my editor (alongside a very odd picture of myself) chose to redact my article to:

“bands should only play awesome shows. i think it’s probably that simple. there’s too much music happening anyway…” – click here to read the whole thing.

The complete win-over was being wowed by their barndance hoedown of a launch paty (they hired out a barn in Hertfordshire, and coached us all out from Kings Cross to the middle of the countryside for a night of cider, festival burgers and hay-raising stomping). Along with the line dancing, the revelry and general gorgeousness of being out in the middle of the countryside in such a great setting, we also got treated to collaborations with Laura Marling, King Charles and even Chris Pollard, who we only previously knew as being the loveliest tour manager on the planet.

It started, other than listening in to the growing hype around the band, with their their set at the iTunes Festival (earlier this year at the Roundhouse in Camden), and their opening set for the incredible End of the Road festival in between (more on End of the Road soon!).

Somewhere in between all of those gigs it became a good idea to do one of our rockfeedback sessions with the guys too. Where I’ve not successfuly edited it out, you can sometims see my face asking the interview questions between the songs… Check it out below

And if you’ve not already – buy the album! It’s a rare folk gem, and well worth doing that whole physical format thing for. Who cares about internet streaming anyway?